Page 233 of Safe Word

‘You didn’t,’ I finally said, offering a small, easy-going smile despite the tempest still rattling inside me. ‘I’m sorry I unknowingly stood you up.’

His face lit up again at my small joke, the shift like a momentary cloud passing over the sun that offered a brief reprieve.

He chuckled.

‘You’re a good guy, Vinnie.’ I felt the need to say it aloud.

‘Oh, Honey Buns…’ he purred dramatically, dragging out the nickname, knowing I’d let it slide this time. ‘It would have been fun for us.’

I ignored it, not because I was warming up to the ridiculous name, but because the moment was too fragile, too carefully balanced, to ruin with another empty threat. Besides, the fact that he had had a girl under his arm a few days later told me he’d got over it quickly enough.

‘No hard feelings,’ I said, shifting my weight to my other foot, already angling towards the house. ‘Talked it out and forgot it, right?’

Vinnie’s response came a beat too late.

‘No, sweetheart. No hard feelings,’ he agreed, but his tone was almost absent, his gaze sharper, as if he was already switching to Plan B.

Then he raised a brow at me. ‘But, just to put it out there…’

I felt it before he even finished the sentence – the hair on the back of my neck standing up.

‘If Cain ever showed a dark side, I’m a phone call away.’

And then he gave me that debonair smile of his.

A perfectly harmless smile. A Vinnie-smile. But something about it sat wrong. Not because of what he said, but because of how well he knew Cain.

And his dark side.

Dark enough to warn me about.

Was he? Warning me?

Or simply testing the ground?

Because I knew Cain’s dark side, too. I’d seen it, felt it, fucking enjoyed it.

And if that was the darkness Vinnie was referring to, then he really didn’t understand a damn thing about me.

So I gave a friendly, though somewhat sour smile. A thank-you and a reprimand all in one for outing his friend and testing his girl. ‘Thanks, Vinnie. You’re a real friend.’

Something sparked in his eyes. It could have been amusement. Or perhaps… understanding.

I turned, gesturing towards the house.

He tilted his head in a mock bow, still grinning as he handed me the duffel. And just before I turned my back on him, I swore I felt his eyes lingering a second too long.

‘There’s a nice hoodie for you in there!’ he called as I climbed the stairs, his voice carrying easily in the quiet night as I stepped towards the front door.

‘Thanks, Vinnie!’ I shot back, already halfway up.

‘Send me a picture of you wearing it?’ he added, full of mischief.

I turned swiftly, nailing him with a look that was two parts amusement, eight parts don’t-push-your-luck.

‘Good night, Vinnie!’ I threw over my shoulder, making it clear I was done entertaining his nonsense.

I heard him chuckle, the easy shuffle of his footsteps fading into the darkened street.