Page 34 of Iron Will
“I… uh…” I stammer. “I better…”
Rourke chuckles low in his throat. “What an asshole that guy is. Come on. I’ll walk you back.”
Less than a minute later, we’re standing in front of my door. I’m still in a fog from the heat of his kiss.
Even though I’d be crazy to consider it after Blake just caught us, I’m almost hoping Rourke follows me into my office. But suddenly, he’s all business.
“I’ll be in touch about the plan,” he tells me gruffly. “I gotta go talk to my cop friend. Meantime, if you see Mickey around here, let one of Lords standing guard outside Paisley’s room know. I wanna have our guys keep track of that piece of shit while he’s here.”
I nod. “Okay.”
“And let me know what times of day you see him here. If there’s any patterns. I’ll ask the Lords to do the same.”
“Rourke,” I murmur, “Can I ask you something?”
“What?”
His eyes meet mine, so deep I could drown in them.
“Why areyoudoing this?” I breathe. “I just told you about what made me decide to be a social worker. What makes you care so much about helping a little girl you don’t even know?”
“I was one of those kids who needed a savior when I was little. I didn’t get one.” He pauses, and when he continues his voice is hard as steel again. “So I’ll be damned if I’m gonna look the other way when I see someone in need of saving.”
14
Rourke
That chick Laney, man….
She is not what I thought she was.
I thought she was never gonna go for the plan to get Mickey out of the way. I was surprised as hell when it didn’t take much to convince her. Even though I knew she was worried about Paisley, too.
But, then, I didn’t know what Laney knew.
That piece of human filth has already hurt the little girl.
At first, I just wanted Mickey out of the picture. But now that it looks like the bruise they found on Paisley’s arm comes from him, I want him to suffer.
A lot.
And I want him to knowwhyhe’s suffering. Make it so he’ll never even think about raising a hand to Paisley or any other little kid again.
If he even lives to make the decision.
But that’s gonna have to come later. Right now, I got other shit to deal with. For now, we get him away from Paisley. Put him on ice. And hopefully give her mom some time to figure out that no worthless piece of shit like Mickey King is worth putting her daughter at risk.
I’ve never understood why the hell women stay with guys who don’t treat them right. But damned if I don’t know plenty of them who do.
My own mom was one, after all.
Like I told Laney, I was a kid who needed a savior when I was little. But saviors didn’t exist for me back then.
So I had to save myself. Me, and my kid sister.
And I’ll be damned if I let Paisley suffer the same fate.
I wonder whether shit would have been easier for me and Regan when we were kids if we’d had a social worker like Laney. Someone who actually gave a damn about us. Someone who would have tried to go to bat for us.