Chapter 17
Vaughn
I stare back at the marina, now a tiny cluster of golden lights on the mainland, my heart rate still elevated despite the distance between us and them. I almost had a heart attack when I spotted two of Davi's men in town. I managed to evade them without being seen, but what are they doing here?
Looking for you and Mabel is the obvious answer, but I thought they'd moved on. It's been months since they came upon me on that hiking trail, enough time to scour the area, find nothing, and head elsewhere. Looks like that was nothing more than wishful thinking.
What do I do now?
"Here. This should help calm you down." Clayton appears beside me with two glasses of something. Alcohol, I'm guessing. "Mabel is down, and security is being arranged as we speak. It's going to be okay."
I take a glass from him and throw it back, the clear liquid burning down my throat. I then claim the other glass and do it again.
"Is it?" I ask, not so sure about anything anymore. "And what about us? Are we going to be okay?"
I hurt Clayton by not telling him the truth, I know I did. That's why he's been avoiding me these past few days, and I deserve that. Yet in spite of his hurt feelings, when I needed him, he came through.
I trust him with my life, and even more importantly, I trust him with Mabel's.
"Is there even a we to speak of?" he replies.
My stomach drops. How stupidly presumptuous of me. He still isn't over his last relationship, why would I assume he'd be ready to barrel into another one? Especially one with a hot mess like me.
I spin to face him, and he's… "Why are you grinning?"
"Because you're cute when you're angsty."
His charm knocks all the wind out of me. The fear, the adrenaline, the pressure, the guilt; it finds its release in tears, and I fall into him. He wraps his arms firm around me, anchoring me to his steady frame.
I feel so safe with him.
Safe enough to finally tell him what I should have told him days, weeks ago.
Everything.