Page 98 of The Night Shift

Her pupils dilate just for a second before she reacts, smacking my hand away, her fingers feeling like fire against my skin. “I amnotyour girl.”

The shit-eating grin on my face is inevitable. “Debatable —”

“And just so we’re clear, my well-being is none of your business. I don’t need you to worry about me. I don’t needyou, period.” The harshness in her tone has reduced tenfold. “You think you might know me, but you don’t.”

“You could be reduced to ashes, and I’d still recognize your bones, Holly.”

Her already placid expression seems to soften even more. My gaze drops, briefly lingering on the curve of her hip pressed against the shelf, my hand twitching with the need to touch her. Anywhere. Somewhere. “And since we’re already on the topic of who needs who.” I take a step closer, my attention now glued to her lips. “It’s okay to ask for help from time to time. To need someone to clean up your mess when it gets too much. It doesn’t make you weak or incapable. It makes you…” I lift my hand, fingers grazing her hair, curling a lock between them. “Mine.”

Her phone rings.

The shrill sound lancing through the silence of the room and fuck if I don’t want to smash the damn device to smithereens for ruining our moment.

She jerks away from me and pulls her phone from her pocket, disconnecting the call in one swift motion. Without sparing me a single glance, she turns toward the door, making her way to it.But I move faster, blocking her path before she can reach for the doorknob.

“Whatnow?” she snaps, still not looking at me.

“Does this whole debacle with the police mean we’re going to pay Nate Lawson a visit?”

She lets out an exasperated sigh. “For fuck’s sake, not this again.”

“Yes, this again. Who do you think left the anonymous tip?”

“Literally anyone, Theo! It could be any-fucking-body! Why are you so fixated on this one man?”

“Because he is the only person with the motive to screw up your life.” How is she still not getting this?

“Oh yeah? And what was your motive when you first started stalking me?”

My face falls.

“Exactly.” She shakes her head, her tone softening just a smidge. “Look, I don’t care what you think you know, but you don’t know everything. And you do not know this man. It’s not him. It can’t be.”

That last bit is more of a whispered assurance to herself. It takes me a few seconds, but eventually, the realization hits me like a freight train. Holly isn’t just being her usual stubborn self anymore. I know her stubbornness, Ilikeher stubbornness. This is different. Clammy palms, tight shoulders, rigid posture. I can’t believe it.

“Are you scared of him?” I ask.

Her eyes meet mine almost instantly. “Excuse me?”

“Why are you so afraid to confront him?”

She hesitates, seeming to debate something before saying, “Just because I’m not eager to have a meet-and-greet with an ex-convict doesn’t mean I’m afraid of him. It just means I have common sense.”

“Not when the ex-convict is blackmailing you and leaving meat cleavers on your bed.”

“We don’t know that.”

“Yes, we do. It all adds up. The date of his release, the date of your first message?—”

“Stop it!” She cuts me off. “Juststop.” The glint in her eyes is lethal, yet it reeks of desperation. It’s almost as if she’s forcing herself to be angry. Her phone rings again. She disconnects it again. “All of that is just a coincidence. It doesn’t mean he’s the one behind those messages. It doesn’t meananything.” A small pause. “I am not meeting him, Theo. Please, don’t make me.”

“Fine. Then, I will.”

Holly frowns. “You will what?”

“I’ll go confront him for you.”

She goes on looking at me like I’ve gone insane. “And what exactly are you going to say to him? ‘Hey, man, I’m a friend of Holly’s. Just wanted to ask if you knew anything about these weird messages she’s been getting? You know the one with death threats and evidence of her burying a body in the woods? Nothing major.’”