Chapter 2
Ava
The sirens wail as they turn the corner far up the street. The brute half drags me out the door and around the corner, away from the view of the police cars that will pull up in front of the bar at any minute.
I keep trying to pull myself from his hold, but his arms have the strength of iron. “Who the hell are you? I don’t make a habit of leaving with strangers.” I look him up and down, taking in the rugged good looks in jeans, black jacket, and boots. “Especially with my brother’s friends.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call me a friend of your brother.
I was playing a game of pool with your brother and his friend, and they had to leave when a fight broke out.
I told them I’d get you out safe, that’s it.
Now stop being a pain in my ass and tell me where your car is so I can get on with my night, alright? ”
I narrow my eyes at him. “A friend dropped me off. I thought Paulie and Tony would give me a ride back to my mom’s.”
“I’ll take you there. My car’s parked right around the corner.” He looks me up and down, taking in my jean leggings, flat tennis shoes, and brand name maroon down jacket. Then his eyes travel up the expanse of my neck, while I feel my cheeks heat.
“Done takin’ in the view?”
He shrugs. “For now.”
I roll my eyes as he smirks at me.
“Keep walking,” he tells me. “And call your brother so he knows you got out of there unscathed and are on your way to your mom’s.”
I sling my big-ass black bag with silver glitz on it over my shoulder, wishing I had brought something a little more subtle and not so showy in this part of the city as we walk down the street. “Are you always this bossy?”
He shrugs, an answer without an answer. Go figure.
I pick up the pace, walking in front of him so at least I have somewhat of an advantage if he’s not who he says he is when I reach my brother, but it’s like I can feel his eyes tracking every sway of my ass.
“You know I can feel your eyes on me.”
He doesn’t reply, and I keep walking, not wasting any time connecting with my brother who doesn’t give me a chance to say a word before he’s firing questions at me.
“Yeah, we’re on the way to his car. I asked him to drop me at mom’s.
” There’s a brief pause. “I don’t know Paulie, he didn’t even tell me his name.
Okay, well, now I know.” I turn to Kade.
“My brother said he’ll meet us there. He’ll buy you a beer for bringing me home. ”
Kade glances at his watch and nods. “A quick one.”
I slow my pace a little now that I know he’s on the up and up.
“My brother said that sounds good,” I tell him.
“We’ll see you in a few,” I tell Paulie, tossing my phone into my bag as we reach a silver car parked on the side of the street.
He opens the passenger side door for me.
“Now I know you’re not a friend of my brother, and actually know your name,” I tell him, getting in and buckling my seat belt as he makes his way to the other side of the car, slides behind the wheel, and fastens his own seat belt.
I drop my purse onto the floor between my feet and sit back. “What happened in there? I just stopped by for a minute. Seriously, I should have known better. When have I ever been at that place and some sort of drama didn’t break out?”
He doesn’t answer. Clearly the strong silent type. Annoying as hell.
I roll my eyes. “And of course my brother is usually right in the thick of it. What’d he do this time?” I ask, leaning back into the leather bucket seat.
Kade shakes his head as he navigates the city street, giving me a chance to take in his square jaw.
“Not this time, he was minding his own business when a guy came in and started trying to whale on him. You can say it started a chain reaction. He wasn’t really part of the fight.
From what I gathered he and his friend just didn’t want to get caught up in it when the cops showed up. ”
I narrow my eyes. “That doesn’t sound right but if you say so. Take a right.”
“When?”
“Now.”
He swerves to make the tight corner, straightens out the car, and gives me a side glare.
“Sorry, didn’t see it coming till we were on top of it. Next left at the light,” I tell him. “You don’t look like someone my brother would hang out with. I mean no tats, at least anywhere that I can see,” I tell him as he takes the left. “Right turn.”
“When?”
“Oops. Now.”
He slams the brakes and my seat belt sucks me back into the seat, but he makes the corner. “You having fun?”
I try to keep a straight face. “Maybe? There, last house on the right. That’s Paulie’s car, he’s already here. You can pull into the driveway. You’ll get a ticket if you park on the street after eleven this time of the year.”
Milo, the little beagle we’ve had for years, is lying on the leather couch watching cartoons on the television when we walk through the front door.
“Thanks for getting me out of there. I’m sorry I was such an ass back in the bar.
” I shrug. “But in my defense, you can never be too careful these days.”
I don’t want to offend someone who just helped me, because he seems like an okay guy but anyone who hangs around with my brother is not getting that close to me.
Ever. It took everything I could muster to walk away from this life, get into school, and make a different path for myself.
And no one, not even if he is fine as hell, is going to get in the way of that.
“Come on back to the kitchen and we can grab a beer with the guys,” I tell him, leading the way through the living room and to the large kitchen at the back of the house.
I hear Paulie and Tony talking down in the basement and reach into the old white refrigerator to get a couple beers.
I feel his eyes surveying me again and turn to look at him.
I shrug out of my jacket and hang it over the back of a chair. The heat of his gaze follows my movements and warms my skin. I turn and meet his deep blue eyes and take a moment to take in his sandy blond spiky hair. “Would you like to hang yours up?” I ask.
He smiles. “No, but thank you. I can’t stay long.”
My cheeks singe with a blush, one that I thought I lost in high school, but has clearly come back to haunt me at the most embarrassing moment. “Here,” I tell him, handing him a bottle. “Thanks again for bringing me home.”
The basement door opens and Paulie walks into the kitchen with Tony right behind him. He gestures to the old wood table with four chairs in the middle of the room and looks at Kade. “Sit.”
Kade slides into one of the chairs and pops off the top of the beer and takes a draw. “Thanks for the beer.”
My brother spins the chair opposite Kade around and straddles it facing him, his hands over the back. “Thanks for bringing my sister home. So, what’s your story?”