Page 135 of Hunt for You

I know I protested, but somehow I ended up back in his car that immediately filled with the smell of rich, delicious food. And after a few minutes of silence and very calm driving on Sam’s part, we pulled off the road and into a park.

I got out of the car without his help this time because he was getting some stuff out of the trunk.

A few minutes later we were sitting on a blanket under a tree, next to a manmade pond with a single fountain spray at its center, and I didn’t even care that I splattered marinara sauce on my dress after the second bite.

“When I was a kid,” he said around a mouthful of food, “I thought the men that came to visit my father were his friends. They always showed up in pairs. And after I’d yell at my dad that they were there, they’d always be nice to me and ask me questions.”

I looked at him warily. “Law enforcement?”

He shook his head. “Mob.”

I nodded, chewing a mouthful of some very nice alfredo out of one of the trays he’d spread between us. “They aren’t all bad.”

His brows rose. “You’re connected to the mob?”

I shook my head, and couldn’t help but smile a little bit. “No. But one of the, er, Dons has meetings at my ex-boyfriend’s bar. He’s always been nice to me. He said I remind him of his daughter.”

Sam thought about that for a second. “Well, the ones who came to our house and were nice to me were just using me to get information because I was a naïve kid,” he said darkly. “My father owed them money.”

I winced. “That sucks.”

He shrugged. “They really did like me. I mean, they got me away from my dad when I was a teenager.”

I stared at him. “You worked for the Mob?”

“I was always on the outer fringes because I wasn’t family, but yeah.”

I watched him carefully. “So, maybe you weren’t so naïve after all?”

Sam just shrugged and changed the subject.

It was a habit of his, I realized as darkness fell and the food got cold, but we didn’t move. He was engaged, and thoughtful, andtalking.But every time I’d turned the conversation towards the darker side of his life, he shut the door and moved on.

And left me sitting there in the shadows by myself.

Because he didn’t want to admit his darkness? Or because he didn’t want to be dark anymore?

“Both,” he said bluntly, then looked at me.

I had to swallow. I hadn’t realized I’d asked him the question out loud.

“I, uh, didn’t mean to pry,” I said.

“You didn’t. I’m just… I’m just being honest with you. I hate my past. I hate the parts of me that got molded by it. But they’re there. So the only thing I know to do is… not bring them out. Because they’re my past, not my future,” he said with a strange little squirm that made my instincts prick.

43. There is No Choice

~ BRIDGET ~

I watched him, but he was finding a reason to look out at the water.

“You can’t tell anyone the things I told you,” I blurted suddenly.

That brought his eyes back to me. “I won’t,” he said simply. “On one condition.”

That made my instincts scream. I went still and wary, but he brought his hands up as if to soothe me.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said quickly. “I meant… I meant, I want to ask you not to meet this Cain guy again without talking to me first.”

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