“I’m sick to my stomach,” she says, and there’s a look of disgust on her face.
Right then a car pulls up in her driveway and I’m on alert. When I see her sister, Gabi, get out with Neal, I feel relieved.
“What are they doing here?” she asks as she unbuckles and goes to get out of the truck.
“Hey,” I say, stopping her. “I’ve got to run to the store again, so I’ll just come back tomorrow to start working.”
She cocks her head to the side and looks me up and down. “You’re going back to find him again, aren’t you?” she says, reading right through me.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” I say, giving her a wink. “Tell Neal and Gabi I said hey.”
Ginny hops out of the truck and looks back before she closes the door. “Be careful.”
It’s all she says before she shuts the door and walks through her front yard to meet her sister. I wave at them before I pull out and point my truck in the direction of the restaurant. I find it funny that she didn’t tell me not to go after Mark, or that I should leave him alone. Maybe I should, but some things can’t remain buried.
By the time I get back to the restaurant his car is gone. I’d driven to a couple of places when I was looking for Genevieve knowing he wouldn’t go too far. He was too anxious to be with her. I could see it by the way he looked her up and down.
I make a left out of the parking lot and spot his car at the gas station nearby. I pull in with the front of my truck facing his car, essentially blocking him in. He’s pumping gas and looking away from me, so he doesn’t see when I get out of my truck and walk around and then casually lean against his driver side door.
When he puts the pump away he walks around, and the reaction he has when he looks up and notices me standing there is almost comical.
“Hey, Mark,” I say crossing my arms over my chest and standing up straight. “How’s it going?”
“What do you want, Cooper?” he says, narrowing his eyes.
“Just a quick chat.”
“She doesn’t belong to you,” he says defensively.
“You see, that’s where you’re wrong.” I take a step towards him and he presses his back to the car. “You keep your ass on the other side of the county where it belongs and we don’t have a problem.”
“Why the fuck would I do what you say?”
“Because if I see you anywhere near Ginny, or anyone else that is important to me, I’ll fucking kill you,” I say, leaning close to him. “The only reason I didn’t finish you off a long time ago was I didn’t know how not to get caught. But you better believe I won’t make that mistake again.” I stoop down so we’re eye to eye. “I’m not saying this as a threat, Mark, this is a solemn vow. You so much as step foot on a blade of her grass and I’ll fucking kill you with my bare hands.”
He audibly swallows as I lean back. Just then a cop cruiser rolls up to the gas station. I give him a big smile and take a step back.
“Have a nice day, Mark.” I turn around and walk towards my truck but stop when he shouts out my name.
“Tell Steph I said hi,” he says just as the cop pulls up on the other side of the gas pump and begins to fill up. Mark slips in his car and gives me a wave as he drives away.
So that’s how he wants to do things, I think as I get in my truck and set off in the opposite direction.
Chapter 6
Barrett
The next morning, I get to Ginny’s house before the sun comes up. There’s not only a lot that needs to be done, but I want to see her before she goes to work.
Her car is in the driveway, and Neal sent me a text last night letting me know they installed a security system in her house. He knows about what happened with Steph, so I’m sure he had about the same reaction as I did if Ginny told him about Mark.
I tossed and turned last night unable to fall asleep. My thoughts were crammed with Ginny and if she was safe. But also, I was bombarded with images of her soaking wet in the kitchen. If my inner thoughts are supposed to say what kind of man I am, I’m ashamed of what they revealed about me last night. I bounced between murderous rage and insatiable want until I just gave up and got out of bed.
Now I’m here knocking on her door at the crack of dawn.