Page 26 of Vandal Unbound

Daisy laughs and then turns to me, the edge of humor disappearing quickly. “You good, Vandal?”

My addled brain can’t come up with anything funny or flirtatious or…well…normal. So I simply nod and do that wordless thumbs-up thing when someone asks how your food is just as you took a huge bite.

When I see her ass walk away, I think of how her and Elsie looked in those damn matching pajamas last night.

Hell, I should have asked her how Elsie was after their scare.

But…do I want everyone else knowing about how I met her?

Reaper gave me a booklet yesterday about a fucking twelve-step program. Thing is, it’s not really a problem. Once I’m healed, and my body doesn’t hurt, and the headaches don’t come, and my sight has returned fully, I’ll be fine.

There’ll be nothing to escape.

Because I fucking loved my life before.

“Anyone else want another beer?” I ask.

Knox shakes his head. “We came on our bikes.”

Another reason I should have stayed home. Now I either have to be that guy and drink alone or make myself believe I can wait until I get home.

Oh, wait. I said I was gonna quit.

Maybe I start that tomorrow. Maybe I try to get one more good night’s sleep before I ease off the pills.

Sitting in the wooden chair hurts. Constantly scanning the room for Daisy hurts.

I see her standing by the bar alone, so I make a decision. My chair scrapes loudly on the wooden floor as I stand.

“Van,” Havoc says, but there is so much weight in those three letters, I can barely deal with it.

I walk toward Daisy. “Can we try this again, Daisy?”

She glances up at me. “Try what?”

“Are you okay? Did that hurt when you fell?”

“It hurt my pride more than it did my body.” She twists the wrist on her left hand back and forth. “Although my wrist took quite a knock.”

I reach gently for her wrist and feel around, easing it from side-to-side and back-and-forth as if someone just awarded me an honorary medical degree. “Reaper’s an ex-military medic. You want him to take a look?”

She slips her wrist from my fingers and shakes her head. “It’s just a sprain or something.”

I look at the tray Annie is loading up with a pitcher and glasses. “You shouldn’t be carrying all that weight.”

“This is my job, and I only get paid if I show up and do it. And given two meals and two beers went to waste, I’m gonna do my job to the best of my abilities for the rest of my shift.”

I take a breath, hating that it feels as though the conversation is ending when I’m not ready for it to. “How was Elsie after what happened?”

Daisy smiles softly. “She was holding court in the playground at drop-off, regaling her friends with how a mean man came and scared us, but that her big, brave friend Vandal came to the rescue.”

God, how I want to be that man again. I suppose I look like a hero to Elsie, but inside, I was filled with cowardly thoughts.

I reach out and touch my knuckle to the back of Daisy’s hand resting on the bar. “And how’s her mom doing?”

“Well, we didn’t see Chris again. The sheriff went to talk to him. Talk to them all. Last I heard, they were all arrested. So, hopefully that’s enough for him to take a hint.”

“Drinks are ready,” Annie says.