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“Yeah, I got it for her at the PX on Guam when I was on the way home to see her the first time,” he said. “She carried it until she was about four then it was just for nighttime. It went away completely for two years and now its back.”
“You thought it would be tucked away for a few decades,” Porsche said.
“She was acting a little off,” he replied. “When I picked her up in the fall, more so at Christmas, but I could have never imagined what was going on. That her mother wasn’t there to protect her. She was a party girl, but I never would have thought she’d ever endanger Syd.”
“Because your mind doesn’t go to the dark place,” Porsche surmised.
“I’ve seen dark and nasty in other countries. I know it exists in ours,” he said. “I was immature and locked into a bubble thinking like a damn invincible teenager and it hurt the one person I love more than anything in the world.”
Porsche shifted her chair to face him, reached out and took his strong hands in hers, the weight a burden she gladly accepted as their eyes locked. “You actually care,” she said. “That is ten thousand times more than most. You didn’t ignore the signs and then feign rage at a mock trial. The moment, the millisecond you knew, you acted.”
“I killed him Porsche,” he admitted and for some reason a wash of relief cascaded down her back at the idea the monster was dead by his hands. “What if I go to prison and Sassy get’s custody back? Is that worse than Syd going into child protective services? My mother is too old to care for a little girl and Sassy’s family blows into town like a F-5 tornado and leaves nothing but destruction in their wake.”
“She’ll be safe,” Porsche assured from a place she knew was truth. “Whatever happens, your little girl will be protected.”
“How?” he questioned. “She wasn’t safe with her own mother.”
“Blood doesn’t equate to protection,” she countered. “You go into battle with men you consider brothers and not one who shares a family line with you.”
His hands finally tightened around hers, no longer icy she scooted to the edge of the seat bringing her legs between his. Heart quickening her body reacted to the musk scent of man coming from him. She was sure it wasn’t cologne because there wasn’t time or need for a splash of the liquid. It was him, eyes softening as a bit of stubble darkened the edges of his face. When his thumb stroked the back of her hand her body tripped and tumbled into a spin cycle of emotions. The gentle touch
“Turbo, you are full speed and crazy, but I can’t help believing your words. Promise me they aren’t because I’m desperate, scared and at the end of my line.”
“We have rope,” she said. “More than enough for you and yours and the Steels have a grip as hard as their name.”
