“Stay here,” he breathed into her hair as she wriggled beneath him. “You can’t go back. He told you to run, for Christ’s sake.”

Kat shot up from her bed, gasping and hoarse from the scream that died slowly in her throat. Her face was wet, as were her clothes, from the sweat pouring from her.

She leaned against the headboard, taking in a huge lungful of air when she remembered she was in her bed. It had been a while since she’d had such a dream, yet the effects of it were just the same. With a groggy head, she lifted herself from her bed and made her way to the bathroom, knowing a bath would relax the muscles in her neck and back that were still tense.

After her long soak, and a good hour of tears, she pulled on a pair of sweats and a hoodie and put on the DVD of School of Rock for some light Jack Black entertainment. A knock at the door had her glancing at the clock, wondering who would turn up at her door past eight on a Saturday night.

Her heart thumped hard when she peered through the peephole. She unlocked the dead bolt and pulled the door open, leaning on it with her hip. She stayed silent for a moment, not knowing what to say.

“Can I come in?” Beth asked in a quiet but firm voice.

“Sure,” Kat answered, standing back to allow her to enter.

Beth stepped in and stood awkwardly while Kat shut the door behind her.

“Can I get you a drink?” Kat tucked her air-dried hair behind her ears. Beth nodded.

Kat shuffled to the kitchen. Once Kat had poured Beth’s drink and handed it to her, she walked, without a word, back toward the sofa and sat. Beth followed and sat at the far end of the couch, sipping her drink.

Kat placed the TV on pause as Jack Black started singing about straight As, then she turned to her friend. “How are you?”

Beth gave a small smile. “I’m okay.” She placed her glass on a coaster on the coffee table. “How are you?”

Kat crossed her arms, feeling weirdly defensive. “I’m fine. Tired.”

Beth clasped her hands in her lap. “Austin said you weren’t well. That’s why I came: to see if I could do anything for you.”

Kat sighed, thinking about the text that she’d sent Austin, the lie she’d written to get out of going for drinks with him, unable to see him after the kiss with Carter. “I don’t need anything.” She saw an uncomfortable shift in her friend. “So where’ve you been? You haven’t replied to any of my texts.”

“I know,” Beth conceded. “I’m sorry. There’s been some family stuff Adam’s been dealing with.” Her eyes darted to a pile of Carter’s work lying on Kat’s coffee table.

“Is everything okay? You should have called.” Kat blinked at the answering silence. “Have I upset you? You seem, I don’t know … off. And that whole performance at my birthday dinner—I just … get the feeling something’s wrong.”

Beth moved closer to Kat on the sofa. She sighed and pressed her lips together. “No.” She cleared her throat. “No, nothing’s wrong, I— I just worry about you. You know, working at Kill and with Carter one-to-one outside of the prison. I wanted—I want—to make sure you’re all right.”

Kat stared at Beth for a beat, wondering what it was that she wasn’t being told. Too tired to figure it out, she searched for the right words. “It’s been a shitty day.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

Kat barked out a laugh and shook her head while making a mumbled noise of words that made no sense. “Not really,” she answered, her throat closing up again. “I’m just a stupid, stupid idiot.”

Beth sat back. “Kat, what happened?” She paused before asking, “Did he hurt you?”

Kat’s head snapped up. “What?” she asked incredulously. “Why would— Who?”

“Carter,” Beth answered. “Did Carter hurt you? That’s who you’re talking about, right?”

The tears Kat had tried like hell to keep back dropped down her face. Her face scrunched up with despair and a sob broke from her throat.

“Oh God.” Beth pulled Kat into her side. “I knew it. Shhh, it’s okay. If he hurt you, we can send his ass back to Kill. Adam and Austin can—”

“No, Beth!” Kat sobbed. “I fucked up. Me.” Beth stayed quiet. “He didn’t hurt me. He would never hurt me.”

Kat didn’t know why, but she’d always known Carter would never do anything to cause her physical pain. She felt safe with him, even when he’d thrown a table across her classroom. There was something in his eyes, something in the way he moved around her, that made Kat feel secure and impervious to any danger.

She knew—deep in her soul—that he would protect her if she needed him to.

“Kat, what the hell happened?”

Kat sniffed. “He kissed me. And I kissed him back.”

16

“Well, shave my ass and call me Priscilla! It’s a motherfucking Kill reunion up in here!”

Riley’s booming bass voice smacked Carter and Jack around the head like a baseball bat before his mammoth body launched from Carter’s apartment doorway at the two of them and pulled them into a death squeeze.

“Oh, I’m so happy,” Riley chimed sarcastically as Carter grumbled and pushed his oafish ass away.

“Dammit, dude,” he said, stretching his back out of the concertina Riley had made of it. “Calm the hell down.”

Riley smirked. “I see freedom hasn’t chilled your uptight ass out any. I, on the other hand, have been free for forty-eight hours and everything is awesome!” He turned to Jack before Carter could respond. “How’s it hanging, J?”

Jack chuckled and straightened his jacket. “I’m hanging fine, Riley. Good to see you. I’ll see you on Thursday for our meeting.” He slipped past him and waved. “We’ll talk soon, Wesley.”

Carter nodded and closed the door behind him while Riley sauntered into the apartment and looked around the place like a prospective buyer or some shit. Carter sighed.

“What can I do for you, Moore?”

Riley patted his enormous chest with his palms and smiled. “You got any beer? I’m about parched.”

With two beers in hand, Riley dropped himself onto the couch while Carter fiddled with his cell phone, feeling disgruntled. It’d been two days since the kiss in Central Park, and he still hadn’t heard from Peaches. Not that he’d expected to, but it didn’t stop him from being fidgety as all hell. He had no idea what he was going to say to her when they met for their session.

“Am I keeping you from something?” Riley asked nonchalantly, sipping his beer.

Carter shook his head, threw his cell to the side, and lit a cigarette. “So how’s it feel being out? Forty-eight hours? I’m surprised I’ve not seen your ass sooner.”

Riley smiled. “You know me, Carter: places to see, people to do.”

Carter laughed and raised his eyebrows in agreement.

“Not that you’re not important to me or anything,” Riley added with a wry wink. “But I had to get some shit organized.”

Carter paused. “You getting involved with hot parts again?”

Riley frowned. “No. No, man. That was a mistake I will not be reliving. I just had a few deals to settle. Jack here for the usual?”

“Yeah,” Carter replied. “Diane was here earlier. She’d have loved to have seen you.” The two men snorted.

Riley and Diane hadn’t always had the best relationship. To say that she didn’t understand his foul-mouthed humor was an understatement.

“She wants me,” Riley answered coolly as he sat back and kicked his feet up. “What can I say?”

“Of course she does.” Carter chuckled but stopped abruptly when his cell beeped with an incoming text. Max. Dammit.

“That your new … female plaything?” Riley winked.

“No. It’s not my new ‘plaything,’” he barked before looking back at the cell screen.

“Okay, okay,” Riley retorted before he lit his own smoke. “Chill yourself, asshole. It was only a question.”

Carter exhaled and rubbed his forehead with his fingers. “I know … just … It’s not like that.”

“Things are going well with Miss Lane, I assume,” Riley commented smoothly.