I’m not sure whether she’s talking to me or the door, but then she turns. Those fucking tears glistening in her eyes again with a glare that has them trickling onto her long, dark lashes. Pretty crystal pendants on midnight silk. Like the expensive dresses they like to wear.
Something flickers across her face. I don’t like it one bit. Especially when her hands fist at her sides like she’s ready to throw down right here, right now.
“You weren’t there when I told the guys about this place.”
Shit.
“You weren’t there. You wouldn’t know, unless…”
Hands clenching tighter, she takes a small step towards me.
“Why didn’t you go back in the house? Why did you take me away without letting me say goodbye?”
She’s angry.
“I did exactly what he asked me to.” And I’m beginning to regret it.
“I would never have left him!” Marching to where I’m standing, Fleur stops abruptly, looking up at me with a deep-set and blazing scowl. “You should not have left him!” She delivers her words with so much venom that I’m more moved by them than her physical jabs.
Fists pummel and grind into my chest with more force than I thought she was capable of right now, maybe ever.
“How could you? How could you leave him? How could you take me away?” she screams and screams until her voice is so hoarse that it breaks.
I don’t stop her, letting her get it all out of her system like back in the cave. Maybe once it’s out, we can move on from this and get on with what’s important—getting her to safety.
When she’s exhausted herself, I grasp her wrists. They’re so small and delicate that I’m sure I could crush them with a firm squeeze of my hands or snap them with the smallest jerk.
Silence falls on her. There’s nothing but nature murmuring around us and her deep gasps for breath.
Fleur’s shivering when she collapses into me, and without a second thought, I wrap my arms around her shoulders. The sobs vibrating from her are dry and raspy. And in spite of knowing we’re in a pretty fucking vulnerable state right now, I can’t bring myself to let her go.
Instead, I brush her hair back from her face, and tilting it up to mine, with the edge of my sleeve I pat it clean of her tears.
“Look at me,” I tell her. My voice is barely recognisable with its gravelly rasp.
I wait for her reddened eyes to meet mine. It takes longer than I’d like, but eventually they flutter open, holding my stare with their sorrow-filled bleakness, the brown speckled with fire.
“I’m doing everything he’s asked me to.” It’s a lie because this isn’t part of the plan. “Soldiers soldier on. It’s what we do, and it’s what we’ve always done. This is no different.”
With a drawn sigh, her eyes close as she says, “It is.”
“It. Is. Not.” Still keeping her flush to me, I squeeze her shoulders lightly.
“It is. It is because he took everything. He took it all and left me with nothing. Nothing to give her when I want to give her…I want—” She sobs a hiccup. “I want to slice the world open and watch it bleed. Can you do that? Can you give me that?”
I wish I could.
“You have to keep going.”
“I can’t.” Panic widens her big, hypnotic eyes as she shakes her head.
“That wasn’t me giving you a choice, princess.”
“You’re not the boss of me.”
“Are you sure about that? Because let me tell you something, if I get back in that truck, you are stranded here. You are alone. In the middle of nowhere. I’m the only thing keeping you alive.”
She pouts defiantly. I feel her vibrate with contempt, impudence clawing to burst from her.