Chapter 16

 

We sat at a table in Lila’s favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant a half hour later. I ordered her a margarita—a well-deserved drink after the morning we’d experienced. We were supposed to be having a celebration of our victory, but instead we sat in the booth with a somber aura, and I was icing my aching knuckles.

She was lost in thought, but not vacant or detached. I was happy with that, and the fact she didn’t need my help but only my presence to pull her from the debilitating fear that took hold of her thanks to that asshole father of hers opening his mouth.

She blew through her first drink in minutes, and I found myself shoving the chips and salsa at her before I had a drunk on my hands. After all, I had plans.

“Baby, you need to slow down.”

Her eyes flipped up, almost as if she was just noticing me, and her lips twitched. “Sorry, it’s just been a…day.”

I nodded. “Lots of highs and lows.”

She blew out a breath and dipped a chip in the queso I ordered. Her teet