I reach in and release the latch. “You’re safe, gorgeous. I’ve got you now.” She doesn’t look at me, but at the little dark-haired boy in the back seat. My eyes nearly bug out when I see him. He looks terrified.
“My son. Get my son,” she whispers.
“I’ve got him.” I shift away from the door. “Get her out,” I order. StoneFace steps forward, switching spots with me while I move to the other side of the car. The little boy stares up at me, his eyes wide and his face pale as I reach inside.
“Hey, little man. I’m just gonna get you out of your seat, okay?”
I fumble with the buckle, and when it releases, I put my hands under his arms and scoop him up. His tiny arms wrap around my neck at the same time Cora gets out of her seat. She runs toward us and plucks him from my arms, hugging him close to her chest.
“You’re okay, baby. You’re okay.” He snuggles against her chest, but doesn’t say a word. I’m so focused on the two of them, I almost miss the roar of a Harley pulling up right next to us. Cora stiffens. “That’s him,” she whispers against her son’s head.
“Stay here.”
I glare at the middle-aged man staring at us all from his motorcycle. He eyes our crowd, and I zero in on his cut, committing what I can see of his patch to memory.
“Hey, asshole, you and I need to have a chat.” I stalk toward him, but he twists the throttle and takes off before I reach him. The cloud of dust follows him through the line of cars and back toward the exit.
“Do we follow?” someone asks from behind me, but I know it’s pointless. That fucker will be long gone before we can get to our bikes.
I turn back, going right to Cora and the little boy. “He’s gone.”
“Thank you.” Our eyes lock, and what feels like a spark of electricity flows between us. We stay like that, staring at each other, until her son squirms in her arms and she takes a step back, clearing her throat. “I’m sorry to have bothered you. I tried to call my parents, but they didn’t answer. The police would’ve taken forever to get there. I didn’t know what to do or who else to call.”
“I’m glad you called me, Cora.” And I am. I can’t imagine what that fucker had planned for her, but whatever it was, he’ll have to go through me first.
“Who are you?” the little boy in her arm asks, his big brown eyes looking at me curiously.
I give him a smile. “My name is Jonas. I’m a friend of your mom’s.” She blinks hard. Whether that reaction is to me giving him my real name or us being friends, I don’t know. When the boy doesn’t say any more, I return my attention to his mother. “Tell me what happened.”
“That bad man tried to talk to my momma,” her son informs me. “He scared her.”
I frown. “Do you know this guy, Cora?”
“I—” A phone rings inside of her car, stopping her from finishing. “Shit, that’s probably my parents.” She shifts her son and goes to grab it.
Setting him down, she opens the passenger side door to retrieve her phone. Holding it to her ear, she coos, “Hi, Dad… No… No... No, I’m okay,” she says. She holds up a finger, asking for a second.
Karma approaches me while she’s distracted. “Did you know she had a kid?”
“No fucking clue, man.”
“Does that change things?”
I frown. “There’d have to be something there to change. The last time I saw her, she was leaving the bar and didn’t look back.”
He claps a hand to my shoulder. “She calledyou, man,” he points out. “There’s something fucking there.”
I shake my head, curious at the excitement that idea brings to me. “I was just the last choice she had. She didn’t know who else to call.”
Karma smirks. “Lindsey wasn’t kidding. You really don’t know a damn thing about women, do you?”
“Your girl has a big mouth,” I mutter. Client confidentiality, my ass. Though I’m not technically a client, per se. “Did she just tell you, or does the entire club know?”
“Oh, we all know, but it wasn’t Lindsey who told us—it was you. I may have been drunk as a fucking skunk at that concert, but I heard everything you said, and saw her reaction too,” he admits. “I’m surprised she hasn’t cut your balls off yet, to be honest.”
“Fuck you,” I retort, but there’s no fire behind it, because he’s right. I deserve to have my balls cut off for the way I had made her look at me that night. I’d fucking crushed her.
“Admit it,” he chuckles. “That woman’s gotten underneath your skin.”