Page 20 of Deadly North

“Are you sure?” she whispers.

And suddenly, the tough-as-nails girl I’ve always known bursts into tears.

“Well, shit,” I murmur, opening her door. “Come on now. It’s gonna be okay.” I reach over her to unbuckle her seat belt, and then pull her out of the bus and into a hug. “I’m sure. Look, if you want, we can get you a new phone and number.”

“I can’t do that.” Her chin wobbles. “I have to keep this number. It’s on all my business stuff. Besides, he’d just find that number, too.”

My chest gets tight. Shit, I hate seeing her so miserable like this. “Hey. Look.” I put a finger under her chin, lifting her face so she’s looking up at me. “You’re gonna be fine. He’s just trying to get under your skin. That motherfucker’s too chicken-shit to try anything more than throwing a rock through your window or slashing your tires when you’re not around.”

But it turns out, that’s not quite true.

I get Gigi settled back into the bus and follow her back to her place. On the way, I hear a siren off in the distance. But I don’t think anything much of it until we pull into her street and see the smoke. “Jesus fuck!” I shout.

Gigi’s fucking house is on fire.

Gigi slams to a stop in the middle of the street. A second later, she’s out of the bus and running toward her place. I throw my truck into park and fly out the driver’s side in pursuit of her. “Gigi!” I yell.

“Tedward is in there!” she screams.

Oh, fuck. The cat.

I sprint toward her, overtaking her and tackling her to the ground in her neighbor’s front yard. “Stop!” I shout as she writhes under me. “I’ll go. Stay here!”

In a heartbeat I’m back up and running. Her front door is locked, so I grab a large rock from her front landscaping and heave it through her front picture window.This time I’m the one throwing the rock. Gigi is shouting behind me as I bash the shards out of the bottom part of the frame and climb inside.

“Ted!” I start calling, already coughing from the smoke. The fire seems to be coming from the back of the house by the kitchen. I send up a prayer to the almighty that Ted’s not back there, and start searching through the house. I finally find the cat under Gigi’s bed, cowering in a far corner. He scratches the shit out of me, but I manage to haul him out. Grabbing a blanket from the bed, I wrap him up like a terrified burrito. Crashing back through the living room, I make it out the front door just as the first fire truck arrives.

“Ted!” Gigi sobs as I deposit the cat in her arms. She buries her face in his fur. “Oh my god, Ted, you’re okay…”

Not knowing what else to do, I wrap an arm around Gigi and lead her away as she continues to cry. We sit down on the curb across the street from the fiery scene in front of us, and watch numbly as the firefighters work against the blaze. From next door, a woman and her kid come out to make sure Gigi’s okay. She introduces them to me as Carrie Ann and London. Carrie Ann looks a little wary of me until Gigi tells her I’m her brother’s best friend. After that, she seems a little more willing to talk to me.

“Did you see who did this?” I ask her.

Carrie Ann’s eyes grow wide. “Oh my god, was thisarson?”

“I think it might be,” I say. “And I think I might know who did it, too.”

Carrie Ann shakes her head frantically. “No, not at all. I didn’t hear or see anything. But London and I were down in the basement. I have a craft room down there. We were making invitations for her birthday party that’s coming up. My mom’s in her room taking a nap. Do you want me to wake her?”

“No, that’s okay. Look, can you just hang out here with Gigi for a sec? I need to make a phone call.”

I call Fury and tell him about the fire. I let him know Gigi’s not gonna be able to live here for a while. And we make some decisions on what to do next.

I get back to Gigi, and Carrie Ann takes London back to their place. “This is only going to get worse, isn’t it?” Gigi murmurs, her face half-buried in Tedward’s fur. “He’s not going to leave me alone.”

“He’s gonna leave you alone, all right. The club’s gonna see to that.”

Gigi looks like she wants to ask me how, but thinks better of it. “What am I gonna do?” she finally says, looking defeated and dejected. “My landlord is gonna be furious, Mack. Even though it wasn’t me who set the fire, the house is gutted all the same. What if he evicts me?”

“He’s gotta have insurance. He’ll file a claim and get the place fixed up. Meantime, you know you can’t live here now, right?”

“But I don’t have anywhere else to go!” she wails. “Connor and Kat don’t have room for me at their place. And I wouldn’t accept even if they did. I can’t have this target on my back and go live in a house with a little baby.”

“That’s not where you’re going,” I reply. “You’re moving into the MC compound. Effective immediately.”

“I can’t live at an MC clubhouse,” she protests.

“The hell you can’t. It’s where you’ll be safest. And I’m gonna be there, too. Until further notice, I’m staying at the club as well, to keep an eye on you.”

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