Page 48 of Kiss Kiss Bang
And that scared her to death.
He cupped her face and crouched down a bit. “I know you think you don’t know me all that well yet, but I want to make it a hundred percent clear. I’d never, not fucking ever, take a risk on you or on your daughter. Not just because it’s you and Sophie, but because anyone who’s in my care is in my care, if you know what I mean. And the fact that it’s you and Sophie is an even bigger deal since I’m growing to care for you both. If I thought there was even a little bit of a threat, I’d tie you the fuck up and make sure you stayed at ICS even if Peppa Pig was on a constant loop. You get me?”
She searched his eyes and cleared her throat. “I get you.”
He moved forward and pressed his lips against hers. “You’re not a job, Livie.”
“Okay.”
“And you’re not a burden.”
She nodded, feeling that lump in her throat attempt to strangle her again. “Okay.”
“Now go put on a bathing suit and let’s go have a little fun outside.”
She exhaled a big breath she’d been holding and then headed back to the bedroom to change clothes.
“Damn you, Annie,” she whispered to herself when she pulled the swimsuit out of the bag. Joey’s sister, who she’d met yesterday when she dropped off some clothes, was a bombshell of a woman. Beautiful from head to toe, she was the one Joey had put in charge of making sure her house was a fortress. Mark, who’d been worried sick, fired G & F Security Services, Tom’s employer, the moment he’d heard what had happened at the gym, and signed the contract for ICS without hesitation.
So now Olivia had what seemed like round-the-clock security—and a terrible wardrobe selection to boot. With a drawer full of one-piece bathing suits to choose from, Annie had selected the one and only bikini she owned and hadn’t worn in forever. She groaned when she looked at herself in the mirror after it was on. It wasn’t that her hips were a little wider than they used to be, or that she had some small battle scars from her pregnancy, what made her look away was the horrible scar from below her breast down her chest. Would she ever look the same again? She knew that it was vain to even think that, considering that things could’ve been so much worse. And she was mad at not having been more vigilant and at not having fired Tom a long time ago. Unable to do anything about any of the things she was hyper-focused on, she grabbed the robe that hung behind the bathroom door, slipped it on, and went in search of Sophie.
* * *
“Come inside for a minute, freckles,” Joey hollered. “How about you help me make a milkshake while we wait on your mama? Then we’ll go in the pool.”
“Milkshake!” She ran inside and he carried her onto the kitchen counter as he worked on making himself a protein shake. “That looks gross.”
“I saw you put gummy bears inside your grilled cheese yesterday, and this is gross?”
“Gummy bears are deeee—lishes!” she licked her lips and he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Alright, little miss gummy bears, vanilla or chocolate shake?”
“Bof,” she said, pointing to both cartons. He put a scoop of each flavor into the blender.
When he finished, he poured her a cup and then he sat next to her on his kitchen island sipping their shakes.
“Are we gonna live here now?” She had a big foamy chocolate mustache above her lip.
“No. You’re just staying for a few days. Is that okay with you, freckles?”
“Does it mean I don’t have to go to school anymore?”
He laughed. “Actually, I think your teacher sent your mom some schoolwork. You can do it here.”
“Why?” she whined.
The kid was curious, of course she was. And he didn’t want to scare her. “Your mom is having some work done in your house. You have to do your schoolwork while we’re here.”
“What is she doing in the house?” She slurped some of her shake and licked her lips as she did this.
“Putting in a new alarm and . . .”
Her eyes opened wide and he had to catch the cup before she dropped it. “And a pool?! She bought a pool?”
“No, freckles.” He laughed and handed her the cup back. “Sorry to disappoint. But you’ll have some cool cameras on the outside and some new lights.”
“That’s boring.”
