Aaron was out. His steady warm breath flowed against my neck and kept a few loose strands of my hair flapping against my cheek. I couldn’t find sleep as easily as he could, not even after two rounds of the most mind-blowing sex between us yet.

His sex usually knocked me out, but not this night. We’d killed seven people today, and I’d stitched up Aaron’s side from a knife wound. The vivid memories of violence weren’t what kept sleep at bay. I could handle death. What I couldn’t handle was what was brewing between Aaron and me. I laid there, wide awake because my mind was consumed with my feelings for him.

However, the ravaging images of my past would show up and rip away any shred of happiness I allowed myself to feel.

Also, that heart-stealing emotion-inducing beast that lingered between me and Aaron had a death grip on my mind and refused to let go. My twisted heart beat to a new rhythm, one that was an imprint of my connection to his. Aaron didn’t call attention to it, but I knew that he felt it too.

This new monster demanded respect. It demanded that I glance deeper than the surface. It demanded your whole heart and delved into your deepest fears and greatest happiness. If you refused any of its demands, it dug in deeper, snatching the little bit of control you thought you had. The knowledge that something like this could exist between Aaron and me was the very reason why I had no other choice but to get away from him.

I turned my body, only slightly disrupting the hold Aaron had around my waist. He must have been worn out because he didn’t move an inch when I turned to face him. He wasn’t a snorer, but he breathed heavily, his chest rising and falling rhythmically with each breath.

He had no idea how often I stalked him while he slept. A smile always came to my face when I observed him unconscious and in another world. I wanted to know what he dreamed about. Peace always settled over his sleeping form, no doubt an escape from the not-so-peaceful life he lived.

We’d been too distracted with each other to turn off the lamp, so a dim glow lit my view of Aaron’s peaceful face. I ran my hand along his beautifully tattooed body, his tight abs, and muscular arms. I placed a delicate hand over the stitches that marred the smooth skin of his side before leaning up to kiss his warm, soft lips.

“I love you,” I whispered against the edge of his lips. Panic hit me when I noticed his top lip twitch and turn up into a small smile. At first, it appeared he was awake since he’d smiled right after I whispered those secret words, but sleep kept him under.

I rolled out of his arms with slow ease, but the noisy bed creaked no matter how carefully I maneuvered out of it. A few of the springs popped up at me as well and added to the noise of my not-so-hasty getaway.

I glanced back at Aaron several times to ensure I hadn’t awakened him. When I was fully standing, I remained in place, staring down at him, taking in his handsome face, his chiseled body, and his kissable lips. The bedding covered one of the most masterful parts of him—that glorious dick.

When my staring verged along the lines of being creepy, I headed towards the bathroom. Considering what Aaron and I had been through in such a short time, I reckoned creepy wouldn’t scare either one of us off.

* * *

Leaving Florida wasn’t a choice for me. It was a necessity. Aaron had tracked me down and caught me because I hadn’t moved fast enough. He’d dragged me back into his life, and that was the last place I needed to be. If he’d found me, so could others.

Two weeks had passed since he’d tracked me down and dragged me back into his intoxicating world. Time with Aaron made it extremely difficult for me to build up the courage I needed to walk away from him again.

Aaron knew about my past. Therefore, he understood me in a way that no one else did. This knowledge also put his life in grave danger. I loved Aaron, and based on the tears that wouldn’t stop flowing down my warm cheeks, I loved him a lot more than I’d been willing to admit to myself.

I didn’t know how he’d done it. I didn’t know how he’d been able to unfreeze my twisted heart and make me love him so much. However, my love for Aaron was the very reason I had to leave him. I took one last glimpse at his handsome sleeping face before I turned the lock on the wobbly doorknob and inched the door closed behind me.

I stood against the outside of our cheap motel room, wiping my tears, praying that I was doing the right thing. I was a walking, talking, living, breathing target. Of course, I was doing the right thing. Anyone near or around me was going to end up murdered and that was the very reason why I stayed away from Beverly and Laura. Was there a chance that the assassins we had encountered could have been after Aaron’s MC and not me? Yes, but my instincts were telling me that they were after me.

So, here I was, Lacey Daniels, a.k.a. Megan Jones, running away from Aaron for the second time. I’d managed to leave him sleeping on the other side of the door that my trembling body leaned against after he’d saved me from hired assassins.

The fact that he carried around equipment and weapons that contended with the weapons of hired assassins was positive proof that he could protect me in a battle, but I refused to let Aaron go to war over me.

My face bunched into a tight knot as I tried to hold in my sobs. The ugly-cry had taken over and turned me into a blundering mess as I moved over the dark road with my mouth wide-opened and allowed my cries to float into the darkness. I didn’t want to leave him, but what else was I supposed to do.

After stumbling around the dark wood-lined street for hours attempting to figure out my next move, I believed I’d finally come up with a plan.

It didn’t take long for my smile to dissipate as my mind fell right back on Aaron. By now, he’d have woken up and discovered that I’d run away from him, again. He probably hated me for it, considering he’d admitted that he loved me. He also admitted that he was willing to fight for me no matter if the assassins were after his MC or me. He didn’t say it outright, but his actions spoke much louder than his words ever could.

I was convinced that this wasn’t Aaron’s fight, and I wasn’t going to sit by and let him fight my battle. In all my lessons in survival, running seemed to be my best option, so I ran. I was the one that sought out dangerous situations, therefore I should be the one to suffer the consequences of my actions.

My mind had been so distracted over leaving Aaron that I’d somehow managed to ignore the call of animals lurking in the woods as I wandered through the darkness. The prancing feet of four-legged creatures likely large enough to ripe me to pieces roamed nearby as I ambled over the dark asphalt covered highway surrounded by woods. The lights of the cheap motel about a quarter mile ahead of me had never looked so sweet.

A bell chimed over the door alerting the front desk clerk of my approach. A portly middle-aged woman didn’t bother greeting me as she flashed me a fake smile and awaited my request.

“Yes, a double will be fine,” I answered the motel clerk after she leveled me an irritated look for taking too long to respond.

“Thank you,” I called back to the clerk as I rushed away with quick, anxious steps. I hoped like hell that leaving Aaron meant that I was leading the bad guys away from him.