Using my pocketknife, I cut the tie that held her wrist against the gear shift and then secured a new one with both wrists in front of her. When I finished, I propped her back up in the seat and buckled her in. That should have been the end of it, but instead, my fingers drifted up to her face, pinching her chin between them.
“It would be in your best interest not to fight me anymore, or you’re going to carve a long, hard road for yourself.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Despite her bravado, her eyes betrayed her nerves. Birdie could never admit she was capable of being vulnerable, but right now she was. It was the most beautiful thing about her.
“You’re coming to stay with me at the compound. It’s the only way to keep you out of trouble.”
“No way.” She shook her head. “Gypsy just had the baby. She needs me—”
“Gypsy asked me to bring you here.”
My words hit her like a bucket of ice water, dousing the fire that always burned so brightly in her eyes. I hadn’t told her to hurt her. I’d told her so she’d accept her situation for what it was, but it had hurt her all the same. Betrayal sliced across her features, darkening her eyes and pinching her lips together.
“She sent me away?” The words left her lips in a whisper, and I had the urge to touch her again, but in an entirely different way. I wanted to comfort her, though I knew it was a dangerous want to have. This wasn’t me. I didn’t let myself form emotional attachments. I couldn’t be anything for Birdie. Nothing more than a warden and a firm hand. Retracting my palm, I shoved it into my pocket and took a step back.
“It’s in your best interest,” I answered. “She just wants you to be safe.”
ACE THUNDERED DOWN THE HIGHWAY, his posture as rigid as his personality. Every so often, I snuck a glance at him, shooting beams of hate straight for his head. He just up and decided that I was coming to live with him, and that was it. There was no discussion, no debate. It was his way, and there was no other highway.
As miles of desert tundra flew by outside the window, I still didn’t want to believe that Gypsy had done this. My sister hadn’t just told this man to take me off her hands and lock me away like a prisoner. But when I swallowed past the lump in my throat, I knew it must be true. She couldn’t accept that I was capable of looking out for myself. It hadn’t been that long ago that she’d learned Detective Taylor was looking for me. Everything shifted after that. I saw the terror in her eyes, and now I understood this was her misguided attempt to protect me. It didn’t matter that I was legitimately trying to clean up my act because she couldn’t trust me to stay out of trouble. But then again, why would she?
I’d done a lot of screwing up in the past. Choices that inevitably ended in her bartering with Lucian for our freedom. By some miracle, that situation turned out for the best, but it didn’t mean I wasn’t still sorry about it. When I considered the things Gypsy had given up for me over the years, it filled me with shame. For as long as I could remember, she’d tried to protect me. I loved my sister fiercely, but right now, I couldn’t accept what she had done. It hurt too much.
Ace flipped on his blinker and turned onto a dusty dirt road leading farther into the desert. It occurred to me then that maybe what he said wasn’t true at all. Maybe he was just bringing me out here to kill me. The thought amused me more than anything because it was wildly imaginative. Ace was a lot of things, but a killer wasn’t one of them. He was annoying and rude and condescending, and together we were about as volatile as fire and gasoline. It left me to wonder what he could possibly get out of this deal, considering he’d probably say the same about me.
I studied his profile in the fading afternoon sun, noting the creases around his eyes from years on the road. At thirty-two, he was a lot older than me. Twelve years, to be exact. I only knew because I asked him once, and he must have been in a giving mood because he actually answered.
He wasn’t the type of guy you’d normally fuck with, but for some reason, it was all I ever wanted to do. I liked to provoke him. And after today, I’d be feeling the consequences of that on my bare ass for quite some time. I shifted in my seat, squeezing my thighs together as I remembered the feeling of his weight pressed against my body and specifically, his hard cock. He seemed almost embarrassed by the whole situation, but then he had no qualms yanking down my shorts and exposing me to him.