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“I refuse to answer on the grounds it may incriminate me.”
Just as she opened her mouth to guess again, Lincoln jumped in.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. It’s because he was a thorn in the side of our current club president. They prospected together back in the day and the name stuck.”
She frowned. “Again, anticlimactic. Are you sure you don’t want to go with the Rose and Thorn story?”
The waitress came back holding a tray with all their food. Vivi’s eyes widened when she saw the size of her pancakes. They filled the entire plate. She slathered butter all over them and the waffle before pouring a generous helping of syrup over them. As she took a bite of the melting gooey and sugary goodness, a moan of appreciation slipped through her lips.
“Good?” Lincoln asked sarcastically.
“Right up there with alpaca socks.”
“You know, I’m not sure if I’m getting used to you or not, because that totally made sense.”
She smiled and Lincoln smiled back.
The next few minutes were all about the food. As much as she wanted to eat every bite, her eyes had definitely been bigger than her stomach. She eventually pushed away her plates and sat back, patting her belly. After their cups were topped off with more coffee, Vivi raised one eyebrow.
“So,” she queried, “want to tell me about the man in the van?”
Lincoln and Thorn paused and shared a quick, telling glance.
“What man?” Lincoln asked blandly.
“Oh, come on. I broke my window with a chair in order to get to you. I saw the man.”
“We’re just watching over him for a friend.”
Vivi snorted. “Sure. With his hands handcuffed behind his back.”
“What about you?” Thorn asked in an obvious bid to change the subject. “Want to share the reason why you were Cross’s prisoner?”
All the laughter in her eyes dimmed, leaving them haunted. A minute stretched to two as she finished the last of her coffee and gathered her thoughts.
“Because of my brother,” she finally said. “My sister, Zaylah, took custody of me and my brother, Brady, when our parents died. He didn’t handle it well. Started acting out. Drinking. Drugs. But his gambling was the worst and it quickly got out of hand. He got in over his head with this man named Patrick O’Shannon.”
“I’ve heard of him,” Thorn said somberly. “A real piece of work, that one. Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she agreed, clearing her throat. The last thing she wanted to do was burst into tears again. She had no time for mourning. “Brady got in over his head, and ended up floating in the river.”
Lincoln gave a low curse under his breath.
“When Zaylah went to the morgue, O’Shannon snatched me up and then had me brought to the old root beer factory. I think he thought the Heart of Darkness would finish me off.” She bit her lip for a moment. “Zaylah had to make up the money that Brady couldn’t pay, and I’m the reason she was trapped.”
“I’m sorry, Vivi,” Lincoln said softly.
She nodded her acknowledgment of his sentiments. “I’m relieved she’s been rescued. And I’m thankful to you for getting me out of there.”
Thorn shifted in his seat and threw a quick glance at Lincoln. “Did Cross hurt you?”
“Other than being bored out of my mind, no. But I’m really good at deflecting.”
At that moment, Thorn’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it then stood.
“I’ve got to take this,” he said and walked out of the diner.
The waitress came by and laid the check on the table before picking up a few dirty dishes and leaving as quickly as she’d appeared. Lincoln picked it up and glanced at the total before reaching for his wallet. He took a few twenty-dollar bills and tossed them on the table.
