Edge of Surrender by Laura Griffin

Author:Laura Griffin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Star

EIGHT

* * *

Ryan looked across the truck at Emma. She hadn’t spoken in ten minutes.

“You surprised me back there.”

“Why?” she asked.

“The FBI offered you protection. You picked me.”

She didn’t say anything.

“How come?”

She turned her gaze out the window. She still wore the plaid flannel shirt she’d bartered for and the gas-station flip-flops, and her hair was a mess, all wild and curly around her face. And when she’d walked out of that diner with him, he’d wanted to pin her against the building and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe.

The pair of unmarked cop cars in the parking lot had put his plans on hold, though. One of them was still in his rearview mirror, and Ryan had no doubt the other was lurking nearby, waiting to pick up the tail.

“The FBI is a bureaucracy, an institution.” She looked at him. “My father’s part of the oldest institution in American history. I’ve seen institutions up close, and I don’t trust them.”

“You’re a cynic, huh?”

“Aren’t you? Institutions are made up of people, and people are fallible. Not just fallible, sometimes downright selfish and destructive.” She gave him a long look. “And anyway, you were right. She never explained exactly who called me from a government number.”

They drove in silence for a while as Ryan kept an eye on the tail. He was going to have to lose it at some point. He figured it would take about half an hour of skilled maneuvering. He looked at Emma. “What exactly happened with your dad?”

“Nothing.”

He shot her a baleful look. They’d been circling this topic for weeks, and he was ready for her to open up to him.

“I really don’t think you’d be interested in all my family melodrama.”

“I asked because I’m interested.”

“You really want to hear this? Fine.” She folded her arms over her chest. “He cheated on my mom while she was dying of cancer.”

Ryan looked at her. “That sucks.”

“Yes.”

“That must have been hard for you. On top of everything else you were dealing with when your mom was sick.”

She looked out the window. “It was hard for my mom, not me.”

“She knew about it?”

“He didn’t have the decency to cover his tracks well. I mean, it was really pathetic. I figured it out, and I was only eleven.” She shrugged. “But hey, you can’t blame him, right? What was he supposed to do? He was in love.” She rolled her eyes. “He even married her.”

“When?”

She pursed her lips. “Twelve months and nine days after my mom died.”

“So he waited a year.”

“The obligatory year, yes. He had an image to think about.”

Damn, what an asshole. But Ryan was glad she’d told him what the deal was. It explained a lot—her distance from her father, her unwillingness to ask him for help.

Her distrust of men.

“But you want to know what’s even more pathetic?” She looked at Ryan. “I still loved him growing up. Even after everything he did.” She gazed out the window. “Sometimes I hate myself for that.”

Ryan didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything.

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