Page 17 of Broken Promises
“I’m a bastard.”
“You stalked me just to state the obvious?” she asked, and I knew her walls were up and built strong.
I’d said the wrong things in a moment of weakness, and she was hurting because of it. I would accept her sassy attitude for now, but she only got so much leeway before I was going to paddle her ass.
Shifting my hand to cup her jaw, I leaned closer and could smell the cinnamon on her breath as I brought my lips to her ear. What I needed to say to her wasn’t for public consumption. I felt her shiver under my touch as I began to speak.
“I was wrong for what I said earlier, and I was more wrong for ever making you think I didn’t want you or that you were somehow not good enough for me.” Pulling back, I saw her bottom lip tremble and her eyes grow misty as I said, “You deserve so much better than me.Youare so much better than me.”
“I . . . I don’t understand,” Hannah said.
“Can we get out of here, so we can talk?”
She looked at me and shook her head. “I’m out with my friend tonight, but you can call me tomorrow and we can talk.”
I was confused by her response. I’d assumed she would want to leave the loud bar so we could talk, but once again, I was baffled by her. What I thought would upset her, didn’t, and what I believed to be the right answer was wrong.
I couldn’t let the moment pass without at least a small taste of her, so I slowly leaned forward and kissed her. It was meant to be a soft kiss of understanding, but the second our lips touched, I felt the animal inside me roar to life. When her lips parted and she brushed her tongue against my bottom lip, I slipped my tongue against hers, tasting the alcohol in her kiss.
Remembering she was altered in her decision-making skills, I slowed the kiss until I pecked her on the lips one last time and brushed a lock of brown hair from her forehead. She glanced up at me with a dreamy look in her eyes as I brushed my thumb across her cheek.
“Will you let me know when you get home? Unless you’ll let me drive you.”
“You’d wait just to drive me home?” she asked with a tilt to her head.
I kept seeing small traits of the Lenkovs in her actions, but I pushed that to the side as I responded, “I’d wait forever for you because you’re worth it.”
“Are . . . are you sure? ‘Cause I can get a ride share without a problem.”
Softly kissing her, I whispered against her lips but loud enough for her to hear, “I’d feel better making sure you get home instead of not knowing who’s behind the wheel. Will you text me when you’re ready to leave and I’ll come pick you up?”
“I . . .” I leveled my gaze on her, silently demanding she comply. “I will.” She paused before adding, “Thank you.”
“Never thank me for taking care of you.” I kissed her again softly and stood in front of her. “Enjoy your time with Samuel. I’ll be waiting as long as you need.”
Without another word, I turned and walked down the bar. Samuel was watching me, and he began to fan himself with his hand as I approached.
“Damn, that was hot. Why aren’t your sweeping her into your arms and finding a place to lay her down?” Samuel asked, and I shook my head.
“I’m not the kind of guy who makes a move when a woman’s drunk. Besides,” I exhaled, “she said she was out with her friend. So, I’m going to my car while you two have a good time, but please make sure she texts me when she’s ready to go, and I’ll come pick her up.”
“And there won’t be any funny business on the way home?” he asked, and as much as I wanted to pound his head for suggesting what he did, I respected him standing up to me on her behalf.
“Not as long as she’s drunk. Never.”
“Then I’ll make sure she texts you when we’re ready.”
I went to walk away, but Samuel reached out and grabbed my arm. I looked from his hold to him, and he released his grip as he said, “You seem like a good man. Please, don’t hurt her.”
I nodded and walked through the crowd and out the door. My car was blocks away, so I quickly moved through the people on the sidewalk and made my way back to my car. There was a parking lot on the same block as the bar, so I moved my SUV, backing it into a space close to the front and paying the lot attendant a hundred dollars.
For the next hour and a half, I sat in the SUV and read through documents on my laptop with my phone propped up next to the screen so I could see when she texted me. There were thousands of pages from the FBI that we were still going through, looking for any connection to the families we’d discovered when we rescued Hannah and the others. As the list was being compiled, someone from Devlin’s team was creating a family tree to look for potential Syndicate members who went unnoticed or under the radar when it was broken apart.
Whoever was pulling the strings on all this bullshit was still hidden, and if it was the last thing I did, I was going to find out who thought it was okay to kidnap not only Hannah but also Rylee and that poor teenage girl and do unspeakable things to them.
That type of person didn’t deserve to walk amongst good people, and I would do whatever it took to track them down and destroy them.
I had no idea who we would find or how intensely it would test my resolve . . . or Hannah’s.
