Walk (Gentry Boys) (21 page)

“I know you,” he said to me. 

I swallowed.  “We haven’t met.  But yes, I’ve seen you before, Conway.  You might remember.”  I paused, wondering if I should avoid further details.  But something told me he’d already figured it out or else he would very shortly.  “I’m Evie, your brother Stone’s girlfriend.” 

He didn’t look surprised in the slightest.  He lit a cigarette and looked me over coolly.  “Stone lets his girl wander around shady clubs in the middle of the night?”

In spite of the fact that he’d just saved our asses, the question annoyed me.  “In case you haven’t heard, women have the right to wander wherever they please in this country.” 

I didn’t like the way his eyes scanned my body.  It made me feel dirty.  Conway grinned and it wasn’t clear whether it was a friendly grin or not. 

“I wouldn’t let a girl like you wander very far,” he said.  He crept closer and it took every ounce of resolve I had not to shrink back. 

Conway leaned in close.  He smelled of mint and tobacco.  “After all, sweetheart, you should have figured out by now that there are monsters hiding in the dark.” 

He wasn’t touching me but there was something sexual, almost predatory, about every move he made.  I didn’t back down.  I straightened my back and met his gaze, even though I had to crane my neck to do it. 

“Are you one of them, Conway?”

He exhaled.  “No.”

“We can trust you?”

He smiled. “No.” 

“Please don’t hurt us,” Darcy whimpered as she clutched my arm and trembled.  

Conway dropped his cigarette, crushed it beneath his boot and then showed the first sign of compassion.   He sighed and backed up a step, running a hand through his sandy hair the same way that Stone did when he was exasperated.  “Look, you ladies have nothing to fear from me. Actually, you’ve got nothing to fear from
anyone
as long as I’m beside you.” 

I relaxed a little.  Stone’s brother wasn’t exactly a slice of sunshine.  But he didn’t seem like he was about to assault us either.   

“Were you following us?”

“Yes.” 

“Why?”

“Saw you at Rush and realized where I knew you from.”  He made a disgusted face.  “You’re really fucking clueless you know. You strolled out of there without even realizing that son of a bitch was hot on your heels the whole time.” 

“We should call the police.” 

He laughed.  “You could do that.  They’ll listen politely.  Then they will fill out a very useless report which will get buried under a coffee mug on someone’s desk.” 

“Well,” I said, not quite letting go of my wariness.  “Thank you.  Thank you for chasing him away.  My truck’s gone and I don’t know how we didn’t realize this was a tow away zone but we’ll worry about that tomorrow.”

Conway looked at the sign and shrugged.  “It’s a racket.  They keep the warning signs small in the hopes some moronic rich girl will park there so they can squeeze her for a few hundred bucks.”

“Awesome,” I said, choosing for the moment to ignore that he’d kind of obliquely called me a rich bitch.  “Nice neighborhood you’ve got here, filled with well dressed goons and municipal car thieves.”

Conway smiled lazily.  “This ain’t my neighborhood, baby.  You just got lucky.” 

“Oh yes, I feel lucky,” I muttered, drawing my phone out. 

“Who are you calling?” Conway barked.  The tension in his voice confused me. Then I realized he probably assumed I was calling Stone. 

“We need a ride.  I was just going to dial Uber.”  

He scowled.  “Look, I’m not fucking waiting around for that.”

“Not asking you to,” I snapped as I searched my phone for information.

Conway plucked the phone right out of my hands and leaned in once more.  “You gonna handle Mr. Personality all by yourself if he comes back?”

I tried to think of a smart answer.  Not one volunteered as a possible candidate. 

Conway rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder with an exasperated hiss.  “I guess you’re my fucking problem for now,” he grumbled.   

This guy really needed to work on his likeability factor.  “What a chivalrous concept.”  

Conway tossed my phone back to me and started walking.  “Come on.” 

“Evie,” Darcy whined, fingernails digging into my skin.  I shook my arm free.

“Look dude, we’re not going with you,” I declared, crossing my arms.  Stone’s brother didn’t quite have the whole wicked thug vibe but he wasn’t exactly a prince either.  Frankly I didn’t relish the idea of being at his mercy. 

But when he turned around his expression was more mild, almost friendly.  “I’m just parked on the next block,” he said.  “I’ll drive you home.”

When I hesitated he held up his right hand like he was swearing an oath. 

“On my honor as a Gentry,” he insisted.  “You’ve got nothing to worry about from me.” 

I looked up and down the street.  Few people were in sight.  It was dark.   Maybe the best idea would have been to ask Conway to walk us back to Rush and then call a car from there but something held me back.  This was Stone’s brother.  The brother he’d been agonizing over and anxiously searching for.  Maybe if I had a chance to talk to Conway I could get through to him.

“Evie,” Conway called.  “Please.  Let me take you home.” 

So because all the mocking scorn had dropped from his voice and because he was the much-loved brother of the man I was desperately in love with, I dragged Darcy with me as we walked to his car, a silver Mustang.   She didn’t even complain when I shoved her into the backseat.     

Conway was already behind the wheel when I climbed into the passenger side. He looked at me sharply when I told him the address of Darcy’s apartment but he didn’t say a thing as he shifted into reverse and then roared out of there. 

He turned the radio way up and opened the windows as soon as we hit the freeway.   That kind of put a dent in any ideas I had about drawing him out through small talk.

As the Phoenix lights dwindled behind us I thought about everything Stone had ever told me about Conway.  I’d heard the entire tragic story about Conway and Erin.  The young lovers.  The gruesome accident.  The horrible misunderstanding that set it all in motion.  But what Stone liked to talk about the most as I rested with my cheek to his chest while he played idly with my hair was his childhood, especially the parts that included Conway.  It seemed everything that was important to Stone for the first eighteen years of his life had included Conway.   

The wind whipped my hair in all directions but I didn’t dare reach over and close the window.  As he shifted gears, I stole a glance at the man beside me.  He didn’t seem to have much in common with the funny, sweet, and spirited boy his brother remembered. 

He’d changed. 

But then, so had Stone.  He would be the first to admit it.   

God knows my own brother had changed. 

Even I had. 

Maybe it was just a testament to the whims of life; so often the people we turned into were not the people we first seemed destined to be. 

There was no traffic and as we approached Tempe I was still grappling with what I ought to say given this rare opportunity to talk to Stone’s brother.  It seemed like getting him to stick around and see Stone would be too much to hope for. 

Conway pulled into a spot in front of the office at Darcy’s apartment complex.  It was dark, having closed hours ago.  Darcy’s building was right behind the pool.

“What kind of car do you have, Evie?”

“Eighty six Chevy pickup.  Red.” 

He nodded.  “I know the guy who owns the impound lot and I’ll make sure someone brings your truck around before morning.” Conway looked at me.  “Now go.  I think you can make it from here.” 

Darcy didn’t need any more encouragement.  She jumped right out of the car after spitting out a hasty thank you.  When she got to the sidewalk and realized I wasn’t behind her she turned around.  I held up one finger and motioned for her to go on ahead. 

“You waiting for a kiss good night?” Conway asked.

“Knock it off.  You know I’m your brother’s girlfriend.” 

“So you’ve said.”  He squeezed his fingers around the steering wheel and squinted into the darkness.  “He at home?”

I couldn’t hide my surprise.  “He’s working tonight.  But how’d you know?  I didn’t tell you that Stone lives here.” 

Conway threw me a withering look.  “I know where my brother lives for fuck’s sake.” 

“Well, excuse me for being a little stunned,” I sneered, “especially since you didn’t bother to see him, talk to him or read his letters for four years and haven’t thrown a kind word in his direction since he was released.  Not one! You have no idea how much it hurts him and you either don’t care or you get some kind of perverse satisfaction out of it.” 

By the end of that outburst I was practically pinching myself to get my mouth to stop running.  I mean, sure I had my doubts about Conway but there was a deep and painful past involved that I hadn’t been around to witness.  

Worse, even though I felt exasperated on Stone’s behalf it wasn’t really him I was thinking of as I shouted at Conway.  No, that had all come from somewhere else, the place that knew far too well how it felt to be ignored and unforgiven by the brother who’d once been your world. 

“I read them,” Conway said softly. 

He’d slumped into his seat and his voice was different.  I watched the grief etch deeper into his face as he lowered his head and sighed.  This wasn’t the tough guy façade that Conway Gentry showed the rest of the rest of the world.  That scab had been scraped away and beside me was a man far more raw and real, one who probably didn’t appear often.   

“Stone’s letters?  You read them?”

He didn’t answer. 

I unbuckled my seatbelt and touched his arm.  “Conway?  Please talk to him.  Please.  Even if you scream and fight at first it’s better than-“

“Stop it.”  The hard edge, briefly softened, had returned.  He removed my hand from his arm and raised his head, glaring.  “Just fucking stop.” 

I folded my hands together in my lap.  “Sometimes silence is more painful than anything.” 

Without warning he reached across and pushed my door open.  The front seat was small and he couldn’t avoid brushing me with his arm although he flinched at the contact. 

I couldn’t leave without trying one more time.  “Conway. Please…”

Even though seconds earlier he acted like it was painful to touch me accidentally, now he suddenly cupped my chin rather roughly between his thumb and forefinger.  I tried to twist away but he held on tighter, forcing me to meet his eyes.  Blue eyes, so much like his brother’s eyes, only so cold and so wrong. 

“Get the hell out, Stone’s Girlfriend,” he growled and then released me. 

By this point I was eager to do just that.  I was clutching my purse to my chest and trying to get my legs to cooperate when Conway said my name.  With some wariness, I turned around to see what he wanted now. 

“Don’t tell him,” he said ominously, pointing a finger.  “Don’t you fucking tell him you saw me.” 

I felt a little more confident once my feet were planted outside the car. “Is that a warning?”

Conway shook his head, looking miserable once again.  He was so hot and cold, back and forth, bad and good.  I had no idea what to expect next.   

“Maybe,” he said evasively.  “But Evie, you better believe me when I say that if you love Stone, you’ll keep him away.” 

I shut the car door as he started backing up.  He didn’t look in my direction again as he drove off. 

Darcy was waiting for me at her apartment door.  She didn’t pump me for information and seemed like she wanted to forget the whole night ever happened. 

“Think he’ll really get your truck back?” she asked. 

“I hope so.  Yes.  He will.” 

I felt strange.  Everything that had happened in the last hour seemed surreal.  If Darcy hadn’t been standing here discussing him, I would have had my doubts that I’d even talked to a man named Conway Gentry tonight. 

Darcy rubbed her eyes.  “I can drive you home.” 

No, she couldn’t.  She’d downed at least three shots and two beers earlier.  Besides, Stone had given me a key to his apartment and even though he wouldn’t be home from work for several more hours I’d be willing to wait a whole lot longer than that just to feel his arms around me. 

Once Darcy had started drunkenly snoring on her couch, I texted Stone, letting him know that I’d been out with Darcy and I was by his place.  I knew that I was welcome to walk into his apartment whenever I wanted to, but some relationship common sense still prompted me to ask if it was okay.  He answered almost immediately. 

“Hell yes.  That bed needs to get some use too.  Miss you baby.” 

I texted back. 

“Miss you always.”
 

Stone and Bash’s apartment was fairly neat but I knew that was mostly Stone’s doing. I felt better as soon as I’d kicked off my shoes and stretched out on his bed.  I buried my face in the pillow that clung to his warm scent.  The whole encounter with Conway had been so strange I couldn’t quite sort through it yet.  His vague ‘don’t tell him’ threat had set off definite alarm bells in my head because something told me Conway wasn’t the type of guy who issued idle warnings.