Page 21 of When We Had Forever
“Come on,” he whines. “Do I look like I wanna sort through all this?”
Panic mounts. I pull harder, and all I can think is that Kate was right, only she suspected the wrong man, and the one I should’ve stayed in the car with must already be—
Here.
The smell of rain fills my nose. Michael appears from nowhere and yanks me free. He tows me backward and plants himself between me and the house like he intends to shield me from a bullet.
“What the fuck?” he growls. “She told you to let go, loud enough that I heard her from the car. What the hell’re you doing?”
Randall throws up his hands. “Hey, man, it’s cool. This your girlfriend? I didn’t mean anything by it, if so.”
Michael bares his teeth. “Does that mean youdidmean something by it, if not?”
Randall pauses, confused. “Um...no?”
Michael’s snarl only deepens, his eyes sparking like cinders. Nothing about the past three hours has suggested he had this kind of glorious anger inside him, yet nothing about it intimidates me. If anything, I just feel safe.
Randall steps outside. “Look, dude, she’s supposed to—”
Michael jabs a finger at him. “If you so much as come near her, I’ll turn that toothpick into a permanent part of your face.”
Randall recoils, clearly at a loss.
Michael stands there, his back heaving. I step in to wrap a hand around his wrist. His fists are clenched, the muscles in his forearms standing out like cords. “Come on,” I say. “He doesn’t matter.”
He swings around to look at me, his hair sliding over one eye. My heart skips. Damn, he’s tall. Way taller than I realized, though I knew from his driver’s license that he tops me by over a foot.
I just haven’t stood next to him like this, up close.
“You’re not staying here,” he rumbles.
“No. Definitely not.”
“Hey,” Randall cuts in. “What am I supposed to tell—”
Michael flings out a finger. “I don’t care. Just walk away, man. It’s not our problem.”
I don’t look over to gauge Randall’s reaction, but the front door clicks shut as Michael escorts me back toward the car.
I should breathe a sigh of relief, but he stops us by the Audi, staring at me with such focus that I can’t breathe. If I called him arresting before, now he’s something else entirely. The blush of sun on my cheeks and the hum of the lawnmower one block over fade to nothing. There’s just me and him, this stranger who doesn’t feel like a stranger at all, who just came to my rescue without hesitation.
“Are you okay?” he says.
“Yeah.” Strangely, with him here, it’s true. “Areyou?”
“Well, I just told a man to walk away from me in front of his own house.” He rolls his shoulders as if trying to shrug off his fury. “That’s a new one. Reviews are mixed.”
I crook a smile. “You also said you were going to turn his toothpick into a permanent part of his face. I have to say, I have no idea what that means.”
“Me neither. But he looked like he was going to piss his pants when I said it, so I’m calling that one a win.”
I giggle. It sounds odd, tinny, and I wonder if I’m panicking. If so, why do I feel so calm?
Michael flicks a narrowed gaze back at the house. “What is this place, anyway? You said you had family here, but when that guy grabbed you, you looked...terrified. You’re not actually related to him, are you?”
“No. My great-aunt died a couple months ago, and her grandson hired me to auction off all her property. Only Patrick never mentioned that the house was a disaster. Or that his friend would be rooming with me. I wassupposedto be staying here for the next month, earning enough for my ticket. But now...” I fumble for more. Nothing comes.
“Your ticket to Greece, you mean?”
