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Please tell me that was the worst.
She laughed. “I’m never going to tell you everything.”
I hated that answer.
But I also loved her for it.
My mind ground to a stop when I realized what I’d just thought.
I loved her for it.
Fucking. Loved.
Son of a bitch.
What the hell was wrong with me, falling in love with a woman that I knew would be leaving me?
I quickly forced my brain off of that subject, too.
I couldn’t think about it.
Not now.
Maybe, when everything was all said and done, and I had nothing else to do but wallow in self-pity, then I’d consider it.
But until then…
“And why is Andy the only one without a T name?” I questioned.
Theo snickered at that.
“That’s a long story,” she admitted. “Do you want to hear it now?”
Why not?
I was wide the fuck awake now.
“Yeah,” I said, sliding my hand down lower to cup her ass.
She didn’t stiffen.
Instead, she pushed even farther into me.
“Well, it all started when the twins were born,” she admitted. “Tyson and Andy were born exactly nineteen minutes apart.”
“Okay,” I drawled.
“Andy was born first so my mom called him Andy, after her brother that passed away. Since the day that my mom’s brother died, she knew that she wanted to name her firstborn son Andy,” she explained. “When Tyson was born, she wanted to continue with the T name tradition that she and Dad had started. She continued it when Tara and I were born. Not sure why, but whatever.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’m hearing an underlying hostility there.”
She snorted. “You could say that. Andy hated that he was the only person in the family that didn’t have the T name. Even my mother had it, Tina. So we had Tina, Thurgood, Tyson, Tara, Theodora and finally Andy.”
I thought about that for a few long seconds, then nodded my head. “I honestly might be kind of pissed about that, too.”
She snickered at my admission.
“I think it might’ve been better for Mom, Tyson, and I to not have the T name since the T name seems to have a little crazy attached to it.” She paused. “My mom died when I was four. From then on…everything was bad. I think my mother was the only one that could hold everyone together. After that…things just fell apart.”
I shook my head and ran my hand down the length of her spine, then back up again. When I got to her neck, I curled my fingers around it and squeezed lightly.
“I don’t think she held them together as much as helped hide their brand of crazy,” I admitted. “That, and y’all weren’t really old enough to get to the level of crazy that your brother and sister seem to be holding strong at.”
She sighed.
“Can I tell Tyson where I’m going?” she whispered softly, her breath tickling my chest hairs.
I shook my head. “It’s best if nobody—not even me—knows where you are. That way, if it comes down to it, you’re safe. Nobody but a few know where you are.”
She swallowed hard, and I could tell that she didn’t like that answer.
But she accepted it when I said what I said next.
“Linnie needs to be your top priority at this point,” I murmured. “Fuck everyone and everybody else. Even me.”Chapter 13I’m glad I learned how to find X during school instead of how to do my taxes.
-Said no one ever
Liner
“Things are heating up at the Threadgill compound,” I heard Sam say into my ear. “The brother that has the kid is acting twitchy…and I think he’s about to run. At least that’s my general opinion.” He paused. “We were going to wait to collect the girl until we had everything set in place, but with the way he’s acting, I think you should get her now.”
I didn’t even hesitate.
“I’ll go get her myself,” I said softly.
“Do that.” He paused. “And also, we’ve moved up the timetable on our end, too. We should have everything in place the day after tomorrow at the latest. Tell her she has about thirty-six hours, she needs to hold it together, then we’ll have her a place.”
Thirty-six hours was all that I had left of her.
I wouldn’t think about it right now.
I had other things that I needed to do.
Telling Turner and Castiel that I had somewhere to be, they waved at me from the back porch swing.
And since Theo was in her room with the door closed, I took that as the ‘don’t disturb me’ that it was and left her to it.
She’d been hiding in her room since I’d woken up earlier. When I’d woken to an empty bed and an even emptier feeling heart, I’d given her the space that she so obviously had needed and went to work in my home office.
I’d spent a couple of hours in there, fielding calls and calling in reports to my crews when the PI, Tomas, had called with the news.
