AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Outside, she took a seat on the stairs, wrapping her arms around her knees after setting her phone down on the step between us.
“What’s going on, Candy?”
“I’m sorry that I left yesterday, but I had a lot of thinking to do.”
“Okay, what did you come up with?”
She sighed. “I’m going to stay with my father for a little while. You and Harley can stay here, and we will try to find you a place to live that will work for both of you.”
“You want us to move out?”
She nodded, her face staring straight ahead.
“I’m confused, Candy. I thought you wanted something between us.”
She glanced at me, sighed, and then stared at me. Her pretty blue eyes looked so sad, and I hated that I had made them that way. “Part of me did want more, Mike, but then I realized that there are just things in my life that you can’t be a part of.”
“What?”
She shook her head. “Just things. It would never be able to work between us, Mike, and it would be better if we put distance between us now before Harley gets any more attached to me.”
“So, you’re not only breaking up with me but with him too?”
Her phone buzzed, and she picked it up and unlocked it as Harley pulled open the door. “I spilled my milk!”
She dropped her phone to the step and burst to her feet. “Okay, let’s get it cleaned up.”
As she hurried inside, I picked up her phone, which was about to fall to the next step, and it vibrated. I glanced at the screen and saw a message from Cara. I didn’t mean to hit it, but I did, and the text conversation opened. I stared at the text, and then a picture suddenly appeared.
Holy fuck! I skimmed up in the conversation and found more pictures and then more. I burst to my feet and practically threw myself through the sliding door.
Candy was at the kitchen sink, rinsing out a towel she had used, and she glanced back at me. Her brows lowered over her eyes as she took in my thunderous expression, and I went straight to her and held the phone up in front of her.
“Is this the thing in your life you were talking about, Candy?”
She visibly paled and shuffled back a step as she swallowed.
I stepped into her space, caging her against the counter as anger and confusion filled me. “You want to tell me where the fuck Ryan Vigilante is now? Because it sure as fuck is not six feet underground like it should be.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CANDY
Iwent to my father’s and was glad he wasn’t home when I arrived, although there was a car in the driveway that I wasn’t familiar with.
I collected a beer and sat on the back porch to brood over the conversation with Mike. There was a part of me that was overwhelmed by what he had said. Another piece of me had wanted to throw myself into his arms and say yes! Yet another section was like, run! That was the voice inside my head that I had listened to.
It was the safest option. Not just safe for my heart and future, but for our family.
Mike might say he was out of the club, but I had no clue what bad blood might be leftover from when Bryan ran with them. We were sure that no one knew Bryan had been undercover, but if anyone learned he was alive, that was bound to come up. Who else would have the power to fly him from the hospital and hide his identity?
I closed my eyes as a heavy sadness filled my mind. I should never have gotten involved with Mike. I sure as hell should have never had sex with him, and what was I thinking investing a hundred grand of my savings into the tavern with him? I was crazy!
I sat there worrying about Harley and if Mike would be able to take care of him, but the thing was—it wasn’t my place to fear that. Harley wasn’t my child, and Mike and I would never have anything more than being sexual partners. Yes, I would help him if he needed it, but I couldn’t give him more than that. I don’t think I could even be Harley’s guardian, not now.
Perhaps that was selfish to say. Mike had no one else, and Harley didn’t have any family left. If something happened to Mike, Harley would end up in the system, and I knew damn well that it wouldn’t be good for him.
However, being in his life now with Mike wasn’t good for me.
