Page 74 of A Deceitful Pact

“Last year, at the Sullivan ranch…I hear you had to break up a fight on your first day in town,” he reminds me with a slight frown.

“Oh yeah, that feels like quite some time ago.” I laugh nervously and go to move on. I don’t like the way he’s looking at me, and I have an instinctive need to be close to Sawyer.

“When are you due?” He steps to block my path, and when his eyes lower to my stomach, I suddenly feel even more vulnerable.

“Just over six weeks,” I tell him.

“A crucial time.” He smiles darkly. “I hope you're taking it easy, Miss Hale.” Lifting his hat off his head, he moves past me into the store, and I move on as fast as my body will allow me

“Riley, get over here, ya gotta see this...” Sawyer instantly drops his phone on the bar and races toward me when he sees how panicked I am. “What happened? Your palms are sweating.” He takes the bag out of my hand, places it on one of the tables, and then pulls out a chair for me to sit on.

“Michael Gendry’s here in town. I just bumped right into him.” I manage to get my words out, despite the fact my mouth’s turned dry. I shouldn’t be this scared, I came determined to destroy that man and his family, and look at me, I’m a wreck.

“Yeah, that asshole shows up now and again, likes to remind us all of his presence,” Sawyer snarls.

“Sawyer, you don’t understand. The way he spoke, the way he was looking at me, it was as if he knew that I was on to him.” My hands are still shaking when I rest them protectively on my stomach.

“Sweetheart, you're just being paranoid. Gendry’s far too arrogant to believe that anyone could be on to him. He’s power hungry, he gets off on people's fear. What you just encountered was just him being him.” His hands soothe the outside of my thighs in an attempt to calm me down. “You want me to drive ya home? I can have Len watch this place for the rest of the day. We could do some online shopping,” he suggests, trying his best to make it sound tempting.

“What’s happening to me?” I burst into tears.

“Darlin’, you're six weeks away from havin’ a baby. You're in momma bear protection mode. It just proves how good you're gonna be at the job.” He smiles at me, looking all proud, and I decide that a day at home with him, acting as though my life isn’t complicated, is exactly what I need.

“Come on, let's go home.” My heart melts a little when I hear him call my place home. The old me would have freaked out and pushed him away, but I can feel myself changing, and all I want these days is to be with him.

“Okay,” I agree, letting Sawyer help me up from the chair. He calls over to Len, telling him that he’s in charge, and as we step out of the door, I freeze again. Michael Gendry is just up the street, about to get inside his fancy car.

“Afternoon.” He tips his chin at Sawyer, who scowls back at him like he wants him dead, and despite all the morals I came here with, I question right now, if I’d like Sawyer to end him.

“Come on.” Sawyer wraps his arm around me, moving me on and opening the passenger door of his truck. I feel Gendry's eyes on me as Sawyer helps me up into my seat, and he slowly drives past us.

* * *

“I think that's just about everything.” Sawyer closes the laptop and leans over to place it on the coffee table.

“All you need to do now is remortgage the bar.” I can’t believe how much kids’ stuff costs, and although Sawyer's probably bought a bunch of stuff we don’t need, I’ve had fun. Shopping for our little girl has made everything seem so much more real.

“I don’t have a mortgage on the bar.” Sawyer laughs, and finding that out makes me realise that I know nothing about him. Except, of course, the fact he has two types of body count.

“So, how did you end up in Clearwater Creek?” I rest back on the couch and hope to find out a little of his history.

“I was fifteen, and I needed somewhere quiet to lie low. This was the perfect place,” he admits, lifting my legs and placing them on his lap.

“Lie low? I’m intrigued.” I watch the way he carefully takes my foot, and kneads his thumbs into my sole just how I like it.

“I was running from child services.” His eyes narrow, and he focuses on his hands. “I’d been in the system since my mom dumped me, and I didn’t like where I’d ended up.”

“Wanna talk about it?” I ask, sensing that this is a delicate subject for him.

“D’ya wanna know? That's the real question, Riley.” His eyes move up my body to rest on mine.

“I wanna know,” I whisper, deciding that I want to know everything there is to know about him. He’s so tentative and fun to be around, it’s easy to forget this man has a dark side.

“I figured out real quick that the couple who fostered me were bad. Sid was cruel, and Vera was always drunk. There were three other boys in the house, all of ‘em younger than me, and all of ‘em downtrodden. They barely spoke, never made eye contact, and after I’d been there a few weeks, I found out why they were all so scared.” I watch his eyes go a shade darker. “Sid, was raping ‘em in their beds.” His voice comes out scratchy, and when his hands go still, my insides start to churn.

“I was older, bigger, and stronger than them. I’d spent some time on the streets in between foster homes, so I knew how to handle myself. Sid must have sensed that because he was too fuckin’ chicken to try his shit with me. One night, the screams just got too loud.” He stares at his thumbs as they start working again.

“You killed him,” I whisper.

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