I stare at him, mesmerized. Not only by his breathtaking handsomeness, but by his kindness. By the fact that in a few short months he’s made me feel more important than anyone ever has in my life, aside from my mom.
He makes me feel content and safe and cherished—so incredibly alive.
He makes me feel loved.
There are times, like now, when he makes me feel as if the time we’re sharing will go on forever. He makes me wish it could.
“Okay, Nick.” I turn my hand around beneath his and lace our fingers together. “I’m ready to go anywhere you want to lead me.”
His phone chimes and he curses under his breath. “That’s Beck again.”
“Go ahead and take it. I need to find the restroom, anyway.”
Taking my purse along with me, I wade through the tightly arranged tables, making my way to the back corridor of the gloomy little restaurant. The restrooms are hidden around a corner near the rear door of the place. To my amazement, the ladies’ room is unoccupied.
I push the battered white door open and step inside—
And before I can shut it and turn the lock on the tarnished knob, the door explodes inward. The force of it throws me back on my heels. I open my mouth to shout my outrage at the clod who barged in on me, but my voice evaporates on my tongue.
I stare up at the face I prayed I’d never see again, least of all here and now.
“Surprise, surprise, baby girl. I told ya you’d be hearin’ from me again.”
Rodney Coyle’s face is older than I remember, and taut with menace as he locks the door behind him, sealing us inside the small bathroom together.
Chapter 13
I lunge for the door, but Rodney blocks me. The rangy teenager who’d drifted in and out of my past during the horror of my mother’s marriage to his father has since put on pounds and muscle. I try to shove my way past him, but I can neither get around him nor through him.
Fear streaks into my marrow. A scream lodges in my throat and it’s all I can do to stifle it. I can’t let it loose. Not when the last thing I want to do is draw attention to us.
Not when Nick is sitting in the restaurant outside.
Rodney knows this. I can see that confidence glittering in his close-set, dark eyes.
“You changed your phone number.” He tauntingly wags his finger at me. “Now, is that any kinda way to treat your long-lost brother?”
He was never my brother, not by any stretch of the imagination. Two years older than me, kicked out of his father’s house long before my mom and I moved in, Rodney was habitually wasted and chronically unemployed. A loser I hardly knew, let alone considered family.
Now, I see an opportunist in front of me. A dangerous one.
“Here I thought we were just gettin’ back on friendly terms. What was I supposed to think when all of a sudden you just cut me off like that?”
I back up as he advances on me. “W-what are you doing here?”
“I always did wanna come to New York. Figured it was as good a time as any to make the trip. Check in on you and see how well you’re livin’.” He clicks his tongue. “Livin’ pretty fuckin’ good, baby girl. I’m impressed.”
“How did you find me? How did you know where I was today?”
He chuckles. “I’ve been tailing you for days, you dumb bitch. Waited for you outside your boyfriend’s fancy-ass place on Park Ave, then had a taxi follow you in y
our chauffeured limo to the shithole building just up the street from here. Since you seem to eat at this place on a regular basis, I figured it’d be my best shot at catching you. And whattaya know, here you are, caught.”
I wince inwardly at my stupidity that led him straight to me. I never imagined he’d come all this way. I’m afraid to guess what it will take for him to go now that he’s here. Now that he’s seen firsthand what my life is currently like with Nick.
He takes another step toward me. I take another retreating step, only to be stopped by the sink mounted to the wall at my back.
Even though I’m terrified, I hike up my chin and muster all the defiance I can into my voice. “Leave us alone, Rodney. My mom and me both. If you or any of the fucking lowlifes I’m sure you hang with even think of laying another finger on her, I swear to God I’ll—”