Page 77 of Vandal Unbound

Elsie is currently sitting on it, watching a cartoon on the television.

“You haven’t seen him?”

Maren shakes her head. “Knox said it was members only, no family, not even me. Guess they wanted to give Van some space.”

“Maren!” The voice booms from down in the boathouse.

Maren smiles and moves to the door. “We’re up here.”

Footsteps pound up the stairs, and a harried-looking Knox appears at the top of them, pushing his hair back off his face. “Jesus, sweetheart. Are you okay?”

“We’re good,” Maren says.

He grabs her and tugs her to him so firmly that her feet lift off the floor, and big hands span her back. I’m glad that Elsie is so absorbed in the cartoon show on the television that she doesn’t look back to see what an indecent kiss it is. Even I find my cheeks filling with heat, and I turn away to give them privacy.

“You sure you and the baby are okay?” The rough edge of fear taints Knox’s words.

“I promise. I’m fine. It was some quick thinking on Daisy’s part.”

Knox looks over to me. “What happened?”

I step closer to them, away from the earshot of Elsie. “I want to talk to Vandal before I explain more, but I know the tattoo on that man’s wrist. It’s a sign of Alvarez’s men. He likes them branded. I just didn’t know why he would be with Sunny and Ridge. So I messaged Vandal.”

Knox nods, but I can see the suspicion in his eyes, like he can see straight through to the missing pieces I haven’t told him yet.Like, how do I know they have a problem with Alvarez, and why do I know about the tattoo. “Good thinking,” he says. “Not sure what you saved us from, Daisy, but I’m grateful.”

He squeezes Maren’s hands. “Just gonna go check in with Ridge and Sunny. Stay in here until I come get you.”

While Vandal said it would take fifteen, it takes only eleven minutes for me to hear a second set of boots on the stairs. And when he appears at the door, I’m taken aback by the sight of him.

His eyes look so much bluer. Without all the red lining them, they stand out more. The bags are lighter but not yet gone. And he’s showered. His hair, freshly washed, falls about his face. Gone is the puffiness and the signs of exhaustion. Instead, he looks a decade younger.

And he’s looking at me like he’s gonna eat me for breakfast.

23

VANDAL

God, I want to reach for Daisy. This isn’t a craving or addiction. It’s like my heart is going to beat its way through my ribs if I don’t touch her right now.

There’s a flicker of guilt that my absence left enough of a gap for trouble to walk right in and reach Daisy and Elsie, the two people I left behind.

I know Havoc is right behind me on the stairs, waiting for me to step inside, but even though I’ve been thinking about this moment for the last ten days, it still doesn't feel real.

She stands inside the hurricane shelter dressed in denim shorts and a faded yellow tank. Her hair’s pulled messily back, and her face is too pale. But she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

For a second, neither of us moves. And I think about what has happened in the time we’ve been apart.

The meetings. The shaking. The sweating. The mornings I woke up and wanted to drink so badly, I had to sit on the bathroom floor until the need stopped trying to kill me. The nights where I stared at my phone with her name on the screenand told myself that love wasn't a good enough reason to drag her into the wreckage that was my life.

Even now, I wonder if I don’t need a drink to help myself get through this. But I believe enough in myself to stand with that feeling for a heartbeat and remind myself that I don’t. My body has done a lot of healing since I’ve stopped poisoning it, and I don’t want to stop that progress.

Daisy whispers one word. “Vandal.”

And then I’m done. I cross the space between us, catch her face in my hands, and kiss her.

I suppose it should have been pretty; I suppose it should have been soft. But instead, it’s a lifetime of want. It’s the sound she makes when her fingers fist in my shirt. It’s the way I bend her because I need more of her mouth, more of her breath.

And I want more proof that she’s here, whole, and safe. That she’s mine to protect even if I haven’t earned the right yet.