Thief (A Bad Boy Romance)(66)

And it’s getting harder to say no.

But then all of a sudden, the dream and the fantasy of that life within my grasp goes drifting away like harbor mist, replaced by something new. Something better.

Ivy.

The fuck am I thinking?

I have the life I want, or at least, I’m on the path to get that life. And this time, I’m doing it honestly. I’m doing it like a man.

And I’ll be damned if I fuck that up again. Ever.

I tighten my hands on the wheel as I turn to my uncle.

“I’m going to say this one last time, Declan.” I narrow my eyes at him. “The answer is no. And I swear to God, if you try and hurt Ivy, or go anywhere fucking near her, I will bury you in the ground.”

Declan just grins.

“Oh, her?” He shakes his head, swirling the whiskey around his glass. “Shit, kid, you think I’d ever hurt poor little Ivy Hammond? What kind of monster do you think I am?”

I’m opening my mouth to tell him exactly what kind of monster I think he is when he continues.

“I ain’t going to hurt her, kid,” he grins at me.

“I’m going to hurt the rest of them. The little sister maybe? The kid who’s leg you fucked up?” His eyes narrow at me as he smiles horribly. “How about that little one? The kid with the dad that ran off?”

I roar as I start to shove open the truck door, but Declan stops it, shoving it shut again.

“I’ll hurt every single fucking one of them but her, you little shit,” he hisses out, his face red and his eyes wild. “And I’ll make damn sure her and all the rest of them know exactly why. And she’ll hate you for it.”

He jabs a finger at me through the open car window.

“And when the light goes out of her eyes, and that little puppy-dog love bullshit you think you’ve got turns to ash around you?”

He straightens up, his face pinched as he stares at me.

“Then you’ll know exactly the kind of monster I am, kid,” he says quietly.

The fight goes out of me like a snuffed out candle, and I blink as I sit back in the seat, feeling my heart racing.

“When.”

I say it with zero emotion, my heart sinking through my feet.

Declan grins as he looks up at the grey early morning sky. “Bout three hours.”

I whirl at him. “What?”

“You heard me.”

I can feel my pulse skipping, the horrible sinking feeling spreading through me like a disease as I stare straight ahead through the windshield.

“No guns?”

Declan’s still grinning at me, like he’s won.

And he has.

“No guns. One guard who’ll probably be sleeping. Two locked doors me and the boys can take care of, and one dial safe I need you for.”

He knocks his knuckles against the car door.

“Ten minutes of your life, Silas. Ten lousy minutes and you’ll walk with five mil and you can go do whatever you fucking want with the good Reverend’s daughter.”

Ivy.

I can’t just go do this. I can’t just leave her again without an explanation. Last time that cost me eight years and the only love in this world I’ve ever known, and I’ll be damned if I let that happen again. And even if every single cell in my body is screaming no, and screaming for me to run away from this and never look back, I know I can’t do that.

Not when it’s their safety on the line.

“I need to swing by my place first,” I say quietly.

Declan laughs. “So you can spill it to your little girlfriend?” He snorts. “Not happening.”

I shake my head. “No, I just need to change,” I lie, pulling at the grungy t-shirt I threw on before coming over.

Declan eyes me. “Fine. We’ll swing by on the way.”

He grins. “Now come have a fucking drink while we wait for John and the van.”

I step from the truck in slow motion, like I’m watching my actions from outside my own body. The light starts to break across the harbor, the sun chasing away the creeping chill of the New England night.

Except I can’t shake it.

I’m still cold.

Because something tells me, I’m about to make the biggest mistake of me life, again.

And there’s nothing I can do to stop it.





Chapter Thirty-Six





Ivy




It’s lighter out the second time I wake up, this time in an empty bed.

Silas’s bed, where I spent the night.

For a moment, there’s that initial hit of panic at having stayed here. The “now what” and “what does this mean” questions coming roaring up from inside.

But only for a second this time. This time, I breathe, I exhale, and then I smile as I sink back into his bed, and I’m not scared anymore.

This is freeing.