Page 65 of Beautiful Scars

"Save it." Jade cuts me off. "Just... if you're gonna stick around for a while, be good to her. She's been through enough. Okay?"

Before I can respond, she's gone, disappearing into the crowd heading for the VIP section. I check my phone—several missed calls from Colt and one more from Wolf about the warehouse. Business can wait.

At two-fifteen, Sunny starts her closing routine. I watch her count tips, wipe down the bar, stack glasses with mechanical precision. When she emerges from the back room at two-thirty-five, she's changed into jeans and an oversized sweater.

"Ready?" I stand, offering my arm out of habit.

She hesitates before taking it. Her hand is small and cold against my sleeve. "Where are we going?"

"Place called Mary's. Best pancakes in the Valley."

The drive is quiet. I can feel her tension, see how tight she grips her hands in her lap. When we pull into the parking lot of the small diner, she finally speaks.

"Why are you doing this?"

I turn off the engine but don't move to get out. "I don't know."

I see her wring her hands in her lap. "That's… honest. As long as you know that you don't owe me anything. You don't have to feel sorry for me."

I meet her gaze, searching for understanding in her eyes. "I know I don't. There's a lot I'm trying to figure out right now, same as you."

She nods slowly, a flicker of appreciation crossing her face.

The air between us feels heavy, charged with a sense of loss, the weight of the past, and the uncertainty of the future. Her grip relaxes a little on her lap.

"Sunny," I say softly. "I'm here because I care, and even if I'm a little lost right now, I'm here because I want to be."

"Okay then," she says decisively. She lets out a breath with a long sigh, a tentative smile tugging at her lips. "Let's get those pancakes you promised."

Inside, the diner is nearly empty. The fluorescent lights are harsh against the early morning sky, making everything feel too bright, too exposed. We slide into a booth near the back. Sunny orders coffee and pancakes. I order the same.

"Tell me something," she says after the waitress leaves. "Did you know? Before? About what happened that night?"

"No." I grip my coffee mug tighter. "Levi only told us a small part of the story. He told us that he thought you were murdered. That he believed Garrett killed you and his mother and that it had been a random attack. Everything we've done since then—building the business with him in the ways we have—it was all about finding Garrett. Getting revenge for taking the people he loved away from him."

"Do you believe him?"

"I don't know what to think. Or what to do."

She traces patterns in the condensation on her water glass. "That makes two of us."

Our food arrives, and I watch her pick at her pancakes. She's lost weight since that morning in her apartment. Dark circles under her eyes suggest she's not sleeping well.

"You should eat more than that."

She gives me a weak smile. "Sure thing,Dad."

"I'm serious. You look exhausted."

"Yeah, well, finding out the guy you loved didn't only break up with you badly, but actually thought he was leaving you to rot tends to mess with your sleep schedule."

The bitterness in her voice makes me wince. "Have you thought about what you want to do?"

"Besides hide in my apartment forever?" She sighs. "I don't know. Part of me wants answers. Part of me wants to run as far away as possible. But apparently I'm really bad at not being found."

"You don't have to decide anything right now."

"Don't I?" She meets my eyes. "He knows where I am now. You all do. Everything I've built here—my job, my life—it's not just mine anymore, which means it's not safe for me. I don't know what to do with that."

---