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“I won’t,” she said firmly. “Happiness was a long shot before Daniel. After him, it’s impossible. There are no other guys like him, except maybe you.” She gave me an approving look.
“High praise.” I jerked up my chin. “Thank you.”
“You’ll need more than my praise. Or those good looks of yours.” She gestured at my body. “Damn, Barry Evans. It’s no wonder you got my big sister out of her shell.”
My lips curved. This was the Rachel that I remembered. The way she’d been as a teen after having Addy’s support all those years, and then afterward because of Daniel’s unconditional love.
“Martin’s still lurking around.” She dropped that bomb, and I went on DEFCON 1 alert.
“Explain that.” I squeezed her hand once for emphasis. “Now.”
“One of his guys showed up at the club posing as a deliveryman. I don’t know how he pulled that off. Spooked Addy bad, though she pretended it didn’t. She does a lot of pretending when it comes to her feelings and that asshole.”
Yeah, I knew, and I’d pushed her regarding both in a major way. I thought she’d needed to be pushed. To acknowledge what we were, accept it, and move on with me. But maybe I was missing some reason she couldn’t move on.
I pulled in a breath and exhaled it. “I’ve done some asking around about Martin Skellin.”
“He’s a bigger asshole now than he was then.”
“Yeah, I heard. Drugs isn’t just a side business for him anymore.” My information gathering had yielded that disturbing news. Not that it would stop me. “He’s a major player.”
“She didn’t say anything.” Rachel cocked her head, seeming as hyperalert as I was. “Do you think she knows?”
“I think she does,” I said. “I think she knew even way back then.”
Things started to come together in my mind.
Knowing Addy. Knowing how caring and protective she was. Remembering how she’d insisted Rachel and I go on with our record deal and leave her behind. I think I knew why she wanted to keep our relationship secret and why she thought she had to end it.
“She would cut off her own arm to keep you or me safe,” Rachel said, and I nodded my agreement.
Taking my thoughts further, I knew Addy would do anything, endure anything, if Martin had been threatening her sister. She’d let his bodyguards drag me out of the kitchen after I kissed her. I’d never understood that. Now I think I did.
What if Martin had threatened to do worse to me?
“What are you thinking?” Rachel asked.
“I’m thinking I’m gonna find a way to fuck up Martin Skellin.”
“We’re going to find a way,” she said firmly. “Me and you.”
Addy
“Claire left a note.”
I pointed that out when we got home from work in the wee hours of the morning, trying to get Rachel to calm down. But I could see that there were no words that would calm her. She was afraid and in shock. We had both been stunned to discover that Claire wasn’t asleep on the couch like she should be at three a.m.
I scanned the piece of paper again. “She says she’s out with Missy.”
Rachel’s eyes were wide and full of panic. “She’s out in Southside late at night. Anything can happen.”
“Missy knows how to handle herself,” I said in a soothing tone. “She’s not going to let Claire get into a dangerous situation.”
Rachel’s voice rose. “She’s seventeen years old. They both are. A seventeen-year-old girl has no business being out this late at night. This is already the very definition of harmful.” She gave me a pointed look.
“We were that age once, Rach. We did all right.”
“You think we did?” She gestured angrily back and forth between us. “Look at us. Work. Sleep. Eat. Repeat. We’re barely living. Barely holding it together.”
