Page 32 of Never Let Me Go

“Here you go. Can I get you two anything else?” she asks as she sets Sawyer’s food down in front of him. We lock eyes across the table before he glances up at her and shakes his head.

“No, I think we’re good for now. Thank you.”

Nodding, she turns and leaves us to our food. I grab the syrup from the middle of the table and pour some over my pancakes before glancing up to offer it to Sawyer. He’s staring at me, his brows drawn together and his gaze intense in a way that makes me feel like he knows all my secrets and like he wants to eat me alive at the same time.

“Syrup?” I whisper, my heart thundering in my chest as my skin prickles with awareness. He nods, not taking his eyes from mine as he takes the dispenser from my hand. When he looks away to coat his pancakes, I breathe a sigh of relief but as soon as he’s finished, he’s looking at me again.

“What?”

He shakes his head. “I’m still waiting for an answer to my question.”

“Which question is that?” I ask, dropping my gaze to the table as I buy myself a few more seconds. He sighs.

“Are you running from something… or someone?”

I scowl. “No. Why would you think that?”

“It’s kind of my job to think that. The Devils - we do a lot of work with battered women and children, domestic violence situations and things like that so I have to ask.”

“No.” I shake my head. “It’s nothing like that. I just wanted to go home to Baton Rouge and Mercedes didn’t want me traveling alone.”

“Smart,” he replies as he grabs his fork and cuts into his pancakes. “What brought you down to Miami?”

I shrug as I grab my cup of coffee and take a sip. “It’s complicated.”

“Well, lucky for you that you’ve got my undivided attention for the next thirteen hours then, huh?”

“Okay,” I breathe, seeing no way to get out of giving him at least some kind of explanation. “So, I was born in Baton Rouge and we lived there until I was nine before we moved to Miami. I ended up going to school back in Louisiana but wanted to be closer to my dad so I moved back here about five years ago.”

“So why are you leaving now?”

I suck in a breath as tears sting my eyes. “My dad passed away a little over two weeks ago.”

“Oh, Juliette,” he breathes, my pain mirrored in his eyes and I can’t look away. “I’m so sorry.”

I nod. “Thank you.”

“What about your mom? Is she back in Baton Rouge?”

“No,” I whisper, shaking my head and dropping my gaze to the table. “She died when I was nine which is what prompted the first move to Florida. Mercedes is pretty much the only person I have left and this place…” I look out of the window and sigh. “It just doesn’t feel like home anymore.”

He reaches across the table and takes my free hand, giving it a squeeze. My heart skips a beat and I meet his eyes again. “I can’t say that I understand what you’re going through but I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you,” I whisper and he nods.

“I don’t want you to worry about a thing, okay? I’ll get you back home safely and… just, you don’t have to feel alone, either. I know I just met you last night but if you ever need anything, you’ve got me. Okay?”

I suck in a breath, my heart pounding in my chest as I nod. Just like before, the rest of the world falls away as I stare into his eyes and I can’t help but feel like there’s something more going on between us. Beneath the seemingly normal conversation and heated looks, lies so much more and if I shut out all the noise, turn off my mind, and just listen to my heart like Mercedes told me to do, I have to admit I’m excited to find out what it is.

Chapter Ten

Sawyer

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” I call to Juliette as she begins to stir in the passenger seat. She groans and throws her arms over her head to stretch, huffing in annoyance when they hit the roof of the truck. Bending her body, she finds a new position and her shirt rides up her belly, showing off soft, tan skin and my grip on the wheel tightens as I suck in a breath and turn back to the front door of the little burger joint right off the interstate I’m parked in front of. As soon as we climbed in the truck after breakfast, she was out like a light. In fact, I don’t even think I made it on the interstate before her cute little snores were filling the cab. Not that I mind all that much. Turns out she talks in her sleep and that combined with the faces she was making as she dreamed kept me pretty entertained. “Hungry?”

She perks up and looks around. “Yeah, I could eat.”

“I’ve been staring at billboards of this place for the past ten miles. That sound good?” I ask, peeking over at her. She inspects the front of the building and nods.