In that tense moment my mind races with terrible possibility.
The theft could be happening now, in broad daylight, before I’ve wrangled any kind of promise from Niko. What if I’m not supposed to be out here? I’m a witness, even if I’m totally unreliable. They might drop me into the bottom of that glittering pool rather than risk it.
A harsh sentence, devoid of softness or loyalty. Niko flings the words across the lawn, and finally it’s enough to make the other man leave. Only once we’re alone do I fumble with the strings behind me, tying them without being able to see, trying to make myself decent again.
“I’m sorry about that,” Niko says without turning.
“No—don’t.” My cheeks burn hot with embarrassment, though I don’t know why. They’re the ones who came here under pretense. They’re the ones planning to steal. And I’m the one desperate enough to need their help.
“I have to go right now,” he says, finally glancing over his shoulder, his black eyes unreadable.
To steal the diamonds? I’m not sure he knows where they are, exactly, but he was close. We could play the hot-cold game together, and I’d show him. All he has to do is drive me away after.
“I’ll come back, okay? Tonight.”
He doesn’t wait for me to answer. He doesn’t go inside the house, either. Instead he follows the older man through the gate, leaving me alone by the pool. He said he would come back. I should take comfort in that. But I can’t help feeling the heat all over my heat, the steady hum that says I’m already burned beneath the suntan lotion he applied.
It doesn’t take much to move me—protecting me from the sun, from wandering eyes. It’s more than I’ve had in a long time. Probably ever. Enough to make me trust him when I shouldn’t.
God, if he only believed me I think I’d fall apart.
CHAPTER FIVE
I’m lying in bed with the moon high in my window, wondering if I made up the whole encounter. Wondering if I can even believe myself. It seems impossible that Niko would protect me. That he would come for me, like some kind of white knight to rescue the princess from the tower.
A soft rap at my window makes me jump.
I find Niko standing below my window, using the same ladder he uses to prune the ivy, the same one I first saw him on. It doesn’t reach high enough for him to get into the window easily. Still it seems effortless, the way he climbs through once I’ve unlocked the latch.
Then he’s standing in my room, this place of pink ruffles and childhood despair, with his dark shirt and worn jeans and severe expression. He doesn’t speak immediately. Instead he paces a large circle across the plush carpet, like a tiger exploring his new cage, examining its limits.
“You want to leave,” he says. It isn’t a question.
Hope expands inside me, though I don’t know what I’m hoping for exactly. That he’ll kiss me? That he’ll save me? This isn’t a fairy tale, but I still want everything. That’s always been my downfall, believing in happy endings. “Will you do it?”
He paces another circle, glaring at my white dresser and four poster bed as if they’ve personally offended him. As if they ask too much. “You think it’s better fifty miles from here? You think having a drunk mom and an asshole dad are the worst things in the world?”
Shame heats my cheeks. Not because he’s wrong, but because I don’t know. I don’t know what it’s like fifty miles from here. The university is fifteen miles away, and that’s as far as I’ve been.
He comes to a stop in front of me, breathing hard, his eyes almost wild. “Look at you. So fucking pretty. So fucking naïve. Do you even have any money that’s not on your Daddy’s credit card? Do you think you’ll survive for one day out there?”
He makes it sound like he’s going to drop me off in the middle of a jungle, and maybe he is. Maybe a lifetime in captivity is better than even a day out from under my parent’s thumb. “You don’t get to judge me, Niko. You look at the nice house and the nice clothes and think it’s a nice life? Who’s the naïve one?”
His brown eyes widen, as if he’s surprised. And maybe a little impressed. “Tell me, then. What’s so horrible that you have to get away from here?”
My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. Because that’s how it feels every day here. That I can say words, but they don’t matter. I can scream the truth at the top of my lungs and no one will believe me.
A shadow passes over his eyes, and I brace myself. This is where he’ll ridicule me. And maybe I’ll deserve it. I’ve stopped believing myself enough to know.
