Never Look Back (Redemption Hills 3)

I pulled Aster out of the way when the door suddenly flung open, and Salem and Eden stepped out. Confusion brought them to a quick stop when they saw me.

Tessa pushed out into the front of them, the girl all spastic with her arms flailing. “Aster, are you okay? It’s been forever, and we were getting worried, and now…you’re…here.”

That time, she flung an arm at me. Tessa looked at me like I might be a hallucination.

I ran the pad of my thumb over the back of Aster’s hand. “Seems I can’t stay away from her.”

Salem’s brow was twisted, clearly calling bullshit.

She knew something was up.

“You all should head home.” I issued it low.

Salem slipped her arms through Eden and Tessa’s like she got it. “Tab is settled. We’re out of here. Are you all good?”

I glanced at Aster and she looked back at me.

“I am now,” Aster told her.

“Okay. Let us know if you need anything. Let’s go, guys.”

“Ahh, but mimosas…” Tessa slurred the whine and reached back for the pub’s door while Salem held onto her other arm.

“Come on, miss drunky drunk. It’s time to go.”

“Thank you,” I told Salem.

Eden stalled, clearly wanting to find out what was happening. I gave her a slight smile that promised I’d fill them in later.

I watched until the three of them climbed into their car and drove away, and I helped Aster into the front seat of mine and ran around to get into the driver’s side. The urge to shift my car into gear and run the motherfucker down when Jarek staggered out from the alleyway was almost irresistible.

He glared at us.

I saw it there—he wasn’t going down without a fight.

Aster’s breath stalled out, her spirit whipping through the air, her chest beginning to jut as she suppressed the sobs that wracked from deep within her.

I took her hand. “He won’t touch you.”

Except he already had. I could have been too late.

Tears fell down her face. “Take me home.”

I warred, watching out the windshield where Jarek climbed into a car and tore away.

“I want to end him, Aster.”

“Please, take me home.”

My gaze swept to her, to the fiery depths of those agate eyes.

Sparks and life.

There was something there. Something that hadn’t been there before.

I pulled from the curb in a squeal of tires and torn intentions, flying toward my apartment before I did something that couldn’t be undone.

The air in the cab thinned. Dense and dark and desperate.