Page 45 of Arrow: Riding Rebels MC

Luck wasn’t on my side because when I got the courage to step back, I crashed into one of the displays, knocking baby things off the shelf.

“Ma’am, are you…” Helen’s eyes about fell out of her head when she recognized me. “Cecilia! Oh my God! Gideon has beenworried sick. He said you and the baby had been kidnapped. We haven’t heard anything in months. Are you back home? What are you doing in this part of Maryland?”

Her rushing toward me with her hands out and fake concern snapped me out of my trance.

“Excuse me?”

Helen’s feet stopped short like she smacked into a brick wall.

“I sa?—”

“I’m not done speaking. How dare you approach me like we cool. The moment you saw me, you should have gone in the other direction. You and I aren’t friends and haven’t been in four years, or have you forgotten?” She opened her mouth to speak, but I raised my hand. “I owe you an ass whupping for what you did and let happen to me. If you didn’t want to get involved, you should have been woman enough to say that. Instead, you went behind my back for some cash and didn’t even have the decency to step in when you saw what he had prepared for me.”

Helen had the audacity to look like she was about to cry, like she was learning about my abuse for the first time.

After what she did to me, there could never be any kind of anything for me toward her. She had better be glad I didn’t slap her for even speaking to me. Well, the night was still young, so anything was possible. Part of me had hoped she’d see me and looked the other way.

Now that she hadn’t, I was glad to unleash the last four years’ worth of pain on her.

“Hey! What is all that yelling? You good?”

Arrow came around the corner with Hendrix strapped to his chest, sleeping.

“Who is this? Does Gideon know you’re here with another man andhisson like one big happy family?”

Hearing Gideon’s name turned Arrow’s eyes dark and made his body rigid.

“Don’t worry about who the fuck I am. What you should be worried about is all the hostility in your voice toward Cecilia. See, I don’t mess with women, but that big ass rock on your left ring finger lets me know that there is a husband somewhere that I can use to make you see just how serious I am when I say be careful with that one.” He used his thumb to point in my direction.

Helen’s eyes grew the size of saucers as she looked between Arrow and me.

If I was being honest, he had me stuck too. No part of me was ever confused about how Arrow felt about me, but I hadn’t expected him to step in the way he had. I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t, but since there had been no more Gideon talk over the last few months, I figured whatever we were doing only existed in Rushin Mills. Clearly, it was delusional on my part. Arrow stepped forward, but I put my hand on his wrist.

I knew he wouldn’t do anything to her, but she was already shaking in her boots.

“Are you gonna let him speak to and threaten me like that?” she had the nerve to ask.

“Helen, I am going to give you the same courtesy that you gave me and turn my back and pretend that I didn’t see or hear anything.”

“You have to understand, I?—”

“I don’t have to understand shit, Helen. You had your reasons, so keep that same energy.”

Arrow chuckled and bounced the baby who had stirred a little.

I didn’t want to have to get out of character, but I wanted to do what I couldn’t four years ago. Helen deserved to be dog-walked all over this store. If it weren’t for me being afraid of pulling a crowd, I would have popped off.

The idea wasn’t completely off the table, but I’d chill… for now.

She must not have liked my response, because she said, “We’ll see how big and bad you are when I tell Gideon where you are and that you’re with another man.”

Arrow chuckled, and Helen’s mouth snapped shut, all the while my blood ran cold.

“How about I do you a favor by giving you my address. That way, we’ll eliminate the guess work for you.” Once again, Helen was stunned silent. “Are you going to write the information down or stand here looking simple?”

“Baby, is that a good idea?”

If looks could kill, I would have dropped right where I stood.

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