Page 25 of Fighting Salvation

Frankie lifted his chin at Val. “This got something to do with this one?”

“He kidnapped her and he’s doing it to other women too, and some are barely legal. I need your help.”

Frankie shook his head. “Women and kids, man. There should be a code.”

“Can you help me?”

“I heard talk about a warehouse and some goings-on that has that white boy’s fingerprints all over it. Let me do some digging. Come back tomorrow and I’ll have something for you.”

Bás sighed with relief. “Thank you, my friend.”

“Humm a friend woulda brought rum.”

Bás smiled and bumped his fist against Frankie’s. “I’ll bring all the rum you want if you do this for me.”

“One will do it.”

Bás steered her out of the side street into the carpark instead of leading her back past the men who were still watching them with interest.

“I shouldn’t have brought you here.”

Val stopped dead, shoving her hands on her hips. “Why the hell not?”

“It’s too dangerous.”

Val threw up her hands and walked away. Bás jogged to catch up, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. “Not just for you, for Frankie too. He might be tough but he’s getting up there in age and you, Valentina, stick out and draw attention.”

“Well, I guess that makes sense.”

He bopped her on the nose and she blinked. Before she could react his hand took hers and he dragged her across the road to a diner.

Who is this man was her first thought, and her second was how do I make him stay? A smile split her face as he took a booth at the back facing the door, pushing her in first so she was protected. Instead of feeling annoyed or less, she felt cared for in a way not even her brother or father had managed.

Picking up the menu, she scanned the wide array of food before plopping it back on the table. “What are you having? It all looks delicious.”

“It’s all good but their babotie is the best. It’s tender meat and crunchy nuts with milk and egg on top. Trust me, I’m not selling it enough but it’s to die for.”

“Then that’s what I’ll have.”

The waitress came over and they both ordered the babotie and a local beer. When she left with a smile and promise it wouldn’t be long, Val took a moment to regard him. She noticed that even though this was a place that had so many memories, and a lot of them were probably painful, he seemed more relaxed. “Was this a favourite haunt for you as a kid?”

He looked around the diner and she followed his gaze before turning back to watch him. He was such a handsome man. Not pretty, his face was too hard to be considered pretty, but he had full lips and deep blue eyes which were either ice or fire depending on his mood. Lines around his eyes fanned out and he had a few grey hairs at his temple. His scruff was longer than usual. She’d seen him with a beard and without, and he could pull off both. He wasn’t a man that needed facial hair to turn him from a frog into a prince.

“You’re staring.”

She ignored his statement. “And you’re avoiding my question.”

“This place was different back then but yes, I used to come here with Sean when we were younger.”

“Sean was your brother.” She hated pretending she didn’t know that about him but what choice did she have? If she told him now, he’d pull the shutters down and she’d lose even this small part of him.

He nodded as he shifted back so the waitress could set their drinks down. He leaned forward and took a sip as if giving himself time to sort through his thoughts. “Yes, he was my younger brother.”

She could see the discomfort in the lines around his mouth and the way he held his body stiff. “You don’t like to talk about him. Weren’t you close?”

His fingers twisted the bottle of beer back and forth as he looked at it as if it was the most fascinating thing on the planet. “No, not really but yes, we were close. We fought like all brothers, but we also had each other’s backs. I was a few years older than him so he was the annoying kid brother.”

She didn’t say it and he might not like talking about him, but he also had a need to share these memories before storing them up choked him. “Younger siblings are always annoying, according to Rafe anyway.”