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I had no real idea of what happened with his home life but I could guess—bad father, hunger, anything that people did not want to deal with when they were any age—but if it was half as bad as I had a feeling it was, it was more than anybody should ever have to endure.
Needless to say, I could understand why he was standoffish.
But if Six had gotten in there, I had a feeling that she’d always stay in there.
And whatever Bruno was dealing with was something that would soon be pushed to the side because I could tell Six’s attitude, even over this short amount of time, annoyed him.
“I also taught you to rely on the people that mattered,” I said softly.
Bruno’s eyes blazed.
But he didn’t disregard my words.
“She means something to you,” I said.
He turned the tables almost instantly.
“She means something to you, too,” he countered.
She did.
And goddamn, I would not admit it, though.
In my business, women were looked upon as a weakness.
And Six definitely would be a weakness.
I didn’t even know her all that well, and she was already under my skin.
Just the thought of her upstairs, in my shower, smelling of me was doing weird things to my soul.
“That’s not what we’re talking about right now,” I said.
Bruno all but laughed.
“Six has a way of getting what she wants,” he said. “And if she wants you, she’s going to get you.”
“She didn’t get you,” I said.
His eyes went hard. “That’s because you taught me how to hide.”
Meaning, I could hide if I wanted.
But I wouldn’t.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” I admitted. “Do you trust her not to talk?”
Bruno poured himself a glass of whiskey and thought about what he was going to tell me.
“Why didn’t you tell me you knew her?” I asked.
He’d seen her at the party. And now it was making sense how he’d stayed away all those months ago. He didn’t want her to recognize him.
Still, Bruno didn’t speak.
“You’ve got to give me something, or I’m going to have to keep her here against her will. I’m not normally a kidnapper to this extent. I usually draw the line at decent human beings,” I told him.
Bruno’s eyes twitched.
“She won’t talk,” he said. “She’d never talk.”
“How do you know?” I asked, pushing.
“Because she watched me get my ass kicked for years, and never once said a thing to another living soul because I asked her not to,” Bruno finally said. “She’s solid. She won’t say anything. And she’s probably not all that freaked out about being kidnapped by you in the first place.”
I had a feeling his words were truer than he realized.
“Why is that?” I asked.
Bruno shrugged. “Ines…”
I stopped him. “You know she hates being called that, right?”
Bruno’s eye twitched again. “It was her name in school.”
“Every time you call her Ines, her eye twitches like she wants to rear back her fist and deck you right in the dick,” I told him.
“Ines… Six…” he sighed. “She’s not like normal girls.”
I knew that more than he knew.
“She had some learning disability in school. Not really sure what it was now that we’re older. She had a problem focusing. Time management was nil. The entire reason we started to hang out was because she was ostracized by our peers like I was. She had trouble focusing, remembering the shit that we learned the day before, and hell if she didn’t always say or do the wrong thing. We were two outcasts that found each other. I… Six is different, Lynn.”
Six was different. Really different.
And she was surprisingly refreshing, too.
“I know she’s different,” I said. “I want to know if I need to worry about her saying something, or if I can let her go.”
The door opened and Laric walked in with his dog.
He had that damn cat in his pocket as he walked, the cat looking for all he was worth as if he was having the time of his life.
“She won’t say a word,” Bruno promised. “This I swear.”
“Now, why didn’t you tell me that you knew them?” I repeated.
Bruno sighed. “Because I didn’t want her brought into this mess. She’s nothing in the grand scheme of things. Ivan could give two shits about her. He asked me to stay away from her not because he was worried for her, but because he knew that she would come back for me. He doesn’t like her. She’s too much like her mother.”
“Explain,” I said.
“Six’s mother was wild and free just like Six.”
CHAPTER 7
It’s not a walk of shame if you run.
-Six to Lynn
SIX
Today had been long, and even though I hadn’t intended to take a shower tonight, now that there was one available, I wanted one.
That, and I had a feeling that Lynn’s shower in this house would be badass.
I also had a feeling that Bruno wanted to talk to him, and he wouldn’t be able to do that with me there.
