Page 173 of Midnight Curfew

I tilt my head. “I am?”

Asshole knew better than to ask me, at least.

She takes my hand, tugging. “Come on.” I grab my car keys and slide my phone into my pocket. “Hurricane’s coming, didn’t you hear? He had to go tee off one more time, and the lady bartender at Fox Hill makes me the best virgin banana daiquiris.”

I follow her, confused, though. She knows the Wolfe Room is at Fox Hill Country Club. Perhaps she separates them in her head. Or maybe she forgot.

In no time, we’re coasting through the town, toward the golf course. She lays her head out the window, letting out all of my air conditioning, but I can’t help smiling. Her eyes are closed, her hair blows out of her ponytail, and it’s been ages since I did that. In fact, I can’t remember ever doing that. Maybe I just saw Trace doing it when we were growing up.

“Did you have fun with the girls yesterday?” I ask her.

“Uh-huh.” She pops her head up. “They made me laugh.”

Good. Not that I was worried when I came home and she asked if she could have the day off to go paint shopping with Liv, Clay, and Krisjen.

I thought maybe she’d feel out of place, though. Only rarely do I get glimpses of the woman she’s buried within herself, so I wondered if she’d related to the conversation.

“I wish you all lived here.” She lays her head back down. “I wish we lived there.”

“Do you have friends in St. Carmen?” I ask. “Or are they all at college?”

I know the answer without asking. Any friends she had, she lost. Another level to the suffering that wasn’t her fault. I just don’t want to think that she has no one.

But she smiles to herself. “I have you,” she states. “And Callum.”

As if we’re a team. A family.

I’ll grant her that, though. When it comes to her, I’ll be on his side, now that I know what he does to the people closest to him who hurt her. I can’t wait to see what happens to his father.

When I glance back over at her, her eyes are open, gazing at me.

I cruise up the drive to the country club. “What?”

“You have a nice family,” she tells me. “I wish Callum and I had that.”

“You have each other.”

She falls silent, dark strands blowing across her eyes. “Not really.” Her eyes close. “He’s all alone.”

I turn my head away, gazing at the green as we drive past. Would Callum be after my family if I’d never broken his heart?

I’d love to fucking believe he’d be how he is in any life, but I can’t help feeling that he and his stepsister are in league against the world and everyone who ever hurt them.

Do I blame them?

If Callum has the Bay, he’ll be unstoppable in St. Carmen. No one will be able to touch him, and if no one can afford to challenge him, then they better not touch her. It keeps them both safe.

I’m not responsible for his emotional immaturity, though, any more than he is mine. It’s not always about beating other people. Sometimes your only job is to survive them.

That being said, I’d probably be doing exactly what he is right now.

Anna-Katherine presses my phone screen, skipping the song, and I tug her ponytail. “No one touches the radio.”

She laughs, and I smile, pulling into a parking spot.

She points to the second hole, about fifty yards away. “There he is.”

I could just leave her, but I want to make sure Milo isn’t around. Or anyone who might stir up memories for her.