Page 68 of Chasing Home
Instead, I wound up pissing her off and taking three steps back instead of forward.
I want to blame this all on Wanda and her shitty attitude toward Aurora this morning. It would be easier that way. But it isn’t fair. I know better than that.
“We have an hour drive back. Talk to me, Rory,” I say once we make it onto the main highway, darting my eyes across the dash.
“What do you want to talk about?”
“You know exactly what I want to talk about.”
“Well, I don’t want to talk about that.”
“Why? Because you know if we do, you’ll have to expose yourself? You’ll have to admit what it is that’s really bothering you and show what you think is what? Weakness?” I ask, choking the steering wheel with my hands.
She doesn’t have even a slight visible reaction to my words, and with a snip of invisible sheers, my last string of patience is severed.
With a quick look in my tow mirrors, I find the closest turnout and pull the truck over. Only when I rip the keys from the ignition and hop out of the cab does she finally show some sort of reaction. Brows in her hairline, she watches me suspiciously. It’s only been a few minutes since I’ve seen her beautiful blue eyes, but the sight of them now makes me weak-kneed.
“Get out of the truck, Aurora,” I order, slamming the door shut.
I wring my hands together and walk to the back of the trailer. One of the horses whinnies, but other than that, they’re calm and quiet. It’s not too hot today—another blessing when it comes to this pause in driving.
“I don’t like being ordered around, Johnny.”
I huff a laugh. “Well, that’s too bad, darlin’.”
The first thing I notice when she rounds the back of the trailer is her glare. It snares me, promising to set me on fire. I almost surrender to the call of the flickering flames. Would they brand me with her initials or melt me from the inside out?
“I want to go home,” she states bluntly.
“We will go home. After you talk to me.”
“Why bother? You seem to know just about every thought in my head already.”
“And that bothers you,” I state.
She sucks in a breath, rolling her eyes up to the sky. “Yes, it bothers me. What gives you the right to read me so easily?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s unfair.”
“You know what else is unfair?” I ask, nostrils flaring as I close some of the distance she’s left between us.
She lifts her chin higher, that brave, angry gaze never drifting. “No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“This attitude of yours is going to kill me, Aurora,” I say softly, shaking my head. “We’ll add it to the fucking list of things you do that drives me out of my goddamn mind.”
“Are you expecting an apology from me for that?”
“Not in the slightest. But I do expect honesty in return for all of mine.”
She breaks eye contact and spins around, facing an endless field of nothing. “What you want is for me to break myself open and spill every single thought I’ve ever had.”
“When they involve me, fuckin’ right I do.”
“They all involve you!” she shouts, arms flying as she looks back at me. “From that first night, you’ve occupied my mind like a disease! It was curiosity at first. Confusion as to why you came for me that night and why I let you. I don’t believe in fate or coincidences, yet every single day with you, the universe tries to change my mind.
“I shouldn’t be drawn to you the way I am. It’s trouble waiting to happen. You are heartbreak, Johnny. You’re fucking heartbreak, and I’ve signed myself up for it anyway!”