I’m so grateful tonight ended the way it did, but it doesn’t change anything. “Thank you for coming after me,” I say instead.
“Who’s the note from?”
I press my lips together.
“Who drugged you?”
When I don’t answer River pushes up off the bed and runs his hand through his hair. “I can’t protect you from a danger I’m not aware of.”
When I was much younger, I used to dream of someone coming along to save me, but no one ever did, and I learnt to protect myself. What River is offering is tempting, but it would be selfish to take it.
River shakes his head and any softness disappears. He pins me with an unforgiving stare. “Fine. From this moment on,consider yourself under house arrest. You go nowhere without one of us by your side.”
Panic floods my system and instinct has me pushing myself off the bed, eyes set on the door. My feet barely graze the floor before River’s arm loops around my chest and pulls me back onto the bed. I grip his forearm with both hands, his muscles rock hard beneath my fingers. I glare up at him. “Why do you even care?”
“You are our best chance at catching Maxwell. You’re no good to me dead.”
We’re so close, we’re breathing in each other’s air. He’s proved his point, there’s no way I’m getting out of this room, but he doesn’t move away. I think about his gentle hands on my feet, about his whispered words that always catch me off guard. “Is that the only reason?” I ask.
River grits his teeth. A muscle in his jaw ticks. “Yes.”
I tilt my head and reach up so I can whisper in his ear. “Now who’s lying?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Freya
THEY LET ME out of the hospital later that day after my tox screen came back positive for GHB, a date rape drug.
I got the satisfaction of seeing Eli look at least a little remorseful before River took control of my discharge and escorted me to his car.
He’s been quiet since our face off, no doubt brooding over the fact that I’m lying to him. But two can play at that game because I’m still pissed about the whole house arrest thing. Neither of us say a word in the car.
River’s gaze is set on the road ahead as he drives, and I pass the time trying to figure out how I got drugged. It must have been when I went to the toilet. I could kick myself for being so stupid. We’re supposed to be the ones chasing my dad but, right now, it feels like the other way around.
The car slows down and River turns onto the drive. I’ve not been paying attention, which is a credit to how distracted I am right now and a mistake I shouldn’t have made. I just assumed River was taking me back to my place but the white clapboard house in front of me suggests otherwise.He’s brought me to their home.
“I thought I was under house arrest,” I say.
River presses the button to turn off the engine. “You are.”
I make a show of looking out the window then back at River. “This isn’t my house.”
“It is now.” River steps out of the car and rounds the front to pull my door open. “Welcome to your new home, darling.”
I meet his stony look with one of my own. “You can’t just make me stay here.”
“Yes, I can.”
I grip onto the ‘oh shit’ handle, refusing to get out of the car. “Is that even legal? I’ll report you.”
River’s eyes darken and his jaw sharpens. “I’m trying to catch a serial killer. You are an asset under FBI protection. I can do whatever the hell I want to keep you safe.”
We get locked in a staring contest, but I swear River is more robot than human. My emotions are running wild, like a whirlpool in my chest, but River stays cold, sharp.
His gaze drops to my side, where, under my shirt, bandages cover the road rash. He leans in. “You’re hurt,” he says, “so I don’t want to throw you over my shoulder and carry you into the house,” his eyes meet mine again and a flicker of heat burns through his cool façade, “but I will if I have to.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
