No. Yes. Honestly, with him so close I had no idea about anything. How had we gone from a year without this happening to a place where we were on our third encounter in the same bloody day? “I’m fine,” I grit out when it became clear Folk wasn’t moving until I gave him an answer. “Just knackered.”
“You should go home then.”
“I am.”
“Alone?”
“With Ivy.”
Folk nodded slowly, his gaze drifting to the chapel where, to my knowledge, Cam remained. “Maybe I’ll come and see you later.”
I opened my mouth. Shut it again as those seven little words barrelled into me. “Later?”
“If you’re awake.” Folk faced me again. “Even if you don’t want a lodger forced on you, we can take a look at the house. Make sure it’s safe.”
“It’s safe.”
“All right.” Folk shrugged and backed off, and every step he took made me feel sicker than Bear’s ugly face.
“Wait.”
Folk stopped.
Waited.
I set my hand on the car door handle, planning my escape as words I couldn’t control surged up my throat and out of my stupid mouth. “I don’t need a security check but, uh, maybe you should come over anyway.”
“To talk?”
“Yeah. To talk.” I opened the car door and slid behind the wheel.
Folk watched me, his expression hard to unpick. And I didn’t try. I started the engine, ripped my gaze from him, and drove away.
* * *
At home, I spent an hour cleaning Ivy up, coaxing her to read to me, then giving in and reading to her instead. She fell asleep with the unicorn book Saint had bought her for Christmas clutched in one hand, the fluffy fox she’d had since birth strangled in the other.
Her bedroom was a booby trap of fairy lights and toys. I straightened it out in case she woke up again, but she was out for the count, leaving me with the rest of a lonely evening to kill.
The arrival of summer had spared me the torture of staring at the TV. I snuck a monitor into Ivy’s room, then went outside to wrestle with the pyracantha bush that blocked the light from the living room window. It was thorny and stubborn. Rubi said it was the quintessential plant of the O’Brian family, which almost made me want to leave it be, but River had been less sentimental.“Get rid of anything that makes you bleed.”
And this bush, man. Those thorns were legit. Ten minutes in and my forearms were a mess. Half an hour later, I should’ve admitted defeat, but I didn’t. And the fact that wrangling it kept me in perfect view of anyone who might ride up on the house was definitely a coincidence.
Not that I was expecting anyone—expectingFolk—to ride over any time before midnight. However his job was defined, it kept him out at night. Sometimes, he and Saint didn’t leave for work until I was cleaning down the bar.Sometimes, he and Alexei didn’t come home at all. Not that I paid attention.
Much.
Regardless, fighting the pyracantha helped me lose an evening I’d otherwise have spent creeping up and down the stairs to check my kid, safe and sound in her pretty lilac bed, wasn’t a figment of my tormented imagination.
Around ten, I admitted defeat and sat on the porch step, drinking a beer. The street Cam, Orla, and River had grown up on had houses set back from the road, with long front gardens. Most of the properties had converted them into driveways with space for multiple vehicles, but no one had got round to it with this house, and I liked it. The concealed porch meant I could sit outside and watch the street without looking like a weirdo. Tip my head back and count the stars instead.
You could do that in the back garden.And I did, sometimes. But not tonight. Couldn’t imagine why.
Laughing at myself, I drained my drink and set the bottle at my feet. The clink of the glass against the concrete sounded unnaturally loud, but most things did when I was this alone. It was why I worked the bar every night Ivy wasn’t home, and I wasn’t away on the wagons. It wasn’t like I gave a shit about keeping rowdy brothers in cheap beer.
My phone was in my pocket. It chirped with the message tone I’d reserved for Lauren, and I closed my eyes, blocking it out, fighting the cold flood of dread that came with every communication she ever sent. Ignoring her was a dangerous game, but I wasn’t in the mood to have my bubble burst. Ivy was with me and she would be all weekend. Whatever Lauren wanted could wait until Monday.
Unless she’s on her way to fuck it all up.Wouldn’t be the first time. With a weary sigh, I faced the music and dragged my phone from my pocket, tension binding my muscles. But it wasn’t Lauren. It was an unknown number, and apparently my phone set its own notification tones now.
