“My mother’s a drug addict. Has been as long as I can remember.” My heart tightens in my chest hearing his low spoken words, even though he’s confirming what I already know. “Has a habit of getting herself into trouble. This time, it’s with a dealer that doesn’t screw around. Not a good guy.”
“What are you going to do?” There’s no disguising the worry in my voice, Vinny hears it too.
“Nothing. Don’t worry. I just need to find the guy who got her into this mess and drag him back.” His grip on my shoulder tightens. Realizing his words just aren’t doing it, he’s trying to assure me with his physical strength.
“Is he dangerous?”
“To himself. He’s a dirtbag. A loser. That’s who I was looking for the other night when I saw Krissy.”
My body stiffens just hearing her name from his lips. Vinny notices. “I’m sorry about that too. She knows him, I asked her to reach out to him. Nothing more.”
Inhaling a deep breath and exhaling slowly, I admit the truth, “I know.”
“You knew nothing happened?” surprised, he responds.
“Deep down I knew you were telling me the truth.”
“So why did you storm out?”
Unable to keep the truth from him when he’s being so open and honest, sheepishly, I come to terms with full disclosure. “I was jealous.”
“Jealous, huh?” I don’t have to look to know he’s smiling, but I glance up at him anyway.
“What are you smiling at?” I nudge him in the ribs playfully.
“You like me.” His smile widens.
“You’re just figuring that out now?”
“A lot.”
Rolling my eyes, even though he can’t see me with his eyes on the road, “You’re full of yourself.”
“Maybe. But you’re hot for me anyway.”
Isn’t it the truth?
Hours later we pull into a parking lot of a small hotel. “He’s staying here?”
“No.”
“Do you need to rest?”
“No. I’m checking us in so you can stay safe while I go find him.”
“I want to go with you.” I loathe the sound that comes from my mouth, whiney and grating.
He parks near the main entrance and reaches into the back and grabs our bags. “You’re staying here where I know you’re safe.”
“But…”
“Liv, these people are drug addicts and dirtbags. I can’t be distracted with you there and keep us both safe while I find this loser.”
“So I’m a distraction?” My voice rises higher.
Hooking his arm around my neck, he pulls me close to him. “You’re a big fucking distraction,” he says without remorse to my face.
Insulted, I try to pull back from his grip, but my effort is fruitless. “Not so fast.” There’s an edge to his voice. He waits until he catches my eyes before continuing. “I’m fucking crazy about you, so yeah, you’re a big damn distraction. So how about you give me this one. Cut me some slack. Because the faster I find him, the faster I can be back and show you just how much you distract me.”
A strong sense of feminine satisfaction rolls over me, making me forget what I was even fighting for. Everything that came after ‘I’m fucking crazy about you’ unnecessary, he already had me convinced.
Chapter 40
Vince
Slipping the baseball bat I keep tucked underneath the seat of my truck out, I’m careful to keep quiet as I walk around the perimeter of the boarded up house that Jason’s supposed to be in, assessing my new surroundings. A rancid, plasticky smell wafts through the air and confirms I’m in the right place. The unmistakable smell of crack being smoked billows from a broken window, the only one not boarded up and covered in graffiti. Squatters den. A place that people wind up when they think they’ve hit rock bottom, only to find there’s a whole new level down they didn’t even know existed.
The door creeks as I try to slip inside undetected. It’s not the drug addicts I worry about, it’s the trigger happy dealers desperate to protect their stash. A few candles burn lighting the way, electricity likely turned off a long time ago. There’s three or four people sitting around a table with some folding chairs in the kitchen, none of them give a shit I’ve come in.
Two women lie half-baked on a ratty couch in the living room. One’s useless, eyes rolled back into her head, she couldn’t find a door in a fucking fire. The other notices me, gives a halfhearted attempt at a come-hither look and props her head up in her hand.
“You looking for something, honey?” She’s probably only in her late twenties, yet her teeth are rotted brown and it looks like she hasn’t had an easy life. One too many times around the block.