I pulled back to give her a shaky smile, but froze when I saw the faint bruising along her left cheekbone, hidden beneath a mound of concealer. “Oh my god,” I hissed. “What happened to your face?”
Her eyes widened in fright as she quickly pulled back and lifted her hand to cover her cheek. “I-It’s nothing,” she stuttered, averting her gaze. “I slipped in my kitchen and hit my cheek on the counter.” At the disbelief on my face, she continued. “Seriously, Gypsy. I’m totally fine.”
Warning signals were going off left and right. I knew in my gut she was lying. I’d used that exact same lie about falling whenever my father smacked me around. I wanted to push her, but I could see her shutting down already, and I knew I wouldn’t get the truth out of her with force. I’d have to go gentle. “You know, that offer you just made me goes both ways, hon. I’m here for you too.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, lowering her head in embarrassment. God, I was such a shitty friend. I’d been so consumed with my own misery that I didn’t even notice someone I cared about had been walking around with a goddamn bruise on her face. I vowed to myself right then that I’d do better. For McKenna. For Eden and Nona and Tempie and Rory. For Odette.
“You have my number, Mac. If you ever need me for anything, or even if you just want to talk, you call me. Day or night. Got it?”
She finally lifted her head and gave me a small smile. “Got it, Gypsy.”
“I’m serious,” I stressed. “You need me, I’m here.”
“I know, sweetie.” Her smile wobbled, her eyes watered, and I knew I needed to be done with this conversation, for McKenna’s sake.
“All right, babe. I’m done for the night. See you later?”
“Yeah.”
Having changed into my sweats, I was on my way out the door a few minutes later when a thought made me pause. I’d noticed for a while now the way Bruce looked at McKenna. And I could have sworn that a few of the times I saw them talking to each other, there had been a mutual affection there. She obviously wasn’t going to tell me what had happened to her, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t do everything in my power to protect her as best as I could.
Changing course, I went in search of Bruce, finding him lingering just backstage. “Hey, you have a minute?”
“Sure,” he replied, his face a blank mask.
“Have you spoken to Mac lately?”
For the first time since I’d known him, I witnessed something other than boredom flicker across his expression. His jaw ticked and his eyes grew dark as he ground out his reply. “Not recently.”
“So you haven’t noticed the bruise on her face?”
A wave of pure, unadulterated fury rolled off him and crashed right into me so hard I almost staggered back. “Goddamn it,” he growled.
“Is she dating someone?”
“Black,” he clipped, that one word coming out as sharp as a razor blade.
I sucked in a gasp so fast it made my lungs burn. “Malachi Black?”
He nodded in confirmation. “Damn fool woman got herself mixed up with that asshole shortly after he took over.” Oh god, no. “Something about that prick’s just off. He caught us talkin’ a while back and lost his shit. She hasn’t looked at me since.”
“So you think—” Bile began crawling up my throat, threatening to choke me. “You think he hit her?”
“Wouldn’t fuckin’ surprise me.” He looked away, visibly trying to calm his rage. “Swear to Christ, he did, I’m gonna rip that motherfucker’s throat out .”
“Don’t.” Reaching up, I grabbed his arm. “Don’t do anything that could get you fired, okay? If he’s really hurting her, we need to be able to help, and you can’t do that if you can’t get near her.” That seemed to calm him enough that I was no longer afraid he’d storm into the back office and rip Black’s spine out through his mouth, but he still looked murderous. “I told her I was here if she ever needed me. If you get the chance, you do the same. But for now, I’m afraid she won’t let us do anything more than that.”
He paused for a bit, looking to the side as his throat bobbed on a thick swallow. “All right, Gypsy,” he finally said, nodding in agreement. “I’ll keep a lock on it. And I’ll let her know.”
I gave his thick forearm a squeeze, letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Bruce.”
“Yeah,” he said with a grunt. “Have a good night.”
“You too.”
I opened the back door and stepped out, my eyes landing on Marco a second later. My heart lurched and throbbed at the sight of him standing there, my ever-present sentry.
Talk to him, my heart screamed.
Don’t. This is for the best, my brain countered.
Neither voice won. As usual, my cowardice did. Marco watched as I stood there, struggling with indecision, and as if sensing the battle raging inside me, he tipped his chin and spoke for the first time in two weeks. “Get in your car, girasol. Get home safe.”
He made the decision for me, and like the wimp I was, I let him.
* * *
I was teetering precariously on my last nerve the next day as I wrestled with the grocery bags in my arms.
That morning had been a complete and total disaster. Rhodes and Sunny had gotten into another fight over who would get to shower first. Even after both of them were done and dressed, he wouldn’t let it go, and it exploded into my brother losing his cool to the point that he made Sunny cry.
When I snapped at him for being a jerk, he’d stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him. Afterward, Sunny hit me with a moody silent treatment, full of hostility and teenage angst. Holly had been overly whiny, Ray overly grouchy, and Raleigh was just a terror.
By the time I got the rest of the kids off to school and Raleigh to Odette’s so I could run errands, my patience was shot.
So when the handle of one of my grocery bags snapped before I even got the front door open, sending my carton of eggs crashing onto the porch, it had been the straw that broke that poor abused camel’s back.
“Goddamn it!” I railed at the heavens. “Can I get a break? Just one fucking break? Is that too much to ask?”
When I got no answer, I heaved out a sigh and unlocked the door, dropping all the other bags on the floor right inside.
“Problem?”
I let out a startled shriek and nearly tripped over the bags at the sight of Malachi Black sitting at my kitchen table. Once the shock wore off, rage took its place.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nice to see you too, sugar.”
“How the hell did you get in my house?” I snapped as my fingers gripped my keys so tight they cut into my palm.
“You don’t have the strongest lock on your front door. Thing took all of two seconds to pick.”
My eyes narrowed angrily as I took in his careless pose. His booted feet were kicked up on the tabletop, and he had the chair leaning on its back legs. His good looks did absolutely nothing for me. Suspecting that he was the cause behind the bruise on sweet McKenna’s beautiful face, I felt nothing but hatred.
“And you just decided to let yourself in?”
He seemed to take my disdain as a challenge, determination rolling off him as he set my chair right and stood to his full height.
Moving toward me, he stopped two feet away, his eyes flaring with hunger as they traced over my body. Forcing my feet to stay rooted in place as I looked up at him, I did my best not to let show how just how much he intimidated me.
“Christ, you’re fuckin’ sexy when you’re acting all tough.”
He was vile. “You need to leave.”
Ignoring my demand, Black took his time looking around at my house, and by the curl of his top lip, it was clear he found it lacking. “Damn, darlin’. If I’d known you were living in such shit, I’d have moved on you sooner. Saved you from a shithole like this.”
“Now you really need to leave.”
A taunting grin tugged at his mouth. “But do
n’t you wanna know why I came here?”
The teasing lilt in his voice and the brightness in his eyes let me know he viewed this as a game. He was getting off on this scene.
I rolled my eyes at his childishness. “Not particularly.” Taking a step back, I flicked my hand toward the door. “Feel free to let yourself out the same way you came in.”
Snatching up the bags of discarded groceries, I started for the kitchen, keeping my back to the door as I began unloading everything. Pausing for a second, I waited and listened, but the front door never opened or closed.
Anger began to bubble up inside me like a pot about to boil over as I hurriedly stuffed the food in the pantry and fridge.
Making sure to keep the counter between us, I whipped back around. Planting my hands on my hips, I shot him a killing look. “Why are you still here?”
He had resumed his seat like he had all the time in the world. Shifting in my chair, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a thick white envelope, tossing it onto the center of the table with a loud thunk.
I looked at the envelope like it was a snake ready to strike, a sense of unease washing over me. “What is that?”
He tilted his chin toward the table. “It’s the reason I’m here.”
That didn’t make me feel any better. “But what’s in it?”
He shook his head and grinned like he thought I was adorable, which only pissed me off more. “Open it and find out, sugar.”
Every cell in my body froze and my stomach dropped when I looked inside the envelope. I was right to be leery of it. I’d never seen a stack of cash that thick before in my life, and I knew it couldn’t have come from anywhere good.
I dropped the pile of money on the table like it just burned me and took two big steps back. “What the hell? Where’d that money come from?”
“Don’t worry yourself about where it came from,” he answered, standing once more and moving closer.
Some women might have swooned. Some might not have blinked at getting that kind of cash, especially if they needed it as badly as I did. But I wasn’t one of those women, and I never would be. I was well aware of where that money had come from and the strings attached to it. After all, Malachi Black wasn’t known for being charitable. Just the opposite, in fact.
“No.” I shook my head violently. “Nuh-uh, no way. I’m not taking that.”
The humor fled from his expression, and his forehead wrinkled as he frowned down at me. He seemed genuinely surprised that I wasn’t falling over myself to thank him for offering up his ill-gotten money. “What the hell do you mean, you aren’t taking it? Of course you are.”
“No, I’m not. Look, I don’t know what the hell your deal is, or why you can’t seem to take a hint, but I hear people talk, and I know exactly what you do for a living, and there’s no way in hell I’m taking your drug money.” I said the last two words on a sneer, a bitter taste coating my tongue.
I caught a flash of the anger he was truly capably of, and all of a sudden there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that he’d left that bruise on Mckenna’s face. “I don’t think you’re really in a place to turn down such a generous offer. It’s clear you aren’t capable of taking care of yourself from where I’m standing.”
God, he was such a condescending asshole. “I’m doing just fine, thanks.”
“Really?” He arched an incredulous brow. “You flash your tits for cash. You live in a run-down trailer, and that van outside is a piece of shit. How the fuck is that doin’ just fine?”
I moved closer, lowering my voice to a menacing hiss. “At least I can sleep at night knowing I’m not scum. I might flash my tits for cash, but I’m still a thousand times better than you.”
“You act like I can’t take that away from you in the blink of an eye,” he threatened. The fire in his eyes was banked, replaced by a darkness that would’ve scared the shit out of most anyone else. But I wasn’t anyone, and life hadn’t just hardened me to the bumps along the way. It made me fucking Teflon.
“Try it,” I gritted venomously. “You wouldn’t be the first person to try and knock me down. I’ll just get back up again and again. It’s what I do, and no asshole, including you, will ever change that.”
He moved closer, each step mirroring the one I took backward to get away from him until I hit the wall and was left with nowhere else to go. “Then maybe I’ll keep playing with your friend McKenna, huh?” He gave me a lascivious grin that made my stomach twist into knots. “So sweet and innocent. So agreeable.”
“You stay the hell away from her,” I hissed. My hands began to tremble with rage, and I had to clench them into tight fists to keep the shaking under control. “Don’t you dare get her tangled up in your shit.”
“A man’s gotta have his fun somehow,” he said casually, reaching up to caress a strand of my hair. “And since you’re playin’ hard to get, I might as well have some fun.”
Shoving him back with all my might, I grabbed the envelope and slapped it against his chest. “Take your dirty drug money and get the fuck out of my house.”
Pocketing the cash, he turned on his boots and clomped to the front door, pausing with his hand on the knob to issue one last shot. “You just made a big fuckin’ mistake, sugar.”
With that, the door slammed behind him.
Then I jumped into action.
Chapter Twenty-One
Gypsy
I pushed that stupid van to go faster than it had ever gone before, driving like a bat out of hell all the way to Alpha Omega Investigations.
By the time I pulled into a parking spot out front, the engine was gurgling and sputtering unnaturally. Ignoring the fact that I’d probably just killed the damn thing, I jumped out and ran toward the office. Charging in like a crazed bull, I threw the glass doors wide and rushed to the reception desk.
“Is Marco here?”
Roxanne’s eyes went round. “Good lord, girl! What’s gotten into you?”
“Marco, Rox. Is he here? I need to see him. Now.”
“What’s going on?”
I spun around at the sound of Lincoln’s voice and found him and Marco coming out of his office. The moment Marco spotted me, I saw his whole frame go on red alert.
“Gypsy? What happened?”
Rushing toward him, I slapped my palms against his solid chest and fisted the material of his shirt in my hands, whispering, “Marco, he was in my house.”
“Who was in your house?”
“Malachi Black!” I shrieked. “I got home from running errands and he was in my house.”
“Fuckin’ shit,” Lincoln hissed, but I was too busy watching a fire spark and rage to life in Marco’s eyes. “Come on. Let’s take this into my office.” When Marco just continued to stand there and stare, Lincoln clapped him on his shoulder and urged, “Come on, brother. Let’s get your girl in here so she can have some privacy, yeah?”
That snapped him out of it. Grabbing my hand, he pulled me into Lincoln’s office and closed the door behind us.
“Take a seat, Gypsy,” Linc offered, rounding his desk and sitting behind it. I took one of the two chairs in front of him, and Marco took the second. I hadn’t realized my whole body was shaking like a leaf until Marco pulled my chair close enough to his that he could clasp my trembling hands in his.
“Calm, girasol,” he said softly. “Just breathe. You’re safe now, baby. Breathe.”
I did what he said, working hard to calm myself down.
A minute later, he reached up to cup my jaw, rubbing his thumb over my cheekbone. “Better?”
Pulling in one last fortifying breath, I nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay now.”
Xander had shown up while I was getting a hold of myself, and once I was ready to talk, I looked up at all three of them.
“All right, sweetheart,” Lincoln started. “Tell us what happened.”
I recounted everything from the moment I entered my house to Malachi trying to give me an envelope of cash to his threat right befor
e he left, making sure I didn’t spare a single detail. Marco’s hold on my hands grew tighter and more secure with each passing minute, offering me unwavering support as I talked.
“My friend’s gotten mixed up with him,” I added at the end. Looking over to Xander, I stated, “It’s McKenna. I’m not sure how, and I don’t believe for a second that she’d do anything illegal, but I think… I think he’s beating her up.”
“Fuck,” Xander clipped, lifting a hand and dragging it through his hair.
“You know her?” Lincoln asked him.
“Sweet girl,” he replied. “Quiet. Kinda shy. Doesn’t belong in a place like Pink Palace.”
“I have to protect her,” I murmured. “I promised I’d look after her, but….”
“You can’t work there anymore, baby,” Marco said with absolute finality.
“I know,” I admitted, not even bothering to argue. After what had happened earlier, I knew there was no way I could go back there. “But she’s all alone.” I squeezed Marco’s hands so hard in desperation I felt the knuckles crack. “I have to help her somehow. I can’t just leave her—”
“Xander’ll stay on,” Lincoln announced. “He’s seen some things while working there that we want to explore further, but now he’ll stay with the added job of lookin’ after your girl.” He turned to Xander and asked, “That work for you?” and received a nod in return.
“And we’re not gonna let anything happen to you, either,” Linc promised, leaning forward to meet my gaze head on. “What happened today will never happen again. You have my word.”
For the first time in the past hour, I felt a sense of relief I hadn’t thought possible since the day I’d sent Marco away from the hospital.
Asking for help was one of the hardest things I’d ever done, but I trusted these men completely. I knew they’d do everything in their power to keep their promises.
My cell started ringing from my purse while the guys spoke strategy, and I pulled it out to see the main number for the high school flashing across the screen.
Wrong Side of the Tracks: a Hope Valley novel Page 17
