Sweet Seduction Shield(22)

"Marie," Abi said heavily, as though the weight of the world was on her shoulders. "I spent the past five years of my life running from that..." she glanced over to the other side of the room at a still oblivious Daisy, but thought better of the description she was about to use, and instead finished with a ground out, "man."

"Oh," I said, unable to form another word in my mind.

Then I lost the ability to think completely, when she added, "I'm so sorry, but I was there that night. I saw what he did to Rick."

The world turned dim, as I heard someone screaming and felt Pierce's arms tighten around me.

And as Daisy cried out a tortured, "Mummy!"





Chapter 7


Oh, Fuck

"Well, that didn't quite go as you'd planned," a deep, gruff voice said through the haze of my scrambled mind.

"No," a familiar male voice replied. The sound of it somehow settling my rapid heartbeat a little. "Not in the slightest."

"Didn't think to make the announcement away from the kid, e hoa?" the first voice asked.

"She'd already cottoned on to a connection between them," Pierce pointed out. "I don't think either of us realised the reaction she'd have at the time."

A grunt of disapproval sounded out from across the room. I kept my lids closed and waited for Ben's reply.

"Look, Pierce. I'm all for disclosure and all, but sometimes it's just better to keep a lid on things."

"Like you kept a lid on Abi?" Pierce shot back. "You did a fucking good job of it too, my man."

"Yeah well, Abi was a redhead at the time, she was livin' up to the name."

Pierce chuckled. A long pause ensued.

Then, "Marie's stronger than she gives herself credit for. And Daisy's resilient," Pierce announced. "I've never seen a kid her age get herself under control like that before. She wasn't hysterical, she listened and accepted that we'd take care of her mother. Marie's done a good job of raising her all by herself."

The grunt this time was in agreement. But mention of Daisy meant cutting my eavesdropping moment short.

"Is she OK?" I asked, blinking my eyes open, trying to lift my head and finding it resting in Pierce's lap.

I scrambled upright on that realisation, the room spinning with the sudden change of position and black spots appearing before my eyes. I groaned. Pierce swore softly to the side and tried to encourage me to lie back down, and Ben said something about letting Abi and 'the kid' know I was awake.

I found myself lying flat out on a bed, Pierce had made the wise move of shifting away from where he'd previously been, and keeping himself in my line of sight.

"What happened?" I asked, noticing my throat felt raw when I talked.

"You had a little freak out," Pierce announced, as though screaming myself hoarse until I fainted was just a small thing, that's all.

"Oh," I said, a brilliantly intelligent reply, for sure.

"How're you feeling?"

"Throat hurts," I whispered.

Pierce walked over to the side of the bed and picked up a glass of water, then without hesitation he slipped a hand behind my neck and helped me sit up to take a sip. The water soothed the ache immediately. He lay me back down gently, brushed a few strands of hair off my face and cheek absently, then replaced the glass and stepped back to where he had formerly been.

It all happened within seconds, but felt like it deserved a much longer time in my mind.

I stared at him staring at me and had no idea what to say next. Pierce knew more about me than I'd realised, because he knew a person who'd been there that night.

Abi.

Where had she been? I hadn't seen her. It was all men surrounding McLaren from what I remember of that night. But I was extremely stressed at the time, as it was clear McLaren meant us harm; dragging us out to the back field of his compound, guns in their waistbands, feral gleams in their eyes. But where had the woman been if not with the lynching mob?

If she'd been there could she be trusted at all? Oh Dear God. Daisy.

I struggled upright again, but Pierce was before me as soon as I managed a half sitting position.

"Easy, Tiger," he murmured. "You're still as white as a sheet."

"Daisy," I insisted, offering up a fairly feeble fight in my efforts to get past him.

"She's fine, she's with Abi."

"Exactly," I spat, giving one final shove that made Pierce move.

"Whoa, what does that mean?" he asked, stepping in front of me when my body swayed ominously to the side. "Abi will take good care of your daughter, trust me."

"I did trust you!" I shouted suddenly, flinging a hand up to my head when it threatened to split in two. "And you brought us here!" I still hurled the words at him, but at a lower volume.