“I’d really like to take some Advil and lie down before we go out,” she told him, staying where she was, just a few feet inside the door. “I have a terrible headache.”
“You can’t seem to listen, can you?”
He came closer to her. She wanted to retreat but she willed herself not to. Retreat would show him how weak she really was.
“I do listen. I’ve done everything that you’ve asked of me. I just…I won’t allow you to attack me when I’ve done nothing to deserve it.”
Her words stopped him, and his eyes widened, as if he was surprised that anyone would argue with him. She knew she shouldn’t do it, but what else was she supposed to do? He was a large man and he was scaring the heck out of her.
“You haven’t done everything I’ve asked. I asked that you stay in today. I asked you to get ready. Instead, you disappear — something it seems you like to do on Saturdays.” As he spoke, his lips weren’t nearly as hard as before.
“I wasn’t doing anything wrong.” Maybe if she said it enough, he’d finally understand and let her be.
“You will tell me where you went,” he said, punctuating every word.
His voice had risen, and he was back in confrontational mode. When he moved right in front of her and faced her down, she wanted to take a step back, but she wasn’t going to cower.
“You might as well take me back to Relinquish Control right now, because I won’t tell you.” Whatever happened would happen.
“Fine!” He grabbed her arm and hustled her out of his office, down the hall, and right to the elevator door.
“What are you doing?”
“You want to go back? I’m taking you back. And you realize, of course, that I’ll do my best to see that you won’t get paid a dime for this week. I already know that McKenzie told you if I wasn’t satisfied, you would lose your job, so you just screwed yourself. Remember that! This is all on you.”
Bile rose in her throat. She was doing all of this for Justin, and because she’d visited him today, she’d be one step further back in her ability to have him permanently.
Tears burned in her eyes as she desperately tried to find some sort of explanation that would calm Blake’s temper. But the man seemed to know when she was lying. He’d figure it out, and then he would still take her back. So instead of crying, instead of throwing up, she stood in silence beside Blake as they rode down and walked into the garage.
When he went to a large black pickup truck, she didn’t know what to think. Blake drove expensive sports cars, not trucks that seemed more fitting for work. Then she remembered he’d been called to work and had most likely been using it on a job. That’s what happened when they left Bill’s house a few days ago.
Still, why was he taking her in it now? Why not just leave it? Maybe because there was a shovel in the back and he needed to take her in the truck and get rid of the evidence…
As Blake closed the passenger door and then entered the truck on the driver’s side, Jewell focused on the windshield and the view straight in front of her. He was taking her back. She would get the paycheck — she didn’t buy his threat that she wouldn’t get a dime — and the first thing she was going to do was put down money on that apartment for her and her brother. Because as of tonight she would no longer have a job.
Yes, Ms. Beaumont would be furious, but even if she lost her job, she’d have enough to secure a place and some of the basics, enough to convince the courts that her brother should be with her and not strangers. She would get another job. There wasn’t another choice.
A strange sense of peace washed over her, and Jewell turned to look out the side window. Soon this would all be over. Soon, she would be with her brother and both of their lives could return to something like a normal existence.
It was the only thing she could think. Because the alternative would send her into a downward spiral of depression she was sure she would never be able to escape.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Rage rolled from Blake in never-ending waves. That feigned innocence he kept seeing in her eyes couldn’t conceal the lies she was now telling him. He would get to the truth, and he would get to it tonight. If she seriously thought he was giving up, she had a lot left to learn about the real world.
Blake knew better than to touch her right now, though. He was angry enough that he was afraid of physically hurting her. That was ridiculous, of course — he would never hit her, never lose control. He was made of ice. How many people had said that about him?
He’d lost count.
Only his brothers were allowed in, and only because of the horror the three of them shared. It was them against the world. So why was he letting this woman, this insignificant woman, affect his moods?
As he pointed his truck away from the city, he watched her stealthily. Absurdly enough, he wanted to reach across the seat and haul her to his side. Her tantalizing scent was surrounding him, muddying his thoughts completely. In such a short time she had changed him in ways he didn’t understand.
What he should do was take her back right away, drop her at the doors of Relinquish Control, just as he’d said he would, and never look back. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen just yet. He needed to drive, needed to think before he dropped her off. Make her talk to him.
When he started down a road with no streetlights just as the sun left the sky, she turned toward him. Her face was barely visible in the insignificant light from the dash, but he had no doubt she was worried. Good. Let her worry. She had caused him an unbearable rush of emotion today. She could deal with fear.
About ten miles out in the middle of nowhere, she finally spoke, her voice quavering. “This isn’t the way back to Relinquish. Where are we going?”
“You’ll find out.” His tone was still harsh, his feelings still barely under control. No. He couldn’t touch her yet, but soon… Yes, he’d soon be touching her a whole hell of a lot.
“Blake—”
She broke off, and he had no idea what she was going to say, because just then he heard a loud thumping noise followed by the sound of his tire shredding.
“Dammit!” Blake yanked his foot off the gas and eased the truck over to the side of the road. They were miles from anywhere, in the middle of mint fields, the aroma everywhere.
His first instinct was to call his assistant, get someone out there to fix the truck so he could take her where he’d planned. Then, as he lifted his phone and was about to press the buttons, he had second thoughts.