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With a squeak, he turned and ran. Not even bothering to glance back over his shoulder to make sure his two buddies were following him. They were. But his ass blurred behind dust from how quickly he shot toward his car that had its bumper duct taped to it. A gold, run-down Civic. A car that hadn’t been there when I’d parked my Harley.

The moment his buddies flew into the backseat of the car, the three of them disappeared back to whatever hole they’d crawled out of in a cloud of exhaust smoke.

Once again, leaving me filled with relief. And a smidgeon of disappointment. I was really itching to hit him.

At least it confirmed that the coach’s family emergency was real, not something orchestrated by O’Connor. Time to get Azelie back to her mom.

Her mom. Colette.

Chapter 15

FORD

Iremained staring long after they’d left the parking lot. Long after the dust settled, I simply watched. I wasn’t sure what was rolling through my head, if I was being honest with myself. The control I’d exhibited was fading with every thumping heartbeat. I’d never been so blindly enraged before, despite all the fights I’d been in. No, there was something else that had seeped from my skin.

My hands had begged to rip him apart. I wanted to snap every bone in his body, one by one. I wanted to hear him wail in agony caused by me. I thirsted for it. It wouldn’t have been a fun or fair fight. Three barely legal guys drunk and high off their asses, I could handle that in my sleep.

It was who and what they were threatening that had me barely able to see straight.

To even toy with the idea of talking with a minor in that way…

I closed my eyes and dived into the boiling red rage within me. It kept at bay the casualties that I hated to admit had ended up on the oppositeend of my gun muzzle a time or two. It allowed me to live in denial of what we’d sometimes been asked to do. That killing someone who wasn’t even eighteen had never happened.

Maybe this rage was redemption for things I’d been ordered to do that still haunted me.

Maybe I was no better…

Maybe…

Just… Maybe…

Rage felt better than the hollowness that I bathed in most nights. Sleep was neither comforting nor provided me as much reprieve as I wished it would.

“Ford?” a gentle voice slithered through my dissociative thoughts. A voice that sounded all too much like Colette. All too much like the woman who had no choice but to be stubborn, and anything but gentle. I’d caused all those walls at first, and then instead of manning up and keeping an eye on her, I’d what? Stayed away because she’d found someone new, which, yes, had been the respectful thing to do.

Except he’d fucking died six months after I’d returned for her. It was all my fucking fault. And now, here I was, expecting her to still have some tenderness to her when love had done nothing but destroy her and leave her alone. She’d spent eleven years raising a daughter—

My eyes snapped open, and I spun around. It wasn’t Colette. It was her daughter. It was Azelie. Azelie had spoken.

“Sorry. I—” I began, but couldn’t find words to continue.

Her brows knitted together as I finally took a moment to look at her. “You really look like her,” I whispered. The same cherry-red hair withuntamable curls wrapped in coils around a face that wasn’t quite as slender and oval as her mom’s, though. No. Freckles littered a wider face with cheeks that hadn’t matured yet. Her eyes weren’t quite as bright green as Colette’s, but the lashes were just as thick.

“And you’re nearly as tall as she is. Aren’t you fifteen?” I continued, a little louder this time. She was skinny as a stick and tall, much different than Colette yet all the same…

Azelie smiled. “Almost. I’ll be fifteen in a couple weeks.”

I scanned her companions who had yet to move. Whose mouths all still hung open. “Cory and Thomas?” I nodded at the two boys who stood off to my left.

“Y-y-yes?” Cory slowly said, finally clamping his lips together.

“You did good,” I said.

“Did good? They would’ve eaten us alive,” Thomas replied, and his shoulders fell.

“You still stood up to them. That’s what matters. Anyway, I’m gonna get Azelie back to her mom. Are y’all good or do you want me to wait until the rest of your folks show up?”

Macy shook her head. “I don’t think they’re coming back.”