His eyes darken, the pupils swallowing up the blue. “We’ll get them. And when we do, there won’t be a place on their body that will be recognizable.”
I hiss out a breath, agreeing with him.
With a final squeeze, he lets my neck go and takes a step back.
“You need to go back home.” My back straightens and my limbs lock. He notices and releases a sigh. “I don’t mean permanently. There’s shit you need to take care of there. JW and I both have been by your place, and it’s not looking good.”
And that’s supposed to concern me? There’s nothing at home that’s more important than being here with Rella. Especially what he’s talking about.
“I don’t give a fuck. I’m not leaving.”
He rakes his hand through his hair and lets out a breath of frustration. He turns back to the window. “You’re a stubborn son of a bitch, you know.”
I grunt my acknowledgement and mirror his stance. All the women are laughing and talking animatedly. I wish I could hear what they were saying, especially since whatever it is, it’s putting a big smile on Rella’s face. She looks more relaxed than she has since she’s been here.
“Just so you know,” Trouble starts quietly, “I wouldn’t have been opposed if anything were happening between you and her.”
I snap my head around in shock. His head is tilted to the side as he continues to watch out the window.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe now is the time for anything like that. She still has a lot of healing to do, and she needs to become accustomed to being back here. She can’t handle anyone being near her, let alone be close enough to have any form of a physical relationship.” I narrow my eyes, not liking what he’s saying one bit. “I know that shit’s never even crossed your mind, so you can wipe that nasty look off your face.” I don’t, and his eyes slide to me. “Other than JW and Judge, there’s no other person I’d trust taking care of her than you. You’d lay down your life for her in a heartbeat and would sacrifice anything to make her happy. I’m not saying I expect this to happen or am even suggesting it. I’m just throwing it out there, because you never know what the future holds. This is hard for me to say, but out of all of us, she trusts you the most. That has to mean something.”
With that, he turns and exits the room, leaving me stuck in place and confused as fuck.
CHAPTER NINE
EMO
DESPITE THE SILENCE BETWEEN Rella and me as we walk the streets of Malus, I know her mind is running a mile a minute. Our hometown has changed a lot since the last time she was here. Several more shops have opened, and many of the older buildings have been repainted and updated inside and out. Some were torn down and never rebuilt.
Malus is small, but we have damn near everything we could ever need. And if we don’t have it, more times than not, people choose to order online and have it shipped here. It’s not that they can’t leave Malus, people just prefer not to.
It turns my stomach to compare the two, but in some ways, Malus is still a lot like Sweet Haven was back in the day. We have a very tight-knit community and prefer to keep to ourselves. Outsiders aren’t welcome. Like Sweet Haven, Malus has secrets that could cause problems for a lot of people. Unlike Sweet Haven, Malus’s secrets don’t consist of child sex rings. Our secrets are to protect victims from predators like that.
“Wasn’t that where the Hall was?” Rella asks, coming to a stop and facing the playground in a grassy courtyard.
“Yes. That was the first building we destroyed when we came back.”
I turn my head slightly and look at her. Her eyes are fixed on the kids on the playground. There’s a certain look on her face I can’t decipher. Her shoulders are hunched, and her brows are knitted down.
“Why a playground?”
“We wanted to replace the evil with something good and pure.” I cross my arms over my chest. “There were a few people left when we came back. All good people. Two days after we got here, we all stood around and watched the building burn.”
“I wish I could have watched it,” she says, a hint of wistfulness in her tone.
“Can I ask a question?”
She drags her eyes away from the playground and casts them my way. “Sure.”
We both start walking again.
“Why the name Holly?”
A small smile touches her lips. “I always hated the name Daisy, as you know. When I found Layla in that support group, I couldn’t give her my nickname. I mean, how common is the name Rella? Gabriela and Marco told me everyone thought I was dead, but it would have been too much of a coincidence for Layla not to figure out who I was. I refused to even acknowledge the name Daisy. Holly was the first thing I thought of.” She shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe it was my way of sticking as close to the truth as I could, because both names are plants.”
We continue our walk, and it’s quiet again. Several people out on the street pause and watch us walk by. I give each and every one of them a look that has them turning tail and going back to what they were doing. I don’t know how far the rumor mill has gotten, but I’m sure most everyone knows who Rella is and is curious about her.
New people aren’t treated too kindly here. It’s not that we’re a bunch of assholes or mistreat people, we just don’t give off a welcoming vibe to outsiders.