Bowen turned back to find Sera watching him, chewing on her bottom lip. “You okay?”
His breath shuddered out. “I’m pretty damn far from okay, Ladybug.”
Sera’s lips trembled, he suspected with the need to laugh. Instead, she reached into her purse and removed a couple dollar bills, feeding them into the slot.
“Smile.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
By the time Bowen and Sera dragged themselves away from the boardwalk, the sun had started dipping low in the distance, forming light patterns on the water. They’d collected so many tickets from winning arcade games, they’d started looping them around their necks like scarves. After lugging the tangled heaps to the counter, they’d agreed to exchange the tickets for the ugliest prize they could find, making Bowen the proud new owner of a fringed leather vest that said “Greased Lightning” on the back.
He never wanted to leave. As they drove back toward Bensonhurst, reality intruding with every mile, he wanted to whip the car around and go back to Coney Island. He wanted to stay there in the sunshine with Sera playing stupid games and riding kiddie rides they were way too old to ride. For this one too-brief day, he’d been someone else.
Someone better. But as soon as the streets became familiar again, passing along the outside of his window, he turned back into his father, heir to the criminal throne. A throne of garbage and barbed wire. One he didn’t want, but didn’t know how to separate from.
As they pulled up in front of his building, his cell phone buzzed in the cupholder. He checked the screen and cursed. Wayne. The last person he wanted to talk to with Sera sitting beside him, head lolling against the seat drowsily. Trusting him to get her home safe. All day long, they’d been a normal couple, but answering this call would end that with a quickness. Still, Wayne never let himself be avoided for long, and speaking to him over the phone was better than in person.
He pressed the talk button with a sigh.
“Yeah?”
Loud music and voices greeted him before the older man spoke. “Now, that ain’t no way to answer the phone.”
Bowen ignored the pinch of irritation.
He’d stopped taking Wayne’s bullshit last time they spoke, and he couldn’t take a step back now. “Hell, I probably use the wrong fork in restaurants, too, Wayne. Is this a fucking etiquette lesson?
I’m busy.”
An extended silence passed. “Busy doing what?”
“Practicing my origami.” He closed his
eyes
when
Sera
shifted
uncomfortably in the passenger seat, the perfect ease between them ruined.
“What’s it to you?”
Wayne’s humorous chuckle reached down the phone, sounding like a warning. “I’m down at Marco’s with some of the boys. You’ve got to show your face once in a while, kid. They need a leader. When they don’t have one, they get restless and start acting on their own. You know what I’m saying?”
Bowen knew all too well what Wayne meant. The local guys who’d first been employed by his father, and now him, needed babysitting around the clock.
They didn’t have jobs to keep them occupied, and spending time with their families didn’t exactly appear to be a priority. No, they weren’t the type to sit tight and wait for a call about a job.
They felt the constant need to prove themselves. Bowen was ashamed to admit he might have felt that at one time in his life, when he’d been too young to know better. Not now.
He had two options. Leave Sera here and hope Connor wasn’t watching, waiting for Bowen to leave her alone so he could potentially carry out Hogan’s orders. Or he could bring her along with him to Marco’s.
Fuck, he hated either option.
Painfully aware of Wayne waiting on the line, he looked over at Sera. She gave him a steady half smile that warmed him immediately. Dammit, he couldn’t leave her alone. The entire time he was gone, he’d be going out of his mind worrying about her. Worried he might come home and find her hurt. Or worse.
No, that wouldn’t work.
“Be there in a while,” he snapped into the phone, hanging it up before Wayne could reply. Sera laid her hand on top of his and it suddenly occurred to him she would want this. If given the choice, she would want to come tonight and absorb as much as she could. About him, his associates.
“Bowen?” Her soft voice soothed him even in the midst of his chaotic thoughts.
“What’s wrong?”
He stared out the windshield. “Will you go somewhere with me?”
“Is it going to be as fun as the beach?”
“No, Ladybug.”
She nodded, as if she’d already known the answer. “Yeah, I’ll go.”
They drove in silence the ten blocks to Marco’s and he parked in his usual spot.
Without asking her, she waited until he came around to the passenger door to help her out. Sera was smart. She had to know the kind of danger she was in. Not for the first time, he wished he hadn’t agreed to keep his involvement from her.