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Deklan shakes his head slowly.
“He’s still…trying to get his bearings. He’s exerting his authority—trying to make a place for himself. He needs time to figure out how to do it all.”
“He wants her.” Teagan nods over to me.
“He’s testing me,” Deklan says. “He wants to know I am as loyal to him as I was to his father. This is his way of doing it. If he wanted Kera, he could have married her in the first place, and he didn’t. It’s God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son. Sean is testing my faith.”
“How long do you think it will be before he makes a demand for her? He’s talked about it before.”
“He doesn’t really mean it.” Deklan shakes his head.
“He sounded like he meant it,” I say quietly.
“What?” Deklan turns his head sharply in my direction.
“I overheard you,” I finally say, “when you and Sean were talking about me.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“What did he say?” Teagan asks.
“He wants me on loan,” I say with a snort. My chest feels tight, and I can’t take a deep breath.
“It doesn’t matter,” Deklan says before I can give any details. “He’s just talking shit.”
“He’s losing it, Dek. I used to think he at least had a game plan, but now I think he’s just winging it.”
“He’s figuring everything out.” Deklan stares at his hands and nods once. “He needs some time to adjust—we all do. He hasn’t been the same since your father died.”
“It started before then,” Teagan says, correcting him. “You know it did. It started with Marie.”
“Who’s Marie?” I ask.
“A hooker,” Teagan says.
Deklan glares at her.
“She was.” Teagan shrugs at him before she looks back at me. “He’d been seeing her regularly, but then she turned up dead. Overdose.”
“She was just a junkie hooker,” Deklan says.
“You know he was behind it. He practically bragged about it.”
“I need time,” Deklan says. “I need time to think. I can’t…I just can’t quite deal with all this at once.”
“Don’t take too long,” Teagan says. “I have the feeling I’ll be the next one on the chopping block, and then you’ll be on your own.”
“He’d never do that.” Deklan glares at her. “You’re his sister.”
Teagan raises an eyebrow.
“How long are you going to keep those blinders on, Dek?”
Chapter 34
We get into the car, and Deklan places his hands on the wheel and stares out the windshield without starting the engine.
“You know I’d never let him touch you,” he says.
