“What happened?” I asked quietly.

He gave a bitter laugh. “The day I was caught with Onadyn happened. Apparently A.I.R. had suspected my involvement with the drug. They sent Cara in to search. She found it and didn’t even ask me about it. She just f**king turned me in. I was cuffed and taken to Mia, where I was questioned and found guilty.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Cara, too, was questioned. She betrayed me faster than I could draw in a breath, claiming she’d suspected it all along, too, that she’d stayed with me to get proof.”

I ached for him, for the bitterness he still harbored. Such a betrayal had to have destroyed him, ripped him up inside.

“I was jailed. Cara came to visit me, crying. But it was too late. I stole her badge and managed to escape. I hid for a little while, even bleached my hair and permanently changed my eye color. I wasn’t doing anybody any good, though. So I changed my last name and joined your school. I knew A.I.R. would find me eventually, but I didn’t care. There was something I had to do, consequences be damned.”

He lapsed into silence leaving me—and our audience—to wonder just what he’d had to do. “And were you able to do it?” I asked.

“Not yet. But I will.” There was determination in his voice. “Lives depend on it. Many lives.”

Whose? His? Or someone he loved? Probably the latter. He sold Onadyn—a crime that had destroyed the life he’d built—to save aliens. Not many people would do the same.

I probably wouldn’t have, I was ashamed to admit.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” he said with a sigh. “They’ll grow tired of our conversation soon enough.”

And when they did, they were going to kill me.

How could I have forgotten, even for a moment? Just like that the cell seemed to crumble around me. Stay calm.

“How’s your arm?” Erik asked.

“Hurts a little.” No reason to deny it. I’m sure my usual sun-kissed skin was pale. My eyes might even have been blood shot. I needed sleep. Real, safe-in-my-bed sleep. I needed more of that numbing paste. Most of all, I needed assurance that we’d find a way out of this.

Erik approached me and knelt between my knees. He cupped my cheeks, forcing me to face him. I drank him in, concentrating on him rather than reality. His dark eyes, with their long, spiky lashes, mesmerized me. His full, pink lips—lips that would have been pretty on a girl but somehow made him all the more masculine—enthralled me. The wide set of his shoulders enveloped me.

Concern blanketed his features as he studied me.

“I’ll be okay.” I hope.

“I’m proud of you,” he said. “You’re injured, but you haven’t broken down. You could have run away, but didn’t. You’ve never experienced anything like this, but you’re holding your own.”

“Th—thank you.” I felt like a weak link and here he was praising me some more.

“You were questioned, I imagine?”

I nodded, guilt staining my cheeks. I tore my eyes from his and gazed at his shoulder. After everything he’d told me, I hated to admit that I’d told A.I.R. some of what he’d informed me of in the car.

In a way, I’d betrayed him just as Cara had.

“How’d it go?” he asked.

Sighing, I let the entire episode pour from me, leaving out no detail. He didn’t stiffen as I expected, didn’t curse at me or even scold me.

“You did good, Camille,” he said, surprising me. “A trained agent couldn’t have done better.”

“But—but—”

“A lot of times, people make up stories, telling their tormenter what they think he or she wants to hear. That gets them into trouble because they can’t remember the little details and end up changing their story, which makes them look even guiltier. You stuck to the truth, you didn’t elaborate, and you didn’t let their threats sway you.”

More praise. Wow.

He traced his thumb over the seam of my lips, exactly like he’d done before. Only this time, he lingered. His eyes darkened, heated. I experienced another of those delicious shivers.

I didn’t compare to Cara in looks, I knew that. Even that woman, Mia, had known it. But Erik was peering at me as if I were exquisite. I was probably dirty, definitely had wrinkled and bloodstained clothing, but he didn’t seem to care.

“I’m sorry for the way I treated you at school,” he said. “I’m sorry for ignoring you.”

I nibbled on my bottom lip, moistening the trail of fire his thumb had left behind. “That’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.” He gave my head a little shake and his hands tightened around my jaw. “You deserved better than that.”

My heart hammered inside my chest. Not from pain. Not anymore. And not from fear, which I should have been feeling as time continued to slip away. I felt wild and excited and eager.

Kiss him, one part of me said.

He might reject me, the other part replied.

Uh, hello. Are we looking at the same boy? He won’t reject you. And so what if he does? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You’re brave now, remember?

A.I.R. will think you lied.

They already do. Well, decision made.

Without asking permission, I leaned forward and gently pressed my lips to Erik’s, careful not to hurt him. I didn’t care who was watching, who was listening, or what they thought of my actions. There was only here and now. Only Erik. Only a kiss…

Wonderfully, his head titled to the side, angling for better contact. His tongue slid into my mouth, hot, touching mine, tasting. Tingles moved over my skin, warm and drugging. One of his hands tangled in my hair and our tongues thrust together harder, faster.

His spicy male scent enveloped me, drowning me in everything that was Erik. Blood rushed through my veins, awakening feelings that I’d never experienced before. A need to go further, all the way to the finish line. I didn’t want to die without experiencing sex. Without knowing all of him.

Delicious, I thought. Wondrous.

More.

Slowly, however, he pulled away. His breathing was labored and so was mine. I kind of expected A.I.R. to burst inside the room, guns blazing. But a moment passed, and they didn’t.

“Did I hurt you?” I asked softly, eyeing the cut on his lip. I ran my tongue over my own lips, taking in the moisture he’d left behind.

“It was worth it,” he said, his voice low, husky. His eyelids were at half-mast and he gave me a soft, sweet (too quick) kiss. “I wanted to do that the first time I saw you.”




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