Cole leaned back and could feel her body relaxing in his arms. Her soft curves felt so good pressed up against him. He was going to have a hard time keeping his hands off her.
Fuck.
It was going to be a long night.
He looked up at the sky. It was pitch black, but there were a billion stars and a low hanging moon. Tucking the blanket tighter around her, he bent to her ear and whispered, “You warming up?”
She nodded and took another swig from the bottle before handing it back. They drank half of it in silence before she spoke again. “What are you going to do with me?”
All the mental images of what he wanted to do with her flashed before his eyes, desire shooting through him. But he’d made her a promise, and he intended to keep it. He took a deep breath. “If I let you go, you’ll tell your dad, ‘the cop’. And there ain’t no way”—he nodded back toward where they’d come—“you tell that story, that there’s anything on this earth that would keep him from coming for all our heads. And I wouldn’t blame him. But, babe, I can’t let that happen.”
“So I’m supposed to say nothing? You think I’m just supposed to forget what they did to me, what he did to me?” she whispered brokenly, shivering with the memory.
Cole felt the tremble move through her body. And it affected him. More than he wanted to admit. “Look, I understand retribution. Retaliation. Shit, I know all about it. I know you want them to pay for what they did to you, but—”
“But what?” she broke in, anger flaring through her, pushing out the hurt and fear. “I’m just supposed to let it go?”
“No, but you need to learn something and learn it quick!” Cole snapped back, anger rising in him just as quickly as it did in her. “You don’t rat on us and live to tell about it. Got that? You could end up dead if you try to bring charges against anyone in the club. You hear me? Dead. They don’t give a fuck if you’re a girl. If they think you’re gonna rat, they’ll kill you and not think twice about it.”
“They? You mean you, don’t you? You’d kill me?” She turned to look back at him, almost daring him to confirm it.
He stared at her. “You gonna make me say it?”
She gasped, “So all this ‘I’m not gonna hurt you’ stuff is bullshit?”
“No. Look, I don’t want to see you hurt. I’m trying to think of a way out of this. What he did to you—”
“You don’t know what he did to me. Don’t pretend you do,” she snapped back, turning in his arms to face forward again.
What could he say to that? Not a damn thing. He took another swig of whiskey.
“I can’t let it go. Could you?” she asked in a whisper after they’d both had a moment to cool off.
“No,” he exhaled. “No, I don’t suppose I would.”
They sat quietly.
How the hell was he supposed to reason with her? Make her see? He thought about what he’d do if he were that cop. If he had a daughter that this happened to. He didn’t have to think about it long. He knew what he’d do, and it would have nothing to do with the law, but everything to do with justice.
An idea began to percolate in his brain. He mulled it over, analyzing it from every angle. This whole situation was fucked. There was no good answer, only the lesser evil. He considered it long and hard before he thought about suggesting to her the solution he’d come up with. Hell, it was the only option he could think of, at least the only option he could think of that he could actually live with. The two of them were gonna have to come to an understanding first, if they had any chance of working this shit out. He took a deep breath and blew it out. “Maybe I’ve got a solution.”
She didn’t respond, but she turned her head a couple of inches to the right to let him know she was listening.
“If I find this Asian guy and make him and Chucky pay for what they did to you, would that satisfy you? You leave your father out of this. Let me handle it. Could you do that?”
She still wouldn’t look at him.
He sighed. “Look, it’s the best deal I’ve got for you, baby. The other options aren’t so appealing.”
“Other options?”
He took a moment to answer, letting it sink in. “I think you know.”
She got real quiet.
Cole hated making her afraid, but in this instance a little fear was probably a good thing. She needed to realize just how precarious a position she was in.
Finally, she turned back to look at him. “What do you mean ‘make them pay’?”
He looked in her eyes. “Exactly what you think I mean.”
She stared at him a moment, and then nodded. “Okay.”
He nodded back. “Okay.”
And as simple as that, the deal was struck.
She stared off in the distance, and Cole knew she was wondering if he’d keep his end of it.
“Come here,” he said softly, pulling her back against him. “Everything’s gonna be okay. You just gotta trust me. Okay, babe?”
She nodded as if she finally realized she didn’t really have a choice.
They sat quietly for a while.
“Look at all those stars,” she murmured as if just noticing them.
“Umm hmm.” He could tell the liquor was relaxing her; at least she was letting her guard down some.
“I saw the milky way once,” she whispered.
“Really?”
“Ever seen it?”
“Nope.”
“I was a little girl.”
“So not so long ago then, huh?” he quipped.
She turned to look at him. “How old are you?”
He looked down at her upturned face. God, she was young. “Too old for you.”
She studied his face in the moonlight, her eyes traveling over his features as if she liked what she saw. “Tell me.”
“Thirty.”
She smiled. “Old man.”
He smiled back. “Yeah. Some days I feel it, too.”
“Like today?”