“Think he’s looking for you?” he asks me.
I shrug. “I haven’t given it much thought.”
“When did you leave?”
“A few weeks ago,” I answer honestly. “Moved around a lot, staying in a few hotels, but I had to settle somewhere because I was blowing through cash faster than I could afford.”
Carmello starts to pace, his hands working against the coarse hair on his jawline. “Is he the type that would look for you?”
“Maybe,” I say with a wince, hating to admit I ever let myself get tangled up with a guy like that. “I don’t know.”
The wood floors creak underneath his boots, but he doesn’t stop moving. “You have your cell phone still? The one you had with him?”
“Of course.”
“Give it to me.” He holds out his hand and waits, his eyes hard, lips tight.
I blink, staring at his palm. “Why?”
“Did you pay for the phone, or did he?”
“He did.”
“Fuck.”
“Bad word,” Adaline chides him without even looking his way.
I cover her mouth with my hand to stop her from saying anything more.
“Seriously, give me your phone,” he demands, bringing his piercing dark eyes back to mine.
“Why?” I ask again, confused.
“Do you trust me?”
“I do.”
“Then don’t ask,” he says like it’s that damn simple.
One thing I don’t do is trust easy. But Carrie thought highly of Carmello, and I trusted her more than anyone else in the world.
“Fine,” I say, dropping my hand from Adaline’s lips, and reach into my back pocket, grabbing my phone.
“Code?” he asks as soon as he has it in his hands.
“9-2-4-6.”
He taps away on the screen, grunting to himself what I think is a slew of curse words, but I can’t be sure with how low he’s speaking.
I watch him as Adaline plays with my hair. She’s been oblivious to the bad things around us. I’ve done my best to shield her from any hurt, something I never had done for me as a child. Although Beau, my ex, never held back from yelling at me in front of her, the one time he laid his hands on me, she wasn’t in the room.
“Damn it,” Carmello mutters in a low, growly whisper.
My eyes widen, and my feet move backward. “What?”
He doesn’t respond before he grips my phone in both hands and snaps the sucker in two. I stare at him, my brain taking a minute to come to terms with what he’s done.
I finally gasp, jerking my head back, shocked that he could do that, and that he did it without a second thought.
“Oh my God. Why would you do that?” I whisper, feeling tears starting to sting my eyes.
I’ve already started counting every dollar I have left to my name, and he takes it upon himself to break my phone without even asking.
It’ll cost me a small fortune to replace it, too.
Money I can’t afford to lose.
Money I don’t really have.
“You can’t stay here,” is his only answer.
He says those words so calmly, I’m no longer angry about the phone but pissed at him for thinking he can tell me what to do.
“What?” I blink, trying to push away the tears before they have a chance to fall. “Why?”
“GPS, Rebel.” He tosses my busted phone into the trash, kicking the cabinet door closed before stalking my way. “He probably already knows where you are. You can’t stay here.”
I don’t move, but I keep my eyes on him as he walks toward my bags. “But…”
He bends down and grabs my things, ticking his head toward the door. “Come on. You can stay with me for a few days until we figure something out.”
“We?” I whisper. “This is my problem.”
“It’s our problem now,” he corrects me, his eyes slicing to me as he stalks by with my bags in his hands. “You don’t know if this guy will come after you, and if he does, what he’ll do.”
I follow him outside and stop on the porch, gawking at him as he throws my bags in his trunk. “What are you doing?” I ask, my mouth hanging open, Adaline still stuck on my hip.
“You can’t take your car. Leave it here.”
I’d laugh at his bossiness if the situation weren’t so dire.
No phone. No car. Nothing except me and my little girl, along with a jerk who’s trying to protect me but making things harder.
“I’m not leaving my car here,” I argue. “First, you break my phone, something I can’t easily replace. And now, you want me to ditch the only form of transportation I have. Are you freaking bananas?”
He slams the lid of the trunk and crosses his arms over his chest, giving me a super pissed-off and scary glare. “Did you check your car for a tracker?”
I blink again, gaping at him. A look I’ve had more than once in the last ten minutes. “A tracker?”
“Yeah, Reb. A tracker. You can buy one online and stick that shit under anyone’s car and know where they are at all times.”
Shit.
I hadn’t even thought about that. My mind doesn’t work that way. I thought I planned for everything, but I never thought about Beau tracking my phone or putting something under my car to keep tabs on me.
“People do that?” I whisper.
He tilts his head, staring me down, resting against the side of his car. “All. The. Fucking. Time.”
“Bad word,” Adaline pipes up, wagging her finger at the big guy who looks like he’s about to blow a gasket.
“That’s insane. Beau wouldn’t…” I start, but the words die in my throat.
Would he?
He’s texted me a few times, begging me to come back and promising he made a mistake.
It will never happen again.
I knew it was complete and utter bullshit.
Once a hitter, always a hitter.
Carmello stalks to my car, pulling the car seat out like it’s something he’s done a million times before. “Again, if he knew where you were, would he come for you?”
I swallow, feeling the knot in my stomach growing and festering. “I don’t know…maybe.” My voice rises on the last word.
“Then let’s roll.”
“But…” I don’t move.
He shakes his head again. “In my car, Rebel. No arguments.”
“Bossy asshole,” I mutter as my feet touch the dirt path at the bottom of the steps.
And just as I open the door to his sleek red sports car, a truck pulls in and I freeze, catching sight of the familiar eyes I’ve never forgotten and have wanted to see for so long, staring right back at me.
6
Rocco
My eyes lock on Rebel.
She stares back, her blue eyes wide, looking more beautiful than the last time I saw her.
I’m out of my truck before she has a chance to even think, stalking toward her. “What’s happening?” My gaze moves from Rebel to my brother and then back to her. “Where are you going?”
I promised myself I wouldn’t show up here, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep myself from coming. Too many things were left unsaid, and this is my only chance at changing that shit.