Downfall(42)

I honked the horn and watched, holding my breath, as Solo painstakingly pushed himself off the pole. He was moving like a ninety-year-old man suffering from arthritis. Every step he took in my direction contorted his face into a grimace of pain. He waved off the large African American man when the giant took a step forward to offer a steadying hand. The man in the expensive suit said something that made Solo wince, but he nodded and stumbled into the passenger door. I leaned across the seat and shoved it open for him, watching with wide eyes as he practically collapsed into the old, worn leather seat. He flicked a sarcastic salute from the torn rim of his battered hat and leaned his head back. Even with his eyes closed, he looked incredibly pale in the low light.

I didn’t bother to ask if he was okay, because the answer was obvious. Instead, I asked, “Do you need to go to the emergency room?” He didn’t look like he was going to keel over, but he didn’t look all that great either.

“No. Got a couple busted ribs. They can’t do much but wrap them and give me painkillers. I can do without a thousand-dollar bill from the ER for shit I can take care of myself.” His raspy voice was laced with aggravation and discomfort. He cracked a dark eye open and looked at me. “Thank you for coming to get me. Didn’t think I was up to working the clutch and stick shift.” He hooked his thumb in the direction of the empty car seat in the back. “Where’s Noble?”

I tightened my hold on the steering wheel as a woman in an incredibly revealing outfit suddenly darted across the street in front of me. I gasped a little and slammed on the brakes, getting a middle finger flashed my way as she continued to run across the road.

Shaking my head in disbelief, it took me a minute to get my brain back to the question Solo asked. “She’s having an impromptu slumber party with Riley. I wasn’t sure where you were, so I didn’t want to drag her out of bed and across town in case I got lost. Erica didn’t mind watching her for the rest of the night.”

He made a low noise and let his gaze drift shut once again. “Figures. Finally have you to myself and a free night without the possibility of an interruption and I can barely move.” He grunted and winced as he shifted around in the passenger seat. “Hey, Orley… I wanna ask you a question. You don’t have to answer right away because I think I already figured some things out. I want you to know, your answer won’t change anything between us, whatever it is.”

My shoulders locked and a shiver danced down my spine. I shot him a look out of the corner of my eye but didn’t say anything, even when he muttered, “Is your last name Vincent, by any chance? And do you happen to be related to a man named Channing Vincent?”

I almost drove the car up onto the sidewalk I was so shocked. Solo let out a long string of swear words as the car swerved dramatically across the road and he was tossed toward the door. I was lucky it was the middle of the night, otherwise I would’ve taken out pedestrians and other cars.

Struggling to catch my breath, I looked at the man next to me who was staring at me with a patient, knowing gaze. He snorted and closed his eyes again. “I don’t know the whole story. I hope you trust me enough to fill me in eventually. But even without hearing what you have to say, I can tell you I know why you left and why you don’t want to be found. The guy is cunning and vicious. He set me up, even though I always thought I was too smart to fall for a ploy like his. I think it’s twice as scary when the monsters are arrogant enough to hide in plain sight. I swear on my mother, I will die before I let that asshole get anywhere near you and Noble.”

His warm hand reached out and caught mine, squeezing it tightly. I found the roughness comforting and the strength in his grip completely reassuring. I wanted to tell him that Channing Vincent wasn’t above murder, that the man who I always called father was capable of outrageous acts of violence and brutality, but the words didn’t come. Instead, I simply nodded and whispered, “He doesn’t want me, but he will go through whoever gets in his way to get at my kid. It’s late, and you need to take care of those ribs. The conversation about how messed up my family is can wait.” I was secretly hoping it could wait forever, but now that Solo knew my last name, it was better I filled in the gaps for him rather than him wading through all the garbage information my father had paid through the nose to pump out through the media.

Solo sighed and squeezed my fingers again. “Are you offering to play nurse for me?” He wiggled his eyebrows under the brim of his hat. “I don’t think anyone has patched me up after a fight since my mom put me back together whenever I got into fights after school.”

It took me a little while to find a parking spot that wasn’t too far from the apartment building. Solo was putting on a brave face, but I could tell he was hurting. I wanted to ask about the other guy, but it felt like if I had too much information about what he did in the middle of the night in the warehouse district, I was accepting this kind of thing as my new normal. I shouldn’t be crushing on a guy who beat up other people for money. I shouldn’t have a slippery, squishy feeling all around my heart when I thought about him getting hurt and the fact he had to hurt other people in order to take care of his mother.

When I finally found a spot, it took Solo several long, drawn-out minutes to haul himself out of the car; it took us a lot longer to walk to the front of the building than it should’ve. For once, I wasn’t scanning every alley and jumping at every noise from the shadows. I wasn’t terrified of the dark when I was next to Solo. But, I was scared for him, especially when he suddenly wrapped a heavy arm around my shoulders and leaned his weight against me. He was heavy, and his breathing didn’t sound good. I instinctively wrapped my arm around his lean waist and tried my best to support him.