Chapter 198

I immediately start forward, ready to talk to Carrie, but Archer grabs me by the arm and holds me back.

“Archer, what --?”

Next thing I know, my back is against the brick wall of a nearby building. Archer places his hands on either side of me, preventing my escape. He steps closer, creating a barrier with his body that blocks any curious passersby from seeing me.

He towers over me, glaring down with his usual hard expression. The muscles of his bare arms are flexed. His body is so close to mine that I can feel the heat radiating off of him in waves.

My cheeks are on fire.

“People will see,” I say with embarrassment.

“No one’s paying any attention,” Archer says, though he doesn’t look away from me. I have no idea how he can be so confident about it. But then, the Hayes brothers are confident about absolutely everything.

His sudden closeness and the embarrassment push back my other thoughts for a minute – Gods help me, he is so hot – but then I remember in a flash. Carrie!

This asshole only stopped me to keep me from talking to her!

That outrage cools my lust as quickly as if I dumped a bucket of ice water over my head.

“Archer, back up. Let me go.”

“No,” he says simply.

I glare at him. “I just want to talk to her for a minute.”

“No,” he says again.

“Archer –”

“Wasn’t her disappearance after you saw her last time enough of a clue for you?” Archer asks. Despite my growing anger, his voice is level. “If she wanted to talk to you at all, she would have done it then.”

“She’s sticking around here for a reason,” I argue. “Shouldn’t we find out what it is?”

“It’s not our business.”

He’s dismissive, but I have studied Archer’s face enough by now to notice the way his mouth grows tight, just for a millisecond.

He knows as well as I do that the only likely reason she would stick around here instead of fleeing the country like the brothers initially assumed, is Mia.

And if Mia is her true reason for staying, and Mia is in our care, that shouldn’t it be our business to know?

Yet, just as I spotted that tightness to Archer’s mouth, I also recognized the hardness in his gaze that told me he would not be swayed by this argument. If Neil is the most stubborn man I’ve ever met, Archer is a close second.

The only hope I had of convincing him now was by going deeper, and giving him a rawer, more emotional truth.

I swallowed the pride that made me want to keep things secret and told him, “I’m worried about Mia. When I leave… When…” I held back the tremor of emotion that shook through me at those words, that thought. I cleared my throat. “When I leave, Mia will be without a mother figure in her life.”

“She’ll manage,” Archer says.

It stings a little, but I keep going. “If her true mother is right here, just out of reach, don’t I owe it to Mia before I leave to try to bring them together?” I lower my head. “I don’t want Mia to be lonely.”

“She’ll have us,” Archer says.

“I know… but…” I try to imagine Archer and his brothers trying to sit down with Mia in the years to come and explain things to her like pads and tampons and periods and boys. And what would they do when Mia is old enough and curious enough to start walking around and seeing what they get up to.

Maybe it wasn’t my business. After all, I’m leaving in a handful of days now. When I’m gone, my opinions won’t matter in the slightest.

I inhale a long, slow breath, and try one last plea. “I want Mia to have the best possible life she can.”

Things that I mean but leave unsaid: I wish I could be there for it.

Archer seems to know. He sighs and shakes his head. Then he finally lowers one arm, giving me an exit from the jail of his arms.

I immediately sneak out from between him and the wall. As I’m freely on the sidewalk again, I shiver. Archer was so very warm. And his muscles, so close…

No. I need to concentrate.

I force my attention forward and quicken my pace to where I last saw Carrie in the line at the food stall. She’s not there anymore? Shit. Archer distracted me too long.

But then – no! There she is. A blonde eating a gyro.

I rush over to her. “Excuse me, but I…”

As I approach, the woman turns to look at me. A curious yet confused expression crinkles her face. This is not Carrie.

But how can that be? I was so sure when I saw her before.

Was I truly so desperate to find Carrie and reunite her with Mia that I was fooling myself into seeing her in places where she wasn’t? This woman has the same hair as Carrie, but none of her other features are the same.

It’s almost embarrassing how wrong I would have to be to mistake them.

Archer comes up behind me. He places his hands on my shoulders and begins to lightly turn me away from the stranger.

“Sorry,” I say, as I allow myself to be moved. “I thought you were someone else.”

Archer then guides me a few steps away. I really do feel foolish.

“You are well meaning,” Archer says, and I’m a bit startled to receive any words of encouragement from him. I’ll take them though. “But you need to stay out of things that do not concern you.”

I’ve heard these words before, all the way back when I helped defend Tide from those people I thought were muggers. I took these same words to heart then, and left Tide to his own devices.

He’s still in a coma.

“This is for Mia,” I tell Archer now.

Archer looks at me like he can see right through me. “Is it?” he asks. “Or is it for you?”

“What do you mean by that?”

He doesn’t reply.

“Archer?”

“Forget it,” he snaps and starts walking. “Let’s get back.”

Now he’s going to take charge of my walk? I am the one who needs to clear my head! And now my head is only more foggy with confusion and doubt!

“You can go back if you want,” I say, “but I am –”

“Excuse me, miss?”

I blink. My mouth is still open from scolding Archer. I close it as I glance at the teen suddenly behind me. They are wearing a shirt with a logo that matches the food stall. Do they work here?

Archer stopped a few feet ahead. He’s turned around now, watching.

“Yes?” I ask the teen.

He holds up a note for me. It’s a folded piece of paper torn from a tiny notepad.

“The woman who was just here asked me to give this to you…” the teen says.

“A blonde woman?” I ask.

“Yes.”

I take the note. It has to be from Carrie. “Thank you.”

The teen dips his head as he turns away and hurries back toward the stall.

Archer approaches me. “What is it?”

I flip open the note, and read.

Chloe – Please continue to take good care of Mia.