“I can’t tell her.”
He snorted. “You forget she’s a shifter. She can hear us right now.”
“What do you know about being a shifter? You refused to listen when I try to help you understand it.” My words were bitter, but I couldn’t help it anymore.
He dropped to a squat beside me. I almost expected him to tell me tocheer up, bucko.The thought made me laugh, though it came out as a strangled sound.
“For one thing, Vanessa already knows. I could see it on her face. She did the math, same as you. It adds up to something good. Because of their sacrifice, you’re still with us.” He reached for me, but his hand hung in the air like there was a wall between us that he couldn’t pass.
I shook my head. “It’s not good. All I’ve ever wanted was to stop hurting everyone around me. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to end. I can’t find my way out of this.”
“That ramen wasn’t enough for me,” Maddox declared. He tossed my keys in the air and caught them. “Let’s sneak away from here and get ourselves a snack. My treat.”
“You don’t even have your wallet.” Though I didn’t mind paying for our food. It was the least I could do after everything.
“I have a running tab where we’re going.”
He put his arm around my waist and lifted me from the ground like I was a puppy he needed to put back in the kennel. I hung limp in his arms because I could do nothing else while this stunned.
Carefully spinning me around so that I was right-side up, Maddox placed me in the passenger seat of my own car. When he got into the driver’s seat, he checked the gas gauge and nodded in approval. How far were we going to go?
The drive out of the city was quiet. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, though. If anything, Maddox’s presence was comfortable. I sank into my seat and let out what felt like a breath I’d been holding. The tension in my chest eased and allowed me to breathe again.
“What’s with the road trip?” I asked, taking in the scenery outside my window.
“That bastard can’t find us if we’re on the move, so I figured I would make it worth our time. I’m also craving meat like it’s nobody’s business.”
I raised a brow. “What does that even mean?Like it’s nobody’s business?That doesn’t make sense!”
Maddox smirked as he glanced in my direction. His dark eyes made my heart flip in my chest. I quickly looked away from him to hide the flush rising to my face.
I couldn’t help it. He was very hot as he directed the car with one hand on the wheel. He was the capable kind of man who made the world feel steady when my every step was uncertain lately. Even though his world had been turned upside down time and time again, he remained the same person.
I should have been the one helping him, but here he was to pick up the pieces of me all over again. Though I knew that fixating on my guilt over Maddox’s change into a shifter was helping me to ignore the fact that I’d died earlier, that didn’t change the fact that my guilt had a very real foundation to stand on.
Before I could apologize for everything all over again, Maddox flicked the turn signal and pulled into a small circular driveway outside of a house. I lifted my brow warily, but Maddox nodded towards something on the other side.
When I turned to look, the smell drifted in through the air vents. Smoke poured out of a stack on what looked like a shack with a service counter. It filled the air with the savory aroma of meat and spices. A rotund man opened the door in the back and waved towards us.
“Ah, Detective,” the man said to Maddox when we approached.
Maddox gave a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. I’m not here on official business. I came to get a bite to eat with a friend of mine.”
Wait. We were friends? When did that happen?
I really thought I was a thorn in Maddox’s side that he was determined to keep safe even if it pained him. After all that, he called me a friend. It could have been to wash over our relationship, so this man didn’t ask too many questions, but that didn’t seem likely when the man’s eyes went wide with excitement.
The man wiggled his brows suggestively. “You’re back to makingfriendsagain. Good for you! I’m glad to see you back on the market again.”
Maddox made a pained sound. “It’s not like that. She’s just a friend I met through the current case I’m working. You know I’m not ready to start dating again.”
The man clearly didn’t agree. He waved off Maddox’s statement then turned to me.
“I have just what you need if you’re dealing with this guy all day.” He turned and opened a fridge off to the side.
He pulled out a Styrofoam container that might fit the two-meat combo at my favorite Chinese buffet. However, it wasn’t filled with meat and starches. Instead, when he opened the container, there was a fat slice of peanut butter pie topped with caramel and crushed pretzels.
“Something a little sweet to make up for his lack of it. And a little bit of salt to highlight his saltiness.”