Swore, it was a bitch that we could find absolutely nothing solid—no evidence, no names to actually point us in the right direction of the culprit—and still feeling like someone was constantly watching.
Thank God the construction crew Felix had hooked me up with had shown on Monday. That put at least five men at the house at all times, which eased some of the pressure because there was safety in the sheer numbers.
It was probably the only reason I felt comfortable taking Faith out tonight. A party with a bunch of cops and detectives was the safest place to be.
This afternoon, I’d put Bailey’s car seat in my car, and Faith buckled Bailey into it while I put the suitcase on the floorboards in front of her. We climbed into the front, and I started down the drive.
Those branches stretched over us, blips of the setting sun breaking through as we bounced over the holes and bumps carved out in the dirt road, covering us in glittering golds and hues of orange and pink.
Silence filled the cab as we traveled.
Faith was jittery and anxious, continually fidgeting and shifting in her seat next to me.
She wasn’t alone.
Because every fraction of a mile that passed had my own anxiety increasing.
Growing and clawing and reminding me of what I’d fought so hard to escape.
The eyes of this town that had watched me. Looked at me like I was trash. Like I was a thief.
Faith’s father hadn’t been any different from every other asshole in this town who’d cast their stones, cast their judgment, without giving us a chance to prove otherwise.
It wasn’t like I’d given him a reason to trust me. Treat me differently.
But fuck.
I could almost taste how much I’d wanted it. How fucking badly I’d wanted to be different.
How I’d wanted her father to look at me and see past the grungy clothes and the rumors that flew and see a guy who just loved his daughter.
A guy who’d do absolutely anything for her.
She and I both knew how well that’d gone.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked as I took the last turn into her parents’ neighborhood.
I chuckled out a rough sound. “Since when do you know me to give up when I want something?”
She cut me a glance. A hard, bitter, pointed one.
The day you walked away.
She might as well have screamed it at me.
Gulping around her silent accusation, I shook my head. “We’re going. Mack is turning thirty. We can’t miss rubbing that in.” My brow lifted as I shot her a grin, doing my best to lighten the mood.
God knew, she deserved a night to just have fun.
She barked out a sudden laugh. “You’re right. We definitely can’t miss that.”
“And when’s the last time you went somewhere and just had fun?”
“Fun hasn’t exactly been on the agenda lately,” she said, raising those brows.
God, she looked fucking fantastic sitting there in the front seat of my car. All legs and sweetness and sexiness.
“Then I guess we’d better jot it down. Tonight Faith Linbrock is slotted for some fun.”
So what if I used her maiden name? Couldn’t bear the thought of her branded with Joseph’s.
“Is that so?” It was almost playfulness in her tone when she said it. Like she felt comfortable enough with me to maybe entertain it. I was determined to give it to her. Even if it was just for a little while.
“Yeah, that’s so,” I tossed back out.
“Fun and birthday cake! I’s want a big piece,” Bailey shouted from the backseat.
I swore, the kid pulled an affectionate chuckle right out from the center of me. “Have you seen Mack? I think he might eat it all.”
“Mack wooks wike a dragon swayer.” Bailey’s voice got quiet in wistful awe, and I glanced in the rearview mirror at the way her dark, dark eyes went wide in some kind of fantastical excitement.
The kid.
“I don’t know about that. I bet he keeps dragons as pets,” I told her.
Hell, the guy was a dragon.
“You better not wet him get my unicorns.”
Faith was worrying at that bottom lip when she turned her attention toward her daughter, letting that warm gaze slide to me, trying to keep from laughing at the cuteness of it all.
“I’ll be sure to tell him.”
“And cake!”
“Whatever you want, sweet one.”
Faith released a strained sigh as I pulled to a stop in front of the house she grew up in.
Both of us feeling the pressure.
It was crazy that it felt like Faith and Bailey had become the center of my life, and I’d yet to have to face her parents.
The times they’d come to the house, I’d made myself scarce.
Just like Faith had called me that first day.
A trespasser.
There when I didn’t belong.
A fucking coward who didn’t want to face them. To see the hate and questions in their eyes.