I don’t know what expression he sees on my face but he grins and says, “Do you want me to carry you?”
I decline, tempting as the offer sounds. We walk back to the car in silence, and I allow myself to enjoy being in the sun, on the beach—the sand beneath my toes and the wind in my hair.
Who knows when I’ll be back here.
* * *
He takes me to get ice cream without my having to ask. I have to admit, it’s a very sweet move on his behalf.
“Anywhere else you want to go?” he asks, scanning the area as we sit on the grass.
“Nope. How about you? Do you want to go anywhere?” I ask, even though I was fucking tired and just wanted a shower and a nap.
“I’m good,” he says, licking the soft-serve vanilla cone. “Can’t remember the last time I had ice cream like this.” He pauses, then adds, “I think it was when I was a prospect and Faye was pregnant. She’d make me bring her ice cream, or take her out to get it all the time.”
“Faye?”
“My president’s old lady,” he explains, making my eyes widen in realization.
“Oh,” I say, my tongue chasing some of the ice cream as it drips down the cone. “I forgot how good it was, just to get some fresh air and enjoy the simple things in life, you know?”
He nods, watching me for a moment before returning to his frozen treat. “You know you can’t live like this forever, right? Something needs to be done about the whole situation. I don’t get how your father and Talon can allow this to continue, with you having to hide because of whatever shit he got himself into.”
“I know, but I don’t really have a choice. I considered leaving the country, but I’d have to take a new identity and leave behind Talon and my father, who are the only family I’m close to. I’ve been hiding for a few months now, hopefully it won’t be too much longer.”
“I don’t get it. Why doesn’t Talon just hide you in his MC?” he says, sounding angry. “Or I don’t know, come up with something other than your being stuck with strangers and being sent here there and everywhere. It’s fucked.”
Talon wanted to hide me in the Wild Men MC clubhouse. In fact, that was the first thing he said to me. However, something changed, and he had to come up with a new plan. He didn’t explain to me why, but I have the feeling something’s going on with his MC and he didn’t feel I’d be safe there for some reason. It doesn’t really make sense, because those men are family to Talon, so I didn’t really understand the situation either.
“He wanted to,” I say, wanting to stand up for my cousin. “But something happened. I don’t know what. I do know that he has a reason for not taking me there though.”
“Something else to discuss with him,” he says, jaw tight and clenched. “I’d feel like shit just leaving you, you know? Going back to my life and handing you over to some other dick, not knowing what the hell is going to happen to you.”
“That’s sweet of you, Vinnie,” I say, laying my hand on his forearm. “But I’m not your problem. You don’t need to worry about me.”
I don’t know what is going to happen, and I’m trying to just take things day by day. It is unfair that people want to use me as leverage against my father, but there isn’t anything I could do about it besides try to survive. He is right though, something has to give.
“It’s not as simple as that,” he says, taking a crunchy bite out of his cone. “I don’t know; I need to think about it, but things aren’t going to be the same when I leave as they were before I got here.”
He says it like a promise, like a threat.
And when he says it—for some reason I believe him.
TEN
Vinnie
“WANT me to drive down, brother?” is how Arrow answers the phone, making me smile.
“No, but as usual I appreciate the offer,” I say into the phone, looking down the driveway. “I do need a favor though. Talon’s not answering his fuckin’ phone and I have a few questions for him.”
More like an interrogation. I don’t care how much he tells me this isn’t my business, he made it my business when he dragged me into it.
“I’ll try to get in contact with him for you,” he rasps, not sounding too happy about it, but he wouldn’t complain. That’s just Arrow through and through. “Everything okay over there?”
I didn’t really know what the fuck to say. Everything was okay, but it wasn’t. I know that Arrow will just tell me that this isn’t my problem to deal with, that Shay isn’t anything to me, that when I get back I need to forget all this shit.
But I couldn’t.
“Everything’s all right,” I say, shuffling my feet. “Talon’s protection operation is just fuckin’ bullshit, Arrow. Having one or two people protect a woman by locking her up and moving her all the time isn’t really the best plan I’ve ever heard.”
“I hear you. You’ve got only a few days left though, so just look after her until it’s no longer your problem. Your marker will be paid, and you won’t owe that bastard shit anymore.”
Just like I thought he’d say.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “Thanks, brother.”
“Anytime. You need me, I’m there.”
“I know,” I say, nodding even though he can’t see me. “And right back at you.”