Always With You - Part Two(3)

"So I see."

"Still don't trust the bitch," Gavin admits, drawing my eye back to him.

He's grinning in his relaxed way.

"Me either." After a short pause, "Any word from your friend?"

"He's on his way. Shouldn't be long now."

"I hope he can get some answers. If there are answers to be found."

"If anybody can, it's Jason."

"Jason who?"

"King. Jason King. Although I'm pretty sure that's not his real name."

"So it's like that?"

Gavin nods. "It's like that."

"But you trust him?"

He gives my question considerable thought before he answers. "Yeah, I do. If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked him to help."

"What's this gonna cost you?"

"A favor."

I nod. With men like Gavin, a favor could mean anything. It could mean something illegal, dangerous, even life-threatening, yet he doesn't blink to offer it to help me. "Well if there's anything I can do … "

"I know, boss. I know. I wanna know, too, though. I don't like anyone coming 'round and messing with my mates, right?"

I half smile. "Right. But you know I've got your back, too."

"Of course," he says, tossing me a look that says I'm being ridiculous. Within seconds, he's smiling again, clapping me on the shoulder. "Got time for a drink?"

I don't. Not really. But damn if I don't need one. "Yeah, sure. Why not?"

As we start off toward the crowd surrounding Sophie's end of the bar, I call up to Gavin, who is walking slightly in front of me. "How's the little girl? Have you seen her today? Isabella?"

"Yeah. Had lunch with her as a matter of fact. Sweet kid."

"You had lunch with her?"

"Yeah, so Sophie could go to the store and get some things."

"How'd that go?"

He shrugs. "Quiet. She's a very quiet little girl. Doesn't talk or laugh much. Just … quiet. Seems sweet, though. The main thing is that she got fed and I didn't let her run with scissors."

I try to smile, nodding my thanks. Still, I feel like a douche that my club manager is spending more time with a girl who could be my daughter than I am. I glance toward the back of the club, to where Isabella is. "You think she's still awake?" I glance at my watch. It's only 10:30. Of course, that might be late for a little girl.

He shrugs. "I doubt it. She takes some medication that makes her sleepy. Sophie says she goes to bed early."

"Medication? For what?"

Again, he shrugs. "I didn't get a full medical history on her, man."

"Right. Sorry."

As we near the bar, my mind is still on the little girl that now lives behind the club.

"What'll you have, handsome?" Sophie's voice interrupts.

I focus on her, on her smile and her face and her twinkling blue eyes, and I wonder for the hundredth time what's going on inside her head. Sophie was always a clever girl and her father was downright devious. I know what her upbringing was like here, but what was it like when her family moved to Canada? Where they were basically exiled. "Earth to Cash," she says, leaning across the bar to touch my hand.



       
         
       
        

I frown down at the contact and then back up at her. "There were others here before us."

Her smile doesn't fade. "But the boss always comes first. Or at least he always did," she adds with an impish wink.

"Nothing for me," I snap abruptly, irritated at the way she persists in turning things in a more suggestive direction.

"I'm just teasing. Can't you take a joke?" she asks, looking slightly wounded. "You used to have a good sense of humor."

"I'm not the boy you knew."

"You think I don't know that?" she asks, turning a less bright smile on a man to my right and asking what he'd like. She goes about making his gin and tonic deftly as she continues the conversation with me. "I came here hoping for peace. For our daughters sake. Can't you at least try to be civil with me?"

"Civil? I'm letting you live here, work here. You've invaded my life. How much more civil would you like me to be?"

She turns glassy eyes to mine. "Maybe just nice then. Friendly. Like we used to be." Her chin trembles beneath her forced smile when she slides the drink to her customer and takes his money.

"Things will never be like they used to be, Sophie. You might just have to get used to that." I rib Gavin with my elbow to get his attention from a guy he's talking with. "I'll be right back."