The urge to get up and thrash someone at the sound of that word was visceral.
Hurt.
She was hurt and her voice was shaking again like she wanted to cry but her body wouldn’t let her. I pinched the bridge of my nose. The only thing that was helping to alleviate my urge to run out of this house and scour the streets until there was a head on a spit.
“Why were you alone so late at night? Where did he follow you from?” I asked.
“I was just walking to my car. I was going to go home,” she said.
“From where,Cee?” I asked again. “Was he hanging around the store? If this guy is hanging around waiting for you, I need to know.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No. I was walking back from the Claireview area and I—”
I jerked back, looking at her in full view. Was she serious? “Claireview?What the hell were you doing in that part of town?”
She opened her mouth but seemed to hesitate and closed it again before averting her eyes. “I didn’t realize how late I stayed until after I was walking back to my car.”
“Your car was miles away from Claireview, Ceci. What were you doing there?”
“I didn’t ask for this, Con,” she said in a breathy way that momentarily distracted me from my questioning.
I shook my head, my eyebrows pulling inward. “What are you talking about? Of course you didn’t.”
“No,” she said. Lifting her eyes, she met mine. They seemed fully present for the first time all night. No more zombie Ceci. “Sometimes—when I’m looking for trouble, you know—sometimes I think, if something were to happen to me, it would sort of be my fault, right? I pick fights, I rile people up, and sometimes I deserve the consequences. But I didn’tdoanything this time. I promise I didn’t.”
I swallowed. I didn’t know who she was trying to convince. I didn’t care if she set the damn city on fire and laughed while doing it, whoever fucking touched her would have a hard time walking if I ever found them.
“Celestia, why were you in Claireview?” I repeated rather than tell her this.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” she grit back.
“I know you didn’t, but you shouldn’t have been there at all let alone walking around that area at night by yourself!” I seethed. The patience I had was thinning, and fast.
“I had something to do,” she said, turning her chin away from me.
“What?” I was pleading now, begging her to tell me anything.
“Just something okay?”
“No, not okay!” I snapped, gripping her chin and bringing her gaze back to mine. “Absolutely, not fucking okay, Cee. Look at you. You did something dangerous, somewhere dangerous and you could have gotten so badly hurt or even worse! You shouldn’t have been there, and I want to know why you were.”
“I’msorry!” She croaked. Her voice broke on the last word, her body crumbling in on itself. “I’m sorry, I know it was stupid and I did everything wrong. I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”
Woah.
“Okay,” I said, backtracking in a calmer voice. I was pushing too far. Slowly, I slid out of my chair and crouched in front of her, my hands sliding up into her hair and beginning to massage. The soft strands tangled around my fingers, her warm body reminding me that this was Ceci. She would tell me when she was ready. She was upset right now. Scared. And she didn’t need me making it worse. “Hey now. Don’t do that—I’msorry. Are you tired?”
Slowly she nodded, her expression looking miserable.
“Let’s go to bed then.” Without asking, I scooped her against my front and she wrapped her arms around my neck, her legs going around my middle. She was so close to me, every part of her seeking something from my body and whatever it was, I wanted to give her. Another tremor racked through her causing us both to shake, and I felt rage bubble up inside me. So much that I wanted to scream. But to her, I kept my voice low. “No more shaking.”
“I can’t stop,” she whispered.
I cradled her closer, if it was even possible. Massaging fingers onto the back of her neck and into her warm head, “I’m right here, don’t be scared anymore.”
“I’m not, I’mpissed.”
“Don’t be that either,” I murmured into her, unable to help my face from nuzzling her warm neck.
