“You k-killed…?”
“Conrad O’Neill. In front of my son. For opening his big fat mouth and ruining what could’ve been a really wholesome moment for us.”
Sadie takes another sip of tea, as if all my rambling has dehydrated her.
She’s still seated and not out of the door yet, which is a start.
“Please, Sadie, you can’t tell anyone about this.”
“You…killed?” Sadie blows out a breath. “Fuck. This is huge. But now it’s all over, right?”
“Right,” I say. “For the time being. The bikers are good at shooting. Very good at shooting. That place was a grave full of Irishmen when I left this morning.”
“You have my word. I won’t tell anyone about this. On one condition.” The girl watches me closely. “You stop running away.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“You have to stop running. This isn’t just about you anymore, Carmen. What about Otis? What if the O’Neills strike again?”
“Then I protect him with everything I have.”
“What you have is a blunt knife and a pair of Isabel Marants.” She glares at the boots on the mat. “Their money will buy you a good security system and better knives in case you ever need to kill one of Conrad’s relatives. But you don’t know the first thing about combat. They do.”
“I’ll take self-defense classes.”
“You’ll get your ass back on that billion-dollar-looking Harley outside, and return to their clubhouse. With Otis. Because in my two years of knowing you, I haveneverseen you glow this much.”
I stare at her, stunned.
“I told you it wasn’t a good idea for you to move away before, and look what happened. You stayed. Because of them. You can fight it all you want, but what’s truly meant for you will never go away.” She takes her tone down a notch. “You say you don’t wanna hurt them, but you’re doing exactly that by leaving. Wake up.”
I slump in my seat and let out a groan. I hate that she’s right.
“I was reconsidering New York. You could come with me…?”
“No,” snaps Sadie, killing the suggestion in an instant. “No New York. You have everything you want here. And that’s exactly why you want to run away.”
It hurts to think about how well things could turn out. Vex, Skipper, Carter, Otis and me. One big happy family. A team of five is much more daunting than a team of two. It opens up complicated, and I’m not good at dealing with that.
But they’d all make great fathers for Otis. They have all proved themselves worthy of that title.
“Come on.” A smile crawls onto Sadie’s face. “You haven’t been able to keep away from them so far. What makes you think this time will be different?”
This girl…
I rise from the chair and finish my cup of tea.
“Atta girl,” she cheers. “You go get ’em.”
“And what about you?”
“Duh, I’m your nanny. I’ll watch over him. But be back before nine, yeah? I have a date.”
“I’ll be back three hours before. To get you glammed.” I flash her a wink and grab the stolen Harley keys, heading outside.
I have two motorcycles now, one lots more brand-spanking-new than the other.
I hop on the flashy one and start up the engine.
