Page 22 of Heart of Stone
“So,thisis your usual haunt?” Rincon asked. He nodded as he took in the shabby decor and faded leather seating. “Guess that makes sense.”
“Maybe you should explain why you’re here,” Colt said.
“Don’t worry, boys, not here to tread on your territory. I’m just here to pick up my date.” He leaned to the right and looked past me. “And there she is now.”
We all turned.
Amy was walking toward us looking as if she might fall down in a dead faint. Even her lips were white. “What are you guys doing?” she asked all of us but looked straight at me. “This is my date. Remember,” she said pointedly to me. “Please, Hunter.” Her voice had dropped to a whisper.
Rincon looked confused. “You know these guys?”
“Yes, they’re my neighbors.”
Rincon nodded. “Ahh, the neighbors.” He laughed. I’d always fucking hated his laugh, but now I just wanted to smother it with my fist. “I never would have guessed. Well, Amy, we should get going. The club gets really crowded after midnight.”
Amy pulled her pleading gaze from my face and smiled weakly at Rincon. “I’ll just get my coat.”
I grabbed her arm. “Yes, I will help you get your coat. Excuse us,” I said without making eye contact with Rincon. Amy stumbled along next to me, having to take two stepsto match every one of mine.
We got to the office, and I slammed the door shut. Amy swung around to face me. The color had returned to her face, and it was the color of rage. “We had a fucking deal. You were going to look the other way when I started dating someone.”
“Don’t know where the fuck I was when this deal was made, and looking the other way isn’t going to happen, especially when you’ve hooked up with a guy like Rincon.”
“What? You mean rich, nice looking, well-mannered?”
“No, I mean a fucking drug dealer.”
Some of the color left her cheeks again. “How do you know that? You’re just making that up because you’re pissed.” She shoved her small hands at my chest and tried to slide past me, but I caught both her wrists.
She blinked back some tears as she glared up at me. “You’re either in my life one hundred percent, or you’re out of it . . . completely. I can’t stand this anymore.”
“His money comes from running cocaine over the water.”
Again she tried to free herself.
“I know this because we’re the boat running his cargo. Colt, Slade and I are his crew.”
She blinked up at me, looking surprised and hurt. I swallowed the dry ache in my throat.
“Fuck,” she said with sad surrender. “I just can’t win.” A tear fell down her cheek. The sight of it made my chest sink as if a pallet of bricks had dropped on it. I released her wrist and went to wipe the tear with my thumb.
She slapped my hand away. “No, you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to do shit that just makes my heart ache more.” Another tear fell. It was killing me to watch. “You don’t get to be nice at a time when I’m trying my hardest to hate you.” She punched my chest, and a sob bubbled from her lips. “You don’t get to do that.” She fell against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her.
Her shoulders shook a few times. Then she sucked in a shaky, deep breath. “The worst part of everything always going to shit,” she muttered without pulling her face from my chest, “is that I can’t even go to my best friend about it. Because he’s a big part of everything going to shit.” She looked up at me. “There needs to be two of you. Then I can stay mad at one of you and talk to the other about how I’m mad at you.”
I smiled. “Trust me, the last thing this town needs is two Hunter Stones.”
There was a sharp knock on the door. “Amy,” Rincon called.
She stepped out of my arms. “I’m going to go out with him, Hunter. I need this. For the first time ever I feel like I’m part of the real world, not just the little sheltered world I built between my house and yours. And oddly enough, since you work for him, it seems I’ve finally found someone who you can’t intimidate.”
Rincon opened the door. He shot me an angry scowl. “What’s going on, Stone?”
I shook my head. “Nothing, just a littleneighborlychat.” I stepped aside. It felt as if I was digging my heart out of my chest and handing it to the asshole.
He held his hand out for Amy. She hesitated beforetaking it.
I kept my arms straight down at my sides. My fists were tight as steel as they walked out.
