Page 149 of Brutal
DELANEY
The drive back is quiet.
The marina hasn’t left us. It’s still in the car, the echo of what almost happened. The man. The knife. The word lawyer sitting between us like something neither of us wants to touch yet.
Samson’s hands are steady on the steering wheel.
I turn my head slightly, watching him without being obvious about it.
“You let him go,” I say.
“I chose not to follow him.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“No,” he says. “It’s not.”
“Why?”
His eyes don’t leave the road. “Because you were standing in the open.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Yes, it is. You asked why I chose not to follow him. You’re the reason. That’s my answer.”
“No, I asked why letting him go and choosing not to follow are two different things.”
He doesn’t reply.
“Stop deciding things for me,” I say. “I decide what I can handle.”
“Do you?” The challenge in his voice hits sharp.
The car slows as we turn onto the private road. The castle comes into view.
“I know what I’m walking into,” he says as he cuts the engine.
“And you think I don’t?”
He doesn’t answer.
I don’t wait for him to open my door. I’m out first.
Cold air hits my skin, but it doesn’t touch the heat under it.
I hear his door open behind me. Feel him before he reaches me. Always.
“You don’t get to decide what I know,” I say again as I walk toward the castle.
“I do when it puts you in danger.”
I stop.
Turn.
He’s right there.
Too close.
