Page 31 of The Vigilant

“When I got out of juvie, Mara was mixed up with the wrong crowd. And when I told the police she was missing, they seemed to have already decided that she was just one more druggie who disappeared to fuel her degenerate lifestyle and not worth their effort.”

“But the two of you argued?”

Anger flashed on her face. “It didn’t matter. It was just an argument. Just words. Minutes of anger wouldn’t erase our entire friendship. I was texting Mara, and it was going to be okay.”

“How do you know?”

She jerked like the question was a spear in her side and then glared at me. “Because Mara and I were more than friends. In case you hadn’t noticed, I got the short end of the shit stick when it came to family. She’s the only reason I have any idea what that word means.”

A bead of sweat trailed down the side of my face. Hearing the pain in her voice when she talked about her past, it created a physical response in my body like I was being tortured. The stress. The adrenaline. The urge to say or do anything to get the pain to stop, but knowing no matter what I said, it would only make things worse.

I took another drink of water, trying to swallow down the guilt that wouldn’t stay settled. It wasn’t my fucking fault. I’d had no idea what she was dealing with, but neither did it feel like I had an excuse.

“She was all I had after my dad died. After Mom…she was the only person who wrote to me while I was away.”

My throat tightened, knowing exactly how she felt. Her father had been that for me—a mentor and friend who’d kept me on the right path. And Harm and the guys had filled out my found family. Thank God, because without them…without this…I would’ve been lost when Jon died.

But while I had a crew of loyal friends to pick me up, Sutton had been a teenager with only a teenage best friend for support. It wasn’t nothing; I wasn’t saying that. But it sure as hell wasn’t enough.

“Sutton,” I croaked.

For an instant, I saw the woman behind the warrior. The one who was wounded and ravaged. Who’d had no one to support her…console her…except her best friend, who was also a fucking child at the time.

And just as quickly, the warrior returned.

“Mara was the only one who fought for me when I needed her. I sure as hell am not going to sit back and do nothing when I know something happened—when I know something is wrong.”

“And Jack has something to do with her disappearance?”

The muscle in her jaw tightened.

“The security guard who called the police on me…he told me the last time he saw Mara, she’d been leaving with Jack.” Her words slowed like she was being more careful which ones she let out. I made note of it for later. “When I asked Jack about Mara, he said we couldn’t talk in the club, so he led me outside. Once we were in the alley, he told me if I wanted answers, I had to be willing to give him something in return.”

The way she said the word something left no doubt as to what Jack had meant. Instantly, I regretted pulling the knife from his hand.

No, I didn’t regret that. I regretted not removing it from his hand and replacing it through his fucking eye.

Sutton’s head jerked in my direction, and only then did I realize I’d crushed the water bottle—still half-filled—in my hand, water running down my fingers and forearm and dripping onto the floor.

Her eyes met mine, and she finished, “I was unwilling.”

“So, it was self-defense,” I muttered low.

“No. It was a fucking lesson,” she spat, and I forced myself to breathe because otherwise the tug of war between admiration and absolute fury would’ve torn me in two.

“What did he tell you?” I asked as I trashed the mangled bottle and grabbed a towel to wipe my arm dry.

When she didn’t answer right away, I looked at her—met her sharpened stare for a split second before she replied.

“That Mara disappeared on him, too,” she said and tipped her head back against the wall. “He said he brought her to the club, and they’d argued. She’d told him our fight was eating at her, and she was realizing I was right and that she was leaving him. She left the club, and he hasn’t seen her since.”

I watched the steady oscillation of her breath. The immovable expression on her face.Damn, she was a beautiful liar.

“I see,” I rumbled and rubbed my hand along my jaw. “And he didn’t worry something bad happened?”

Her brow lifted too sharply, it cut my breath like a knife.

“Worry? You think the man who was ready to assault me would worry about anyone other than himself?” She snorted. “Yeah, right.”

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