Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 105065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
“Fine,” I grumble.
The entirety of the car ride is spent giving Lachlan the silent treatment. This is what happens when he deprives me of sugar. He’s nervous about something again, evident by the tapping of his fingers against his leg, but I don’t bother asking. I know better than that by now.
Expecting the Back Bay again or something equally fancy, my paranoia takes a strangle hold on me as we move towards some of my old stomping grounds in Southie. I turn my attention to Lach, who isn’t giving anything away. He doesn’t seem like he’s in on the big secret, but still, this whole situation doesn’t bode well for me.
When he pulls up to a tavern… one that I know very well, I’m practically hyperventilating.
“What are we doing here?” I ask.
“C’mon.”
He gets out and walks over to open my door, but I’m glued to my seat. Lachlan takes my hand and pulls me up anyway. Everything around us is shrouded in fog as he opens the door and we step inside.
I don’t have to look across the room at the table in the corner. I already know she’s here.
“Lach…” I protest weakly. “I don’t like this place. Can’t we just…”
My words are cut off when Scarlett walks up to us and gives me a mischievous smile. God damn her. God fucking damn her. What the fuck? I told her not to get involved in this. I told her.
“Hey babe,” she greets me with a wink before holding her hand out to Lachlan.
I watch Lach carefully, trying to decipher every hidden emotion in his eyes. He doesn’t look hostile, but God knows that could change at any moment. I’ve lied to him, and somehow he’s managed to get a hold of Scarlett and bring her here. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.
It’s one thing to screw with my own life, but I didn’t want Scarlett in this. I can’t protect her.
“How did you…”
“Her number was in your phone,” Lach explains without remorse.
Bastard.
“C’mon over to my spot.” Scarlett gestures to the table. “I’ve ordered for us already.”
“Have ye?” Lachlan asks.
“There’s only one thing you eat when you come here,” Scarlett and I say in unison.
Lach nods and puts his hand on my lower back as we walk to the table. We sit down, and I slam the shot of Patron Scarlett ordered for me in one gulp. I’m staring daggers at her, but it doesn’t bother her in the least.
“So, Lachlan,” she feigns ignorance. “You’re the reason Mack hasn’t been coming around lately.”
Oh sheesh. She’s really making a big production out of this. I gesture to the waitress for another round.
“Seems that way,” he says. “I thought it was time we met. Though I must say ye look a little young to be her grandmother.”
Scarlett laughs.
Then she leans forward on her elbows, and something passes over her face. Something I haven’t seen in all the years I’ve known her except maybe once. And that was when she helped me fight off the men in the alley that fateful night.
“She’s a good girl,” Scarlett tells him. “If any harm ever comes to her, you’ll have to contend with me.”
“Scarlett…” I protest.
She holds her hand up and ignores me. “Now I may not look like much. But Mack doesn’t either. And yet, we both know that isn’t true. Sometimes, people can surprise you.”
Her voice is full of threat, and it would be absolutely frigging adorable if this were any other normal guy I was dating. But I can see the wheels spinning in Lachlan’s head. He knows as well as I do she’s no threat to him. Still, I don’t know what to expect.
So when he gives her a nod and doesn’t even crack a smile or hold an ounce of arrogance in his features, I squeeze his hand under the table in thanks.
“I can respect that,” Lach says.
And then he turns to me and brushes my hair back over my shoulders, staring at me with an expression of pride and dare I say… happiness.
“I’ve no intentions of hurting, Mack,” he says softly. “If anything, I’m sure it will be the other way around.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Mackenzie
The whole way to the club, I’m a nervous wreck. I can’t stop thinking about Scarlett. If things go south now, what’s going to happen to her?
It makes me sick with worry. But there’s something else there too. There’s guilt roiling around, eating me up inside. Lach’s words keep echoing through my head. He knows I’m going to hurt him. Maybe he can see more than I gave him credit for. Maybe he knows it’s only a matter of time until I screw him over.
He reaches over and pulls my mangled lip from between my teeth and then puts his hand on my knee possessively, sliding it up my thigh.
“Tell me what’s bothering you,” he says. “Why didn’t ye want me to meet her?”
“Because,” I scoff. “I don’t want her involved in this world.”
His grip tightens on my leg. “Do ye always think the worst of me?”
I cringe. It can’t be denied. In my head, I’ve accused him of trafficking women. Being involved in Tal’s disappearance somehow. And not coming for me if Cara hadn’t been there with me. But when I look at him now, calm and relaxed and possessive, I know those things aren’t true.
So why am I still doing this?
I could give it all up. Find another way. Open up to Lach and hope that I’m right about him. But there are too many variables in those options. Things that could go wrong or set me back completely. And right now, the file that Scarlett slipped into my handbag tonight is burning a hole on the floorboards. I have to see what’s inside of it. I have to believe that I’m doing the right thing. I need some sort of vindication to continue down this path.
Lachlan pulls up to the club and turns off the car. And then he swivels in his seat and reaches over to give me a tender kiss. God, I am so fucked.