One she’d lose. “Sure thing, Lacey. Better go get Walt his beer; he looks like he had a day.”
She huffed but went to take care of the patrons. I would miss it here—it had certainly been the best of the places I’ve stayed. But being in the middle of a mob war, answering questions from men who could make me disappear with snaps of their fingers, was not the life I wanted.
Sorry, Tenny. No planting roots here for me in Northchester.
CHAPTER SIX
Gideon
“That’s him,”Dean said as soon as we got into the SUV.
“Who?”
Dean motioned to the bar we’d just left. “Penn, him…thoseeyes. Gid, thatvoice. That’s the man who ran into my house!”
The first thing that had struck me when I’d met Penn had been his emerald eyes. He was slightly shorter than me, definitely worked out or was used to hard labor. His hair was pretty much a buzz cut…and all in all, he was gorgeous. Hearing that he was my children’s savior had me itching to go back into Kaleidoscopes.
“Are you sure?”
Dean pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m like ninety-five percent sure. It took everything in me not to blurt it out in there.”
I was glad he hadn’t. I didn’t know Penn. Was he skittish? He obviously didn’t want the accolades that would come to him for saving anyone from a fire.
“Explains why he’s leaving in two weeks,” Alex added from the front.
“Gid, I respect his need for anonymity, but if Lorcan figures it out, how do you think he’s going to feel toward the man who ruined his chance to hurt you irrevocably?” Dean made a very good point.
Penn had saved my family, so I’d give him anything he wanted, but it seemed all he craved was to be left alone. After he left in two weeks, if Lorcan hadn’t figured out who he was, he’d likely be in the clear.
“Let’s get some guys on him—stay in the shadows, keep him safe until he leaves town.”
Dean cocked his head. “You don’t even want to thank him?”
“He doesn’t want to be thanked, Dean.” I stared out the window at the bar. “He wants to be forgotten.”
As we drove away from Kaleidoscopes, it felt as if were going in the wrong direction. I’d immediately been physically attracted to Penn when I’d seen him, but upon finding out he was the person who’d run into a burning building to protect my world, in my heart it was as if I were abandoning him.
“Get men on him ASAP, Danny.”
“Yes, Boss.”
The second we walked into the house, Rita was on me. “You found him?”
I glared at Dean. He must have texted her from the car.
“What? I tell her everything; she hurts me otherwise.” He shrugged, a smirk tugging at his lips.
“I’ll hurt you both in a second. Where is he? I want to thank him.”
I waved her off and handed my jacket to Danny. “He’s leaving town in two weeks. He doesn’t know we know, and I’m respecting his wishes to stay anonymous.”
“Fuck that, Gid.” Rita was almost a foot shorter than me, a tiny thing, but she was a viper.
“Rita, let him be.”
“No, I?—”
“I saidenough!” I raised my voice only because I had to. I didn’t like yelling at home with the kids, but Rita was out of line. “That’s final, am I clear?”
