CHAPTER TWENTY

NATALIE

“Here’s the wine bar,” Sol said and led me toward an elegant brick building that read Vino Veritas. Soft, Latin music played out of speakers hidden somewhere among the vines of ivy that scaled up the rustic walls.

We asked to sit outside on the patio, which was just warm enough and perfectly shaded. Sol inspected the wine list and asked for something that I never heard of, as well as bruschetta and a charcuterie plate.

“I never had you pegged for a wine snob,” I said when the waiter left. 

He grinned. “I grew up in Napa. My family actually runs a cellar there, so I probably had a taste for it since before I was born.” 

Before I could voice my surprise our waiter returned with a bottle and two large glasses, which he poured expertly and placed the bottle on the center of the table next to my lily bouquet. 

“How did you end up here and doing… what you do?” I asked.

“How much time do you have?” he said with a chuckle as he swirled the ruby liquid in his glass.

“All the time in the world,” I answered, clinking my glass gently against his. We took our first sip together as if it marked a new chapter in our… whatever we were.

“I first came out here because Ari’s mother’s family is from here,” he began quietly. “They’re loaded. They live in one those mansions overlooking the town from the hills. But the moment they saw me with a baby in my arms, they drove my ass away.”

“Seriously?” I demanded. 

“Yeah,” he said with a wry smirk. “They wouldn’t believe in a million years that their perfect daughter would get knocked up by a degenerate like me. I even had a DNA test ready. No amount of evidence staring them in the face would convince them Ari was their granddaughter.” He took a long pull of wine. “Whatever. Their loss.” 

“That’s awful,” I breathed. “Not only is Ari a wonderful kid, she’s their own flesh and blood!”

“Heh, not according to them.”

I paused and swirled some wine in my glass like I knew what I was doing. The question at the forefront of my mind had been there since I first met Ari, but it never seemed appropriate to ask. However now seemed as good a time as any.  

“What happened to her mother?” 

“Um, well,” he said with a nervous chuckle. “We dated when we were both going to Cal. She was a political science major, I studied engineering.” 

“You went to Cal?” I couldn’t keep the shock out of my voice. “I applied there and got rejected!” 

“I know. I don’t look the part,” he said with a wink. “I did well in school but ended up getting kicked out. I was paying my way by selling pot and prescription meds on campus because I couldn’t get a normal job.”

“Why not?” I asked. After thinking about it, Sol did seem well-educated and intelligent for being a criminal. 

“You see all this?” He stretched his long, muscular arms out straight in front of him, indicating all the ink that stretched from his knuckles to his neck. “I already had most of my tattoos by the time I was sixteen. No one at a prestigious university wanted to hire a kid that looked like a thug. So I utilized the skills I did have until like a dumbass, I got caught and expelled.” 

“And Ari’s mom didn’t want to be with you because of that?” 

“Not exactly,” he said, chewing his lip. “After getting kicked out, we were still together for a while and I still wasn’t done fucking up. I kept selling drugs and supported her in a cushy San Francisco apartment because she hated living on campus. She got pregnant right before graduating, and right before I got busted and sent to prison.” 

“Oh,” was all I could say, my eyes wide.

Sol merely shrugged as he refilled his wine. “I got a slap on the wrist as far as prison sentences go, only twelve months. It was actually great for me financially. Selling in prison is way more profitable than on the street. I still supported her but it killed me to miss my daughter’s birth. When I got out, I got an infant dumped into my arms and was told her mother wanted nothing to do with her.”

“No way!” I gasped, feeling my heart break for Ari. And even Sol, for everything he went through. “How could a mother just do that?”

“She wanted a career in politics,” he answered dryly. “Getting knocked up right out of college by a criminal while unmarried was a surefire way to ruin that.”

“Well, I hope she never became a politician,” I grumbled. “It takes a certain kind of person to just abandon her infant daughter without a care in the world. And that kind of person should never be in a position of power.”

“You heard of Analise Renoir?” Sol asked. 

“The congresswoman?” 

“Yep.” 

“No!” My mouth dropped open and I desperately needed more wine, which Sol expertly filled for me without spilling a drop. “She gave me a weird vibe throughout the whole campaign. Glad I didn’t vote for her but now I’m extra pissed that she won.”

“Her family has connections and very deep pockets,” he said sadly. “Ari doesn’t even know who her mother is. I’d never say it in front of her but they can all fuck off at this point.”

I wrapped a hand around his bicep and felt the taut muscle flex under my fingers. I looked at his face, the kissable lips, strong jaw coated in stubble and the wisdom in his sharp, amber eyes. There was so much more to him than what was seen at the surface. He had a depth to him that rivaled the ocean’s and I was just beginning to see the complexities of this handsome, rebellious man. 

“You’re a great father,” I told him. “You’re doing so well with her. She’s curious and smart and so sweet. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for you to do it alone, but I can already tell you’ve done a great job.” 

He smiled so widely as he wrapped a hand around the back of my neck to pull me closer. 

“Thank you, beautiful.” 

He kissed me so tenderly, savoring the wine on my tongue and lips as his fingers gripped my hair like they didn’t want to let go. I wondered if anyone ever told him straight out that he was a good father before. He held onto me like I was the only one who did. 

Our tender moment was interrupted by our waiter bringing out our food and setting it on the table. 

“Another bottle, please,” Sol requested, to which the waiter nodded and scurried off to retrieve it. 

“You know my life story now. Tell me about you,” he said, helping himself to prosciutto on a cracker. 

“My life’s a bit more boring than yours,” I replied with a smirk. “I came from a regular middle-class family, had a pretty normal childhood. My parents had me when they were older and my mom died from cancer when I was young. It was just my dad and me for most of my life.”

“I’m sorry about your mom,” he said softly.

I shrugged. “It’s okay. I mean, I was so young that I barely remember her.”

“So if Ari ends up anything like you, I have nothing to worry about,” Sol said gently with a smile. “I worry a lot about her growing up without a mom.”

“Ha,” I scoffed. “I don’t know if you want her ending up like me.”

“That depends on what you keep telling me,” he teased.    

I sipped my wine pensively as I went on. “ I was in school too, in Oregon. I studied marine biology.” 

“Really?” Sol asked with genuine interest. “One of my favorite engineering projects was designing an aquarium. I didn’t sleep for three days straight working on that shit.” 

“Ah, college days,” I mused with a smile. “I pulled lots of all-nighters too. I was a pretty straight-laced kid but I did sometimes buy stuff to, you know, stay awake and focused.” 

“Ooh, a closeted bad girl,” Sol smirked with a playful squeeze of my thigh. “What’d you use?” 

“Adderall, usually. I never wanted to get involved with more illegal stuff.” 

“Yeah, better to not get hooked on those things. That was smart of you,” he praised. 

“I thought so too,” I said, my eyes losing focus on the table in front of me as that dark memory became all that I saw. “Until my dealer talked me into meeting up at his dorm instead of in public like we usually did. We had mutual friends so I trusted him. But he… attacked me. I thought he was going to rape me but he ended up choking me until I passed out.” 

The terror rocked through me as if it was happening right then. I saw Darren’s face hovering above as I scratched and clawed at him for dear life but to no avail. I heard him say something about how he’d make more money by selling me and it didn’t make any sense to me. Slavery didn’t exist anymore. What the hell was he talking about? 

Sol’s lips at my temple and his firm hand rubbing my neck brought me back to the present. I realized I was shivering despite the warm day and I turned to him. Without hesitation he pulled me into his lap, smoothing his hands up and down my back and kissing my hair as I buried my face in his neck. 

I stayed like that until my trembles went away and I whispered, “The next thing I knew, I was tied up in a dark, dirty basement with a half dozen other women.” 

“You’re safe now,” Sol whispered the promise into my ear. “Nothing will hurt you as long as I’m around. But some motherfuckers are going to get hurt badly for doing this to you.” 

“Thank you,” I breathed into his neck, sinking into his warmth that wrapped around me like a protective blanket. “You literally saved my life.”

He smiled down at me, his amber eyes twinkling. 

“In some ways, you saved mine too.”