Cain huffed, but then smiled mischievously. “Maybe your Uncle Damon will color with you!” he said brightly. “Oh, and you should ask him to tell you some jokes. He’s got some hilarious ones.”
Molly looked at Damon expectantly, and he could feel his face turn red. Beneath the table, he aimed a kick at the man in front of him, but Cain shifted his chair back before his foot could connect and gave him a knowing grin.
“I’ll get the check,” Cain said. “Meet you guys outside to say goodbye.”
Damon slugged back the last sip of his coffee - black and strong, unlike the melted ice-cream Cain drank - and stood, waiting for Chelsea and Molly to do the same. Chelsea lifted her daughter down from the bench, and Damon was stunned when the little girl reached out and put her hand in his. He blinked down at her.
Molly’s hair was in little braids today, and she wore a pink dress with the sloganUndercover Unicorn.
“Cain says you’re only growly because you want to protect us,” she confided, her forehead creased with a frown, and his heart lurched.
“He’s right,” Damon agreed.
Molly’s other hand came around to trace the pink scars visible beneath the hem of Damon’s long sleeves, and he held his breath, but she made no comment about them. Still, her next words floored him completely.
“Who’s gonna protect Cain if you’re not there?” she wondered, and Damon’s gaze shot to the diner counter, where Cain stood paying the bill. He looked confident, a friendly smile on his face as he joked with the cashier, until you looked at the tightness around his eyes, the purple smudges that showed he’d had far less sleep than Damon had.
Fuck. Whowouldprotect him?
It was easy to remind himself that Cain wasn’t likely to be in any physical danger, but what about emotionally? Who’d made him so afraid to lose his temper, to show his personality, to be himself?
He swallowed. “He’s a big boy, sweets, not a kid. He’d be the first one to tell you that.”
“But he still gets scared, though. He told me.”
Damon took a deep breath but didn’t reply. He didn’t know how. They walked toward the parking lot, Chelsea following close behind.
For a single moment, he let himself wish that Cain were walking out alongside them, that he’d be coming to the parking lot not to say goodbye, but to get in the car with them. He had a momentary image of showing Cain the place where he’d be taking Chelsea - one of his favorite places in the whole world - and he knew without a doubt that Cain would love it as much as he did.
And in his distraction, he failed to notice the black sedan.
The beast reversed from a parking space and headed right for them, tires squealing and engine roaring as the driver stepped on the gas. Damon heard someone scream, and saw from the corner of his eye as a bystander yanked Chelsea backward, out of the path of the car. He grabbed Molly’s shoulder and threw them forward, between two other parked cars, twisting as he fell to make sure he cushioned her.
Fuck!His right leg screamed in agony and he could swear he heard the damaged tissue ripping as he fell. The pain in his elbow registered next - sharp and burning. He’d scraped the hell out of it.
“Uncle Damon?” Molly’s voice was high and quivery.
“Yeah, sweets,” he said, trying to temper the rough growl of his voice. “You okay?”
She nodded. He quickly moved her off him and started to stand, a red haze across his vision.Where was Chelsea? Who the fuck had been in that car, and were they coming back?
But suddenly Cain was running toward him, panic on his face.
“Down! Get down! They’re coming back, and…” His voice cut off as he dove on top of Damon, shielding him and Molly as gunfire shattered the morning air.
Crack, crack, crack.
Glass shattered somewhere above his head, and there was a sharp, metallicpingas a bullet embedded itself in the door not far from his head. Cain’s body jerked on top of his. There was another squeal of tires, followed by a single moment of ringing silence… and then the whole world burst into motion.
“They’re gone!” someone shouted. “Did you see the license plate?”
“Call the police!” another voice cried. Then several pairs of feet came running toward them, demanding to know if they were okay.
“Moll?” Damon recognized Chelsea’s voice, panicked and high.
“Momma!” Molly pushed herself out from beneath Cain and scrambled into her mother’s arms.
“Damon, my God. Are you hurt?” Chelsea demanded. “Cain, are you?”
