The thought of Mercer being on display like that made my stomach hurt.
“You’re right. I was thoughtless and careless when I befriended you and brought you home. I didn’t think about anything beyond using you to get what I wanted. But that doesn’t mean someone innocent like Mercer should get hurt. She’s a good person. Way better than me or you. She doesn’t deserve to be part of any of this, and if you hurt her, I won’t let it go.”
Jack chuckled, but there was zero humor in the sound. “What else is left for you to do? I have nothing to lose, and the guy who set this in motion in the first place is no longer a threat. You don’t scare me. And Mercer is well on her way to being in love with me. I have no doubt she will pick me over you no matter what you tell her about me and our history.”
There was a lot in that statement to unpack, but one part stuck out more than the others.
“What do you mean, Sawyer’s no longer a threat?” How was that possible? Sawyer had been a threat for as long as I could remember. That defined him. That was who he was in my mind... a threat... a danger. What did this angry stranger know that I didn’t?
“That lunatic is locked up. He was already crazy, but he went feral when you disappeared. He tried to have me killed, and when that didn’t work, he tried to kill himself instead. His mother schemed to hide him away because she could no longer cover up how unhinged he was. He isn’t coming after me or coming to save you. He’s rotting in a padded cell somewhere.”
I felt like someone had suddenly dumped a bucket of cold water over my head.
Sawyer was locked away.
He wasn’t following me.
He wasn’t coming after me.
He wasn’t manipulating me or forcing me to return to his home.
I was safe. And so was Huck.
It was all too much to get my head around. It was as if the world as I knew it had been shaken up and dumped out just waiting to be put back together. It was a place I didn’t recognize anymore.
“She never needed anyone to save her. She can do that all on her own. You’re just pissed she used you when she did it last time.” My head jerked around as Huck’s voice suddenly came from behind me. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to my feet. “And if you think my brother fucked your life up for messing with her, you haven’t seen anything yet. When I’m through with you, you’ll wish for the days that used to get your panties in a twist. If you think anything in your life is hard now, I’m about to make it impossible. Leave. Don’t think about messing with Ollie or Mercer ever again. I know rich guys like you don’t like to follow orders, but this is your best option.”
After dropping the less than subtle threat, Huck pulled me along behind him out of the restaurant, and I heard concerned murmurs coming from the other diners. I chanced a look over my shoulder, hoping Vernon managed to delay Mercer a bit longer, but no such luck.
She was standing in the middle of the melee, watching Huck drag me out of the restaurant. I had no clue how I was supposed to explain all of this to her or if we would still be friends afterward, but she needed to know that Jack was no good for her.
“Where did you come from?” I whisper-growled the question to Huck as he continued to pull me along behind him like he was the one who had the right to be furious.
Between Vernon’s slip of the tongue and his general unease earlier, and my one-night stand’s admission about Sawyer, I knew Huck must’ve known his half brother was no longer able to get his fingers into our business. He kept that from me for reasons only known to him, and I hated it.
“I got a text from Vernon saying you knew the guy Mercer was with. I knew it couldn’t be Sawyer, so I got worried and dipped out of work. I actually have to go back, but I want to make sure you get home first and aren’t running around playing James Bond anymore tonight. I knew this was a bad idea.”