Being soft would not accomplish that, and so it had to go.
“That’s all they took,” he said. “At least that I noticed. I didn’t get to check everything because they came back.”
“And you’re sure you never saw them before?” I pushed.
“I already told you I didn’t.”
“Be sure, Haz. Be very sure.”
“You don’t believe me.”
His words hit me like a rock, and it stung. The urge to coddle him, to gather him up and whisper sweet, soothing words, was strong.
But then I remembered. I didn’t know any sweet words, and coddled men ended up with bullet holes the bugs crawled through when they were tossed six feet under.
The vivid vision was disturbing, and I straightened from the bed to try and dislodge it from the forefront of my mind.
“It isn’t that I don’t believe you,” I told him. “I need you to think. People don’t just try and kill other people for no reason at all. There has to be a reason.Think.”
“Sometimes people kill other people for no reason. Haven’t you ever seen the news?”
I let out a frustrated sound. “That’s not the case here,” I snapped.
He fell quiet, and I felt like scum. Expelling my frustration, I turned. “Baby doll.”
“How do you know?”
My brows furrowed. I was acutely aware of them now because, apparently, they acted like fools right there on my face. “What?”
“How do you know they didn’t just pick my apartment randomly. Maybe they just felt like being violent and I was an easy target.”
Hadn’t I been saying that from the moment I laid eyes on him? A walking hazard. A damn miracle he’d made it this long, especially considering where he lived. Even still… “This time isdifferent. There’s a reason,” I insisted, walking over to swipe my cell off the bed and jam it into my pocket.
“How do you know?” he pressed.
Because the mob put a hit out on you. They hired me to do it. Apparently, your death is worth ten million dollars. It is utterly suspicious you know nothing.
Yet, I believed him.
Soft. You’re fucking soft, Vaughn.
I didn’t say any of that, though. How could I? He said he trusted me. He shouldn’t, and this was why. If I told him, his misplaced trust would be broken and he’d run. If he ran, he’d be dead by dinner.
He was safest here with me, with the man hired to take him out.
“Because they came back,” I answered. “If they had only wanted to rob you, they wouldn’t have.”
Haz nodded. “I remembered the name.” His rounded, multi-colored eyes were full of hope.
He doesn’t want to disappoint me.
I was also, apparently, a glutton for punishment because that expectant look had me going to him, tangling my fingers in the wild hair at his crown. “That’s good, doll, real good. Tell me.”
“Cross.”
I searched through my mind, hoping to make some connection, but there wasn’t one.
“Is that a first name or a last name?” I asked gently, rubbing my fingers into his scalp.
