Page 69 of Retaliation

“He’ll kill you both for this,” Gunnar warned.

“Then talk some sense into him!” she challenged. “Or I won’t be held accountable for my actions the next time he comes looking for me.”

“Poison,” Dennis said, trying to step forward, but Scorpion’s eyes fluttered.

“I got to go. I’ll see you guys around.”

She didn’t want to stick around and be there when Scorpion gained consciousness. Getting onto her bike again, she sped off in the direction Gavin had disappeared in and found him waiting for her around the corner, leaning against his Jeep.

“You okay?” he asked before she even came to a complete stop.

She opened her mouth to answer, but the feeling of

being watched returned, and she swiveled in her seat, at the darkened alley. She thought she saw something, but she blinked and it was gone.

Shaking her head, she turned back to Gavin and couldn’t help but smile at him. Fuck, he had a calming effect on her that was utterly new to her.

“Perfectly fine,” she promised. “Thank you for waiting for me.”

“Can I buy you a coffee?”

“No,” she said flatly, and Gavin looked as if she had just slapped him, so she continued. “I’ll buy you one. I owe you.”

His face lit up with boyish excitement, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

“You know of any good places around here?” he asked with a raised brow, looking at the industrial buildings around them.

“Just a bit out. You can follow me,” she answered and waited for him to get back into his Jeep before driving away.

As she drove past the alley, the weird sense of being watched kept the hair on her neck tingling.

TWENTY FOUR

Poison and Gavin sat in a corner booth of the first open diner she could find at eleven at night. They had barely spoken a word to each other since they sat down, yet it seemed as if Gavin enjoyed just staring at her.

“Gavin?” she asked, staring into her coffee as she stirred it slowly.

“Yes?”

She could hear his smile in his voice. It seemed to be his only expression, and it was contagious.

“Thanks for saving me tonight,” she mumbled. She didn’t allow herself to think what would have happened if he hadn’t. Forcing herself to look at him, she returned his smile.

“Don’t mention it,” he waved it off.

“So I know I asked this already,” she started, staring into her coffee again. “But you didn’t really give me an answer. Why were you walking around with a bat? Or did you just have it handy in your Jeep?”

Her untrusting nature was relentless. She didn’t believe in coincidences and had the feeling Gavin, despite having such an honest face, hadn’t been entirely truthful.

She watched in astonishment as he blushed, the blood coloring his cheeks.

“Friends and I played ball in The Big Park,” he explained. “We went for drinks afterward, and I planned to take a shortcut through the park. Thank goodness I did. I was still at the entrance when I heard you.”

But as quickly as the blush had stained his face, it was replaced by a frown between his crystal blue eyes.

“Are you sure you’re okay? He didn’t hurt you or anything, did he?”

She couldn’t bear those eyes staring into the dark pits of her soul, so she looked away again.

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