LUKE
“What the hell are you doing here?” she questions, shaking her head in disbelief when she should be thanking me for saving her. But I’m guessing that someone like Ella has too many secrets to ever be thankful for me barging in on one of them, even if I did just save her. She takes a measured step towards me when I defiantly refuse to answer her question. “Are you going to answer me, or are you just going to stand there like a deer caught in headlights?”
“Interesting theory you have there, considering it would seem that you’re the one that’s been caught red-handed.”
“What do you want from me?” She shrugs, waving a gun in hand, and I’m terrified that she doesn’t know how to use that thing, much less know anything about the safety features.
I point squarely at the shady-ass pawn shop I just dragged her shady ass out of. “Who the hell was that in there?”
“That’s none of your business,” she scoffs and pushes past me. Where she’s going? I don’t know, but I’m not about to let her walk off like that. Not after learning that Ella Gold probably doesn’t even exist. She cranes her head over her shoulder as she races away, her heels clattering against the cement. “And I fired you, so stop following me.”
I shake my head. “That’s something I can’t do.”
That seems to stop her dead in her tracks. She twists to me with her tongue firmly pressed against her cheek. “That’s not something you get a choice in.”
“You need help,” I try to reason with her, knowing full well that she’s intent on doing this alone for reasons I can’t even begin to understand. “You need me.”
“Thanks, but I got my own help now.” She waves the gun in the air, flashing it in plain sight for me to see, as if I hadn’t already seen it. “Which means I don’t need you anymore, not that I ever did.” She rolls her eyes and turns back around to continue marching forward.
“Do you even know how to use that thing?” I call out to her and wait eagerly for her to turn around, which I know she’s about to do. She can’t help herself, because she’s only lying to herself by saying she doesn’t need my help.
“Aim and fire?” She slaps her hands against her sides and then turns back to me—just as predicted. “Can’t be too complicated.”
“Yeah, it’s a little more complicated than that.” I take a measured step towards her. “At least let me show you.”
She howls in laughter before setting her sights squarely on me. “What part of fired do you not understand?”
“The part where there’s a girl, running scared for her life, standing in front of me with a firearm she has no idea how to use and is not even close to being prepared to pull that trigger.”
“You’re making a lot of assumptions,” she says with a flat smile. “Stop underestimating me.”
And just like that, she’s off again thinking she’s about to disappear into the darkness, but there’s one more thing…
“I’m sure you already know this, but that gun’s a fake.”
She stops, turns to me, shakes her head slightly. “Do you really think I’m going to fall for that?”
I shrug with apathy before reaching for her gun and ripping it out of her hands.
“Hey!” she scolds me, as if that’s about to stop me from what I’m about to do. I cock the gun and point it squarely at her chest. Her lips quiver before she takes a step backwards. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m going to shoot you.” I waste no time in pulling the trigger, and though the gun fires, nothing comes out. Nothing but hot air. I pull the trigger again for emphasis before pushing the gun back into her hands. “That’s some dangerous weaponry you got there.”
“I’m going to kick his ass…” Her throat tenses with rage, as she sinks her teeth into her bottom lip. “I’m going back in there.”
“Please don’t.” I reach for her and grab her by the wrist. “Whoever that guy was, he’s a bottom feeder.” I push my tongue against my cheek and sway on my feet. I’m thinking that I’m about to make the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. “If you let me teach you how to use a gun, then I’ll give you one of mine.”
She swallows and narrows her eyes at me.
“And then I’ll leave you alone,” I say, in hopes of sweetening the pot just enough so that she’ll cave in.
“Fine,” she huffs and puts a finger in my face. “But you have to promise to not mention what happened at my place earlier today. And you have to promise to not try and force your way back into my life to try and save me.”
“Fine,” I agree, lying straight through my teeth. “Get in the car.”
She steps to the passenger side of my car parked right in front of the shop, but before she climbs in, she stares down the shop once more. She has some kind of connection with the guy inside, and by my calculation, whatever it is will be one of the easier secrets of hers for me to figure out.
I want to protect her, but I also want to know her secrets. I want to know more about her for logical reasons—and selfish reasons, too. I’m intrigued by her. She’s an enigma, walking a tightrope between absolute strength and total fragility, and I want to know why.