A cold, wet nose pressed against my elbow, and then I got a strong nudge that moved my upper body from the owner of it. I didn’t even need to see who it was. Only one of the boys was that forceful when he wanted attention—Mento.
“Get away from your mother, Mento. Come on, little man, Auntie Maddie has treats and lots of yummy shit in her car.” Maddie stopped, then said sounding horrified, “Oh God, I sound like a total pervert trying to get dogs into my car with candy or something.”
The moment was over but listening to my friend fumbling around and trying to get the dogs to leave with her, we did it the same way we started—smiling against each other’s lips.
“Okay, just to say, that’s a little creepy,” Maddie whisper-hissed.
Ignoring her, I whispered, “Are you here to stay awhile?”
“In the workshop, or in your life?” he said quietly, skimming his nose down the side of mine.
“Both, I guess.”
“Here in the workshop—yes. In your life—I’m hoping you’ll decide to keep me for a while.”
“By the way,” she called before she closed the door again, this time with her on the other side of it. “You might want to change your t-shirt when you leave. Not that I’m telling you to leave, just when you do you might want to change it.”
Both of us turned to look at her quizzically, her rambling not making sense.
“You’ve got clay handprints on your back.” Then squinting her eyes, she examined us closely. “Oh, and it’s in your hair, too. Maybe y’all should have a shower?”
Then she backed out, and the door slamming behind her punctuated her departure, leaving both of us looking at where she’d been again.
“Definitely the fucking Tasmanian Devil,” Jordan muttered as he turned back to me, his eyes crinkled at the corners. “I like her, but I like you a lot more.”
And it was then I admitted to myself that I liked Jordan Jinx Quinn. And to answer what he’d said before Maddie interrupted us again—I wanted to keep him in my life for longer than a while.
Chapter Seven
Jinx
“So tell me about the information you got from Nico,” Wes asked as I looked over the till receipts at my desk in the office at the bar. “You managed to tell me some of it while we built the fence, but then I had to deal with sick kids and fun things like that, so I never heard the rest.”
Signing off on the figures on the slip of paper, I dropped my pen and leaned back in my chair. “It’s not great, but I’m hoping we’re ten steps ahead of Hazel and stay that way,” I began and then filled him in on everything Nico had told me the day we’d met at Sienna’s house.
I’d had an update from him recently, though, and that’s what had me hiding away in the office right now, trying to take my mind off it so I didn’t lose my shit.
“So, it got that bad, Sienna had to change her address before each order of protection ran out?”
“Yup. She told me about it a couple of days before we spoke to him, or I’d have lost my mind hearing that.”
“Damn,” he whistled. “Hard to believe one woman can cause so much fear.”
Scowling at him, I snapped, “I think she accomplished that fear by bullying Sienna for five years and ending it with stabbing her six times with a pencil. Not to mention the scar Sienna has on her bicep from a box-cutter, that just so happened to be poking out of Hazel’s backpack as she walked past her at school.”
Holding both hands up, Wes shook his head. “You misunderstand me, brother. What I’m saying is, this is the sort of shit you hear about on a television show, not about a real-life woman. I don’t blame Sienna for moving and living her life hidden away. In fact, she might be one of the strongest people I’ve ever had the honor of meeting.”
Groaning, I rubbed my face with both hands. “I’m sorry. I’m just so fucking frustrated and pissed off with this shit. That bitch has tormented and tortured Sienna for over half her life now. When does it end?”
“Now,” he said seriously. “Actually, about a month ago, to be precise. The day she came in to get you to do her tattoo. She got rid of the scars that reminded her of the hell every day, she got a man who has her back, and that man brought his brothers in who’ll make sure they do the same.”
“It gets worse.”
His eyebrows almost met in the middle with how hard he frowned hearing this, and I knew what he was thinking. How the hell could this get any worse?
“Tell me.”
“Nico ran a trace on her and was going to get his friends to warn her off ever contacting or searching for Sienna again. They went through every database, including the DMV, to get Hazel’s address, but she wasn’t at the one listed. The people at the three before it had never even heard of her before.”