I wanted him gone, so I figured the best way to do that was hear him out. “I need some water anyway. I’ll be right back,” I yelled over the music.
Vito dipped his chin and turned toward the bar, but before I could follow him, Shari grabbed my arm. “Want me to come with?”
“No, it’s okay.” I didn’t think he would hurt me in front of all these people.
“Fine, but I’ll be watching,” she assured me.
Nodding, I trailed Vito, and as soon as we cleared the crowd, he turned to me. “You look pretty.”
I ignored the compliment. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Why didn’t you tell me they fired you?”
Why the hell would I do that? “I don’t know. What do you want, Vito?”
“My grandma died an hour and a half ago.”
My heart sank for a different reason than it normally did around him. “I’m so sorry. She was wonderful.”
“I know. Can I take you out to dinner?”
It took me a second to process what he was saying. “I thought you said this was about your grandma.”
“It is. I wanted you to be the first to know.” He swallowed and then moved toward me. I stepped back, bumping into a woman, and Vito stopped. “You were her favorite, she told me so, and I just wanted to somehow say thank you for being there for her.”
Dammit.
I should have known better. I did know better. It must have been the alcohol that lowered my inhibitions. “Listen, I appreciate the offer, but it’s not necessary to thank me. I’m glad I was able to be there for her. Have a nice night, Vito.”
“Can I at least buy you a drink?”
“No, thank you.”
His expression darkened, and he clenched his fists. “You’re not being very nice to me, Annie.”
I squared my shoulders even though I wasn’t feeling particularly confident. The last thing I wanted was for him tothink I was intimidated. “I said no twice. My answer is not going to change, Vito.”
“I just wanted to thank you.” He narrowed his eyes, his voice low. “And I will…someday.”
He inched back, then got lost in the crowd, and I realized I was trembling. Maybe I wasn’t crazy. Perhaps he was the one who had been following me. No…that didn’t make sense. It started before I ever ran into him, at least I think it did. Plus, stalkers didn’t stalk their victims if they had contact with them, did they? Shit. I was losing my mind.
Fuck this. I needed to get out of here—I had to leave, had to go—but there was nowhere to escape. Nowhere that I wouldn’t be scared. Nobody to protect me…nobody but Ben. God, I missed feeling safe. I missed him.
I couldn’t get home fast enough, and when I got there, it hit me again…that familiar fear closing in from the corners of the room. A darkness that blanked every light imaginable. This wasn’t some kind of grief that I could best in the blink of an eye. It was something far different, but way too close.
Unease twisted around my chest, slow and deliberate, and I froze mid-step. My gaze swept the room again, waiting for the shadows to come alive. Nothing was there, nobody…not even Joan Wick.
I shiver as the memory fades and I’m pulled back to the now. “I knew I needed to get out of there. I thought about driving, but I’d been drinking, so I just ran. The bus station was close, and I got lucky that one was about to leave, so I got a ticket and came here.”
His knuckles tighten on the steering wheel. “All right so Vito and Poe are both on the list. Who else?”
“Honestly, Ben, that’s it. I’ve lived a pretty boring life. I took care of my dad and worked. I have no crazy exes or anything really…now I don’t even have a job. I have nothing.”
“Stay with me even after this is over, then.”
I whip my head over to him. “What?”
“You don’t have nothing, sweetheart, but you have nothing to go back to. Stay with me, move in, I have an extra bedroom. Get back on your feet in a place where you have something.”
