Page 78 of Scarred Souls

Perhaps it was time to stop being miserable and start making things right. It had to be worth a try. I didn’t want to leave here with things so strained between us.

My phone rang, so I pulled it from my pocket and checked the screen.

The cigarette fell from my parted lips when I read the caller’s name. “No fucking way.”

29

HOPE

“How’s everything with the prince of darkness?” Daphne asked over the phone.

She’d been gone for five days, but had called every afternoon to check in.

“He’s…behaving,” I replied while flicking through the weekly mail delivery. Mostly bills.

I hadn’t told Dee about Vaughn’s fear of touch or what we’d tried in the water. In hindsight, maybe the desensitization exercise had been a foolish pursuit.

Vaughn had been different since that day. It was like he’d shrunk inside his shell, choosing to keep our relationship strictly business.

The banter? Gone. The mischievous comments packed with thinly veiled innuendo? Vanished.

And he’d firmly refused to consider trying touch desensitization again. Stubborn man.

The worst part? Vaughn had changed his mind yet again and insisted on bringing his brother here to replace him. So much for promising to stay.

Daphne snorted. “Why do you sound disappointed about that?”

At times like this, I wished my friend weren’t so perceptive.

The reality was that Vaughn’s standoffishness felt shitty. Like I’d lost a friend. No. More than that. Like I’d lost one of the only people who saw beyond my scars and had glimpsed the real me.

I wanted my bossy, smart-ass bodyguard back.

I missed Grim.

The bruises on my wrists had faded and hadn’t been that bad to begin with. Vaughn disagreed. Every time he’d looked at them, guilt and anguish had darkened his mood. The man was way too hard on himself over an accident.

I glanced outside to where he sat on a bench, smoking a cigarette while throwing a ball for Chuck.

I exhaled a deep breath. “I’m not disappointed. I’m just ready for all of this to be over.”

One lie, one truth. They canceled each other out, didn’t they?

“Vaughn’s people haven’t found the compound?” Daphne asked.

“Not yet. They’re continuing with their investigation and surveillance, but so far, they don’t have anything promising.”

Over the last few days, Sage and Brandon had returned with a lot of follow-up questions as well as photos of properties they thought might be the cartel compound. None of them were the residence that had been in the background of my father’s video calls. So far, Vaughn’s friends had hit one dead end after another. My usefulness was reaching its end.

Dee grunted, sounding as frustrated as me that my father remained elusive. “Any news on the cartel douchebags you ran out of town?”

I stacked the letters at the end of the kitchen counter so she could go through them on her return. “Nothing. I don’t want to get my hopes up just yet, but maybe there won’t be any retaliation after all.”

“And Vaughn’s replacement? His brother’s arriving soon, right?”

“Mm-hmm. Owen’s still on leave, but he’ll be here in a few days.”

Dee sighed. “You know, you could ask Vaughn to stay.”

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