“Whatever. Bring food. Real food, not boxed shit. And decent coffee.”
I stormed out and growled directions at the cab driver to a rental car place. A half hour later, I was dragging the street in South Beach with all the expensive shops, looking for parking. I found a spot a block away from my target. When I walked into the high-end yoga and athletic wear chain store, I was practically jumped by a brunette.
“Can I help you?” She smiled at me like I was the fucking prize in a cereal box.
I didn’t smile back. “Yeah. I need five or six outfits.” I glanced at the brunette’s build. “She’s ’bout your size but a couple inches taller.”
The brunette nodded. “Okay. Are these outfits for working out?”
“For everythin’. Tanks, pants, sweaters, hoodies, whatever you think.”
She smiled wider. “No problem. What colors does she like?”
I didn’t have a fucking clue. “Just give me a variety. I’m in a hurry.”
“You got it.” She scampered off.
I messed with my phone for the next ten minutes while she put shit together. When she was done, she tried to show me what she’d picked out but I handed her my credit card.
“Just ring it up.”
Her smile faltered. “I hope she likes these. She can exchange anything that doesn’t fit.”
I nodded and signed the receipt, wanting to get the fuck out of there. I was irrationally pissed that I was buying Siren clothes because she’d kicked me to the curb. But the woman didn’t have shit to her name and I knew what the fuck that felt like.
An hour and half later, I was pulling into Blaze and Layna’s driveway in the rental with groceries and Siren’s clothes. I carried everything in and set the groceries on the kitchen counter. Both of them were on the couch watching TV.
“He returns,” Kendall said dryly without looking up. “You come bearing gifts?”
“Yeah.” I walked to the couch and stopped in front of Siren. “Hey.”
She wouldn’t look at me.
Wearing my T-shirt, her hair in soft waves around her face, she took my fucking breath away and I hated her for it. I remembered every second of what it felt like to be inside her last night. “These are for you.” I set the bag of clothes at her feet.
She drew her legs up and tucked them under her.
Fuck you, Siren style.
HER BACK TO ME, SHE stood in the living room and stared out at the intracoastal as the early morning sun made an appearance. With the exception of meals, it was the first time she’d come out of her room in two days.
I stepped up behind her but stopped short of touching her.
“He shouldn’t have died,” she stated. “I should have done something.”
Inhaling, I closed my eyes for a second and just listened to the sound of her voice. Jesus, I’d missed that. “What were you gonna do? Take the shotgun out of his hand?”
“I could’ve said something.”
I chose my words carefully but I couldn’t sugarcoat the truth. “Nothin’ much you can do when a man’s testin’ his own mortality.” Randy knew he was going to die.
Siren spun and glared at me, all anger and fire. “He didn’t have a choice! You know what Stone is like. He thought he had to stand up to him.”
I was glad as fuck she was talking to me but I still raised an eyebrow. “Not sure you can say what he was thinkin’, darlin’.”
I watched the anger contort her face and a fucked-up part of my brain registered the emotion as a win.
“I knew him for years, years,” she spat.
I’d take her anger over the blank mask she’d been wearing any day. “Never said you didn’t.”
“He took care of me.”
The angrier she got, the more I wanted to push. Shutting down my expression like I was bored as hell, I raised an eyebrow. “So you said.”
“I know what you’re doing,” she snapped.
I chuckled. “Yeah? What’s that?”
“Stop it!”
“Nothin’ doin’, darlin’, nothin’ doin’. I’m just standin’ here enjoyin’ the view.” I rocked back on my heels and looked out the window like I didn’t have a care in the world.
“Is that it? Human life means so little to you? You don’t care about killing?”
“Killin’? Like when someone’s pointin’ a twelve gauge at your chest and pulls the trigger?”
Her cheeks went bright red. “You had a vest on. He knew you had it on.”
“So now you sayin’ you not only knew what he was thinkin’, but you know what he saw in the dead of night on a dark stretch of road? That’s some kinda speculation.” Taunting her was probably the last thing I should be doing but Jesus, it’d been a long two days. I was at the end of my rope.