He nods, running his fingers through my hair. “Well, I’m pretty fuckin’ sure I love you, so I’m glad you’re on board.”
I freeze in his arms and his other hand slides up my side. He kisses my cheek then steps around me. Without another word or looking me in the eyes again, he disappears inside.
And I stand on the porch still frozen with my hands in the air for several minutes until the front door closing snaps me out of it.
I glance back to find Captain looking all fresh with his keys in his hands.
“You good?” he asks me, and I shake my head.
“Yeah, fine.” I swallow, running my tongue over my teeth. “Can you drop me at the house on your way out?”
He raises a brow. “Promise to get out?” he teases, and I laugh, shoving him and get in the passenger seat.
“Do you meet her at the same park every visit?” I ask him, and his features tighten.
“Yeah.”
One word is all I get until I’m climbing out.
“Raven,” he calls. “You could come, if you want...” He trails off, not meeting my eyes.
I walk around to the driver side, forcing him to look at me. “I will go with you each and every single time you go. Always. But only if you ask me.”
His eyes tighten around the edges and he reaches out. Gripping my neck in his hand, he gives a curt nod and slowly releases me.
Captain’s phone dings right then and he laughs quietly, lifting the screen for me to see.
Maddoc: 47 minutes, Raven...
With a playful groan, I walk backward and Cap winks, but then his eyes lift over my shoulder and his face is wiped of all emotion.
The blank look of a Brayshaw takes over and he rolls forward.
I turn to find Victoria leaning against the porch.
Her eyes follow the black SUV until it pulls away, then slowly slide back to mine. “You’re a few solid weeks past ‘tomorrow,’ Rae.”
The night I was jumped, she and her friend scared them away and she brought me back here. I promised her the money I won in betting that night, but I took off the next day before I could make it right with her.
I hold out the cash and she frowns. “A deal is a deal.”
Her features tighten. I know she wants to turn it down, but she’s a poor girl living in a group home.
Free money isn’t something she’d be smart to walk away from and she knows it.
Seeming a little embarrassed, she takes it, her eyes thanking me when her pride won’t allow her words to.
“Now, let’s go for a walk. I could use some air and you can buy me a snack or something,” I ease her.
She scoffs, disappears inside and comes out wearing her blue leather coat, and we start walking.
Victoria has that typical beach girl thing going on.
She’s tan even though it’s winter, and has long blonde hair with a little darker roots, but it’s natural, like the sun bleached it, and deep brown eyes. She’s short compared to me, but she’s fierce.
And when she sparks a joint and cuts her eyes to mine, she’s my new best friend.
Not really, but I’m with it.
She passes it my way, laughing when I sigh.
“You out?”
“Yeah, but I’m working on it,” I tell her, and she grins. “Sorry it took me a minute to get over here. Shit didn’t ...” I grimace. “Go as planned.”
She scoffs. “Yeah, no shit. Just because I’m not seen, don’t forget I go to the same school.” She cuts her eyes my way. “That was ballsy of you.”
I look away, shaking my head. “Trust me. Balls had nothing to do with it.”
“So, what was it, then?”
It’s sort of like what Bass had said to me the other night, so I try to explain it to her.
“Because they deserved me to. There’s not a whole lot people like us can do to handle a situation, not with where we’re at in our lives right now.” I take the joint when she passes it back. “So...”
“So, when you have the ability to do something, you do it, fuck the consequences?”
I nod, sliding my eyes her way.
She’s not judging. Something tells me she understands what I’m saying.
“What about after you did it?” she wonders. “Once you saw how it affected them, did you regret it?”
I lick my lips and look forward. “I wanted to.”
But I didn’t.
“That’s big of you, Rae.” She gives a tight grin and looks away. “Born in hell, yet your conscience didn’t burn.”
“When I first got here, all the shit you heard floating through the house and at school, that was all because I could. But this last time, maybe even a move or two before if I’m real, was different.”
“Because you care about them.”
I look her way. “I didn’t need a minute to think. The decision was made the second I understood what had happened.”
“Guessing you’re not about to tell me what did happen?” She lifts a blonde brow.
I laugh, shaking my head. “Hell no. I’m only talking to you now because it seems you took the stick out of your ass.”
She rolls her eyes and looks away. “I’ve got issues. When they nag at me, I take it out on everyone else.”
Unapologetic.
I appreciate it.
“How’s the house, by the way?”
“Same shit, different day. Maybell’s a little more on edge lately, so we haven’t been able to sneak off as much. Vienna hasn’t been there much this week, not sure what’s up with that since her shit’s still there. All in all, I could use a drunken night.”
“And your man?”
She shrugs. “Gone. He was a drifter and I helped pass the time.”
“You sound so broken up about it,” I joke.
She laughs, looking at me. “He was good for passing my time too.”
I chuckle, glancing her way, seeing something in the shop window and focus straight again.
“Don’t look, but that car has been following us for the last three blocks.”
She scoffs. “Do you really think you’re the only one who watches their back?”
My eyes cut to hers.
“If it wasn’t tailing us, it would have passed a long time ago.” She smirks.
“You spotted him in the window at the stop light back there?”
“Duh.” She grins. “What do we do?”
I shrug, a zing of excitement hitting me. “Ask him what the fuck his problem is?”