Wind Therapy - A.J. Downey Page 0,75

look down on my cousin who looked up at me in terror through the mask of blood on his face and tears glossing his eyes and I felt my own expression close down.

I felt nothing, then. No pity, and certainly no satisfaction.

I didn’t know what I felt, but the closest thing I could say was probably numb?

We pulled around the side of the building and up to the street.

“You hungry?” Maverick called over his shoulder as though he hadn’t just terrorized a member of my family and half bashed his face in. The question caught me off guard and I realized that yeah… yeah, I was hungry.

“Yeah!” I called back to him and he smiled as though pleased.

“That’s my girl!” he called out and turned us right out of the driveway and onto the street, back in the direction from which we came.

Chapter Twenty-One

Maverick…

I took us to the Salmon House on Northlake Way. She perked up a little when we passed Gasworks Park, and I made a mental note to ask her about it later.

I wasn’t interested in going into the fine dining part of the restaurant with the killer views of the city from across the lake. No, the cool thing about the Salmon House was the fact that they had a more down-to-earth counter out front with some picnic tables. A sort of food truck vibe out of the building front.

I pulled up to the curb and Marisol got down off the bike, her hands automatically going to her chinstrap to take her helmet off. I held out my hand for it after I shut off my ride and slipped the strap over one of the handlebars, letting it dangle. She put her sunglasses up on top of her head and her eyes were sullen, almost sad but not angry, her expression otherwise unreadable.

“You doin’ alright?” I asked her, and she looked me over, her eyes wandering over my face.

She frowned slightly, a small line appearing between her perfectly winged brows and she said, “I don’t know yet.”

“That’s fair,” I said with a nod and swung a leg over the bike, standing after hanging my helmet off the other handlebar, my mirrored sunglasses still in place. She held out her hand to me and I took it, giving it a couple of squeezes. “For what it’s worth, you did good back there.”

She shuddered slightly and sighed, saying, “I almost feel like we should be far away from here. I mean, I don’t think he will but we can’t be sure he won’t…” she gave a furtive glance around us, at anyone who may or may not be listening and finished with a quiet, “You know.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said with a nod. “There’ll be consequences if he does.”

She nodded and I sighed. I’d gone own fucking program today and I knew it, but she didn’t need to know. The guys would be pissed – I should have brought at least two of them with me, a typical wrecking crew. That, or I should have just sent Fen and D.T. to get the information – but in my own way, I’d needed to do this with her. Needed to know what she could handle and needed her to see firsthand that something was being done.

I put my trust in her today, and I was hoping to get a little of that back.

We went and got in line with the rest of the citizens and waited our turn.

“Thank you,” she murmured, and I linked my fingers with hers.

We got up to the counter after a bit, ordering our fried fish and chips, me the salmon, her the halibut. We waited in silence for our number to be called and took a seat at a rickety, two-seater and metal mesh table set with two hard plastic lawn chairs.

We ate in yet more silence, and it was a comfortable one – at least for me. She seemed troubled, but also, judging by the expression on her face, thoughtful. She was still processing, and I let her. If she had questions, she would ask them, I was sure of it – and if she didn’t, I would urge her to when we were alone or in a safe place to have that talk.

“Can we go to the park back there at the end of the lake?” she asked suddenly, and I looked up from my cardboard boat of fried food.

“Yeah,” I said. “Got something on your mind?”

“A lot, but nothing I want to