Page 72 of The Secrets We Share

“What are you talking about?”

“I want her gone. It’s not safe here anymore. No offense to you two. I love you like family, Harkin,” he throws over my shoulder, “but Stacey and the baby are my highest priority, and I need them away from you both.”

I step back, and a gasp leaves my mouth. Away from me? But she’s my best friend. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t know her. I’m about to make this exact argument, but a thick arm wraps around my waist, pulling me back into a hard chest.

“I understand. Keira will talk to her and convince her.” Harkin’s deep voice sounds next to my ear. “Stacey isn’t safe staying here in the city, sweetness,” he whispers for my ears only.

They’re not wrong. We don’t know how this will play out. It could go sideways, and not only would my father be afterus again, but we could be putting a target on our backs for an organization much worse. I don’t want her anywhere near this, either.

“Should I go see her?” I look up, finding James’s expected gaze.

“I’ve already had her moved to a safe house in the city. Call her, persuade her to listen to me, and follow my plan. It’s not forever, just until things are handled and everything’s safe.”

Will everything be safe? Can it ever be safe again? Maybe my familial connections are too much for a friendship to bear. It’s not fair to ask that of someone. Especially, when that someone now has their own someone to consider.

“I’ll go call her now.”

I leave the two most overbearing men I’ve ever met in the living room and escape to the bedroom. Stacey picks up the video call on the second ring. Her eyes are puffy and rimmed red again. I don’t love that I keep finding her like this. I can't blame the girl because she’s had her whole world turned upside down.

“Hey, babes. How are you holding up?” I ask, taking in the unfamiliar background.

“He’s insufferable.”

“Girl, what did you expect? You told the man you were having his baby in the middle of our very own World War III. I’m shocked you’re not on the other side of the world by now.”

“He doesn’t get to tell me what to do, K.”

I try to hold in my laughter at her severe, pissed-off face, but we both know the men we chose to be with.

“Don’t!” she bites out, knowing exactly what I was going to say.

I put up my hands in surrender. “Why such a fight? You don’t need to be here, Stace. This isn’t your shit to get involved with. He’s right to be worried. We both are.”

“Oh my god, he got to you.”

“Listen,” I coax.

“You’re my friend. He doesn’t get to use you against me,” she spits.

“He’s not using me against you, but I love you, and I need to know you’re not going to get dragged into this mess if something goes sideways. Can’t you just let him whisk you away to wherever he wants to hide you for a couple of weeks? Think of it as a vacation. Shit, request a beach somewhere and get a tan.”

“I hate you both.”

“No, you don’t.”

“No. I don’t, but you’re both extremely annoying.”

“I’ll take it as long as you’re safe. Call and tell him so he stops stomping around my living room, throwing back whiskey like it's water.”

“Fine. But promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“You two won’t leave me raising this baby alone.”

“Everything is going to be fine,” I reassure her, but I’m not convinced that’ll be the case.

She signs off, and two seconds later, the chime of a phone ringing in the other room sounds through the walls. Good, one less thing to worry about. I flop back on the mattress, staring up at the spinning blades of the ceiling fan. The rhythmic rotation lulls me into a trance, and I start to drift off, or maybe I fall asleep because when my phone vibrates on the mattress next to me, I practically jump out of my skin.

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