I made myself glance up at Evan. It was hard to meet his eyes.
But he didn’t look angry. His expression was soft with concern. I wanted to melt in his arms.
“Tell you what,” Jack said. “I’ll finish up here and then you two come down to the station. We’ll get the information we need and go from there.”
“Thanks, Jack,” Evan said.
Jack glanced at the shop, shaking his head. “I’m sorry about this, man. We’ll do everything we can.”
Evan put his arm around me and led me back toward the house.
My eyes stung with tears. “Evan, I’m so sorry.”
“Hey.” He stopped to pull me close and put his knuckle under my chin to tilt my face up. “This isn’t your fault.”
“If my dad—”
“Still not your fault. You didn’t make him do this.”
“But if I hadn’t stayed, this wouldn’t have happened to you. The car show is coming up and what if you can’t fix it in time?”
He cupped my cheeks. “Listen to me. If you hadn’t stayed, I wouldn’t have you. Fuck the car, I can fix it. It’s not important. You’re what’s important.”
His lips met mine and I sank into his kiss. I hated that I’d brought this on him. Hated that my father kept poisoning my life.
I had to face the hard truth. I hadn’t gone far enough. There wasn’t enough distance between me and my dad. It was too easy for him to reach me here.
And I didn’t know what I was going to do about that.
34
Evan
The incident at the shop had rattled Fiona. Since we’d come back from the sheriff’s office, she hadn’t said a word to her plants. I’d turned on some music, but that hadn’t seemed to help. No singing. Even when I’d started to softly sing along, she hadn’t joined in.
I didn’t blame her for being upset. I was fucking furious. I had no idea how I was going to recover from this—whether I could fix the Pontiac in time. Or at all.
But glass could be replaced. Dents pounded back into shape. I’d figure it out.
The damage to my shop, even to the Pontiac, wasn’t why I was mad. It was the broken look in Fiona’s eyes when she’d told Jack she thought her dad was responsible.
Fiona loved her father. Not that he deserved it, but she was a good person, so of course she loved her dad. The piece of shit had let her down so many times, in so many ways. I hated him for it. Not for attacking me. For hurting her.
No one hurt my girl.
But for now, there wasn’t much I could do about Shane Gallagher. I had to leave it to the authorities. Right now, I just wanted to help my girl.
So when Asher texted to ask if we wanted to meet them for a drink at the Caboose, I didn’t immediately say no.
Fiona perked up when I suggested we go out. She changed into my favorite pair of jeans—they made her ass look fantastic—and a black and gold top.
My badass little ray of sunshine.
The weather was decent, so we took my bike into town. There was still some hay around the edges of the parking lot in front of the Caboose. It made me wonder what my brothers were planning to do to get the Havens back. It had been a while; they had to be up to something.
We went inside and the place was awash with sound. The murmur of voices. The click of balls on the pool tables. Music in the background. The smell of fried food made my mouth water.
Asher and Grace were at a table in the bar. I kept my hand on the small of Fiona’s back as we walked through the restaurant. A gentle but possessive touch. I saw the way guys looked at her. The way eyes traced her curves. I shot a few well-placed glares and they turned away.
She was mine.
Grace stood when we got to their table and hugged Fiona. “Asher told me what happened. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just been one hell of a day.”
We took a seat and ordered drinks and food. The girls chatted and I asked Asher how things were going at his gym. He’d been coaching martial arts classes for a while now and it was good to see him in a groove. His felony conviction had ruined his chance of being a firefighter, but he’d found a new path.