Free Verum by Courtney Cole

he’s dead.
    “I need some things,” I tell him. “Toiletry items,” I add before he can ask. “Girl stuff. I think I’ll go into town and pick them up. Do you want to come?”
    He shakes his head. “For girl stuff? Uh, no. I think I’ll just stay here and take an imaginary walk through the gardens.”
    “Good idea. I should practice being alone.”
    “You should,” he nods, and I once again ponder my ridiculousness. Am I so pathetic that I have to imagine a reality?
    Apparently, I am.
    I find Jones downstairs, and hesitantly, I approach the imposing man.
    “Is there any way you could take me into town? I need to go to the store.”
    “Of course, Miss Price,” he nods, immediately interrupting what he’s doing to tend to me. “I’ll bring the car around.”
    I’m waiting out front when Dare comes out the door, breathtakingly sexy in a black outfit, black slacks and snug black shirt. He blows out of the house like a breeze, and stops next to me.
    “Can I catch a ride with you?” he asks, eyeing me up and down, checking for weakness.
    “Of course. But don’t you drive?” I ask dumbly, because he’s been driving himself somewhere every night. He cocks his head.
    “Sometimes, I just wanna be lazy.”
    “Understandable,” I nod. “You can by all means share my ride.”
    He leans against the house.
    “Is your room comfortable?” he asks knowingly, because he has to know that it is. The politeness between us hurts me, it cuts like a knife and I want to yank it away.
    But I can’t.
    The more distance between us, the safer I am.
    I don’t know how I know it, I just do.
    I nod, and Dare smiles as the car glides to a stop in front of us. He opens the door for me, because even though he’s not as nice as me, he has manners.
    “Good.”
    He slides in next to me, and his fingers wrap around mine. I pull them away.
    “Dare… I…” I stare at him, steeling myself, resolving myself. “I need you to not be nice to me.”
    His eyes widen, then narrow.
    “Why?”
    “Because it’ll be easier that way.”
    He shakes his head, annoyance in his eyes. “Easier for who? If you want to push me away, I’m not going to make it easy on you, Calla.”
    “Is this easy on me?”
    By this I mean my life and he knows it. My mother died. My brother died. I’m away from my father, here at Whitley, and I feel in my heart that I can’t trust Dare. He’s hiding something from me.
    Dare shakes his head. “No. But there’s no reason to make it harder, Calla. Don’t push me away. Just… don’t. You’re not the only one who is struggling.”
    His eyes are so pained, so haunted, so sad.
    My eyes feel hot and I blink wetness away, my heart heavy.
    “Can you tell me what it is that I don’t know?”
    Dare freezes, his hand on his leg.
    “No.”
    “Then I can’t trust you. You have a secret. And I hate secrets , Dare. You should understand why.”
    He clenches his jaw and looks out the window, and I turn the opposite way.
    I ignore him, stare out the window at the English countryside as we drive into town.
    “How far are we from London?” I call up to Jones.
    “About an hour, miss.”
    Jones answers, and Dare doesn’t look up from his phone.
    “Too far away,” he says without looking at me.
    “Why do you say that?” I ask him. He doesn’t bother answering, just stares even more intently at his phone.
    “Rude,” I mutter under my breath.
    I think I see his lip twitch, but I can’t be certain.
    You wanted him to not be so nice.
    He’s taking me at my word.
    It doesn’t take long to get to the little town, and it takes even less time for Dare to get out of the car and start down the sidewalk, away from the car.
    “We’ll be back here in an hour,” he calls over his shoulder to Jones.
    How presumptuous.
    “Will an hour be sufficient?” Jones asks me in his stiff voice. “I’ll wait longer for you if necessary.”
    “I’m sure an hour will be fine,” I assure him. He nods and I head toward the