Fuck it. Break it off, do it now.
“We have work to do,” he said, his voice hard. “We shouldn’t be wasting time like this. Let’s go.”
Augusta reached for his hand, but he slipped away, turning to stride down the dock ahead of her. He sensed her turmoil, how badly she wanted to ask him what was wrong and if she had done something to hurt him and wanted to fix it. Ray resolved to give her no answers. It was better that way. Even though it felt like someone was carving into his chest with a circular saw, he had to do this.
He would do anything to protect her, even if he had to hurt himself to do it. The way he saw it, the person who posed the greatest risk to Augusta right now was him.
Chapter17
Augusta
On the walk back from the waterfront, Augusta felt hollow and empty. Ray’s quick retreat verified she was right to hesitate in trusting him.
He wasn’t a jerk like her ex, but maybe he was a different type of jerk altogether.
The trouble was she couldn’t believe that, not after hearing his story and sharing his sorrow. This man was wounded, so much so that he couldn’t see his own value. It broke her heart in that someone so special and wonderful couldn’t believe in himself.
Still, I’m scared to trust. It’s one thing to want to help him and quite another to give him my heart.
She was troubled, though. It might take giving her whole heart to help him out of this hole he was in … if he could get out at all.
She jogged to keep up with Ray on their way to the car. He moved with purpose like he wanted to get the job done as quickly as possible. Augusta felt herself withdrawing from him, but it might only be because he had just bared his soul to her.
“Where are we going?” she asked as they jumped in the car. His tense face told her that he had a lot on his mind, and she didn’t want to distract him, just get an idea of the next step in the plan.
Ray paused with his hand on the key, looking through the front window. “You have the negative and picture of the tattoo.”
Augusta nodded. “Yeah, they are in my darkroom. You saw them.”
“That’s bad,” he said. “If anyone is familiar with old-fashioned photography, they will know they can print copies from the negative.”
Ray sighed. “We need to get it. It’s only a matter of time until someone else figures it out. This whole thing is looking more like a setup all the time, and we can’t let that negative get into the wrong hands. It could ignite a bloody war.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Augusta said. She really had no idea how serious these gang wars are but she would bet money that it would be nasty. She decided to just agree with him and think about this fact later.
Ray started the car and pulled out into traffic. It was late, and there were still a lot of cars on the road. Questions welled inside her, but she couldn’t figure out how to voice them, so she stayed quiet.
Augusta sensed deep hurt in Ray, and she figured he was burying it as fast as he could. She wanted to reach out to him, to let him know he could trust her, but he was shutting down. That made her withdraw as well. There was no help for it … she was wounded too. If things weren’t safe, she’d turn tail and hide, just like he was.
Well, this is a fucking mess.
By the time they returned to campus, Augusta was more relaxed but still emotionally tense. Ray had said very little on the way there, and she missed the easy conversation they had shared.
She moved to get out of the car, and Ray waved a hand at her. “No, no. You stay here. There could be people watching the building. I’ll go. Keep your head down till I get back.”
“Okay,” she said in a quiet voice, realizing they had parked a distance from her dorm. She thought his reasons were probably sound, but it seemed to her that he was making excuses so he could go without her.
She curled up in the seat, watching him hurry across the expansive lawn into the building. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of the negative before this. It would be all too easy for someone to turn the situation around to their advantage if they had it.
Just when Augusta was beginning to think she should go up and help Ray look, a van screeched up beside her. It stopped right next to her, blocking her in. Fear rose in her belly, strangling her heart and closing her throat. She was all alone. Ray was up in her darkroom, and she was completely defenseless.
A few men leaped out of the car. Augusta’s heart rate jumped up another notch, making her temples pound. She was terrified, and her mouth was brick dry.
It’s okay. They aren’t here for you. Why would they be?
Then, one of them strode straight to the car and banged on the window. She jumped and shrieked, so terrified, she nearly hurled herself out the window.
“Ma’am? It’s okay. Are you Augusta Sinclair?”