Page 43 of Rune’s Solace

Devil watched me another long second. “One chance.”

“That’s all I need.”

He nodded once and looked back down at the pad. “Church tomorrow, after Mystic’s had a night with it. You bring Sawyer’s description to the table. We put that face and that neck in every man’s head on this property.”

“Yeah.”

“One more thing.” Something in his voice made me wait. “You keep your hands to yourself until this shit is settled.”

I said nothing.

“She’s scared. Somebody may be hunting her, and I just ordered you to stay close enough she can’t take a piss without you knowing which building she’s in. That puts you somewhere she didn’t choose to put you.”

My jaw tightened.

“So whatever’s between the two of you, leave it where it is. No pushing. No using this to get close again. And if she reaches for you because she’s scared, you damn well know that’s not the same as her reaching for you because she wants you.”

That one went straight through me.

Devil knew it had. “Understand?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

Hearing Devil say it without all the shit I’d piled around it made the difference hard to miss. Giving Amy room to choose wasn’t the same as making the choice for her. I’d been calling those two things the same because it made what I did easier to live with.

“And after?” Came out before I could stop it.

Devil looked up. Something changed in his face then, not soft exactly, because Devil didn’t have much soft in him, but close enough that I knew he understood what I was really asking.

“After, she’s grown and it’s her damn business who she wants.” He opened the ledger again, which meant I was done in that room. “You just make sure she gets an after.”

* * *

I found Brenda in her room. She took one look at me in the doorway and went stiff.

“Brenda.”

“Don’t.” She turned away before I could get another word out. “Whatever you come in here to ask me, Rune, don’t.”

“Somebody’s watching her.”

She stopped. Didn’t turn around. Didn’t move at all.

“Man’s been on her campus two days running. Fifties, maybe. Knows how to stay out of sight. Knows where I am and how to keep where I can’t see him.” I waited, but she still didn’t turn. “Got bad ink on his throat. From the description, Devil and me both think it might be prison work.”

Her hand closed around the edge of the dresser.

“He followed her from class. Followed her and Sawyer to the coffee shop. Watched her the whole time.”

Nothing.

“Brenda.”

“I heard you.”

“There’s more.”