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They were both psychos cut from the same cloth.
“What do you want to talk about, Quinton?” I asked while pretending to read. He was just so damn hard to ignore.
The chair directly across from me at the little round table scraped across the wooden deck as he pulled it out and sat down.
“I’ve been thinking...” He cleared his throat, and the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up and at attention.
His unease did not fill me with joy. Quinton hesitating was something we should all be worried about. He was the most confident and unapologetic person I’d ever met in my whole freaking life. He didn’tdohesitancy.
I had the sudden urge to bolt, but I did no such thing and kept my seat.
If there was something I’d learned from this man, it was that I had nothing to fear from him and never would. Things in our lives may be scary and unsafe, but he’d do everything to protect me. Always and forever.
“Just spit it out, Quinton. I’m not interested in playing games with you today.” Or any other day, but I kept that little tidbit to myself because I had a feeling he already knew it and it would fall on deaf ears.
I looked up at him and my mouth ran dry. His elbows were on the table, and his head rested in his hands. He looked utterly defeated. It was not a look I was used to seeing on cranky Uncle Quinton.
I snapped my book closed and tossed it on the table. “Alright, now you’re scaring me. Don’t leave me hanging. Just rip the band-aid off. It’s better to get it over with so we can figure out how to make whatever it is better.”
Brave words, but I’d give him nothing less. He’d earned that from me.
His hands fell away from his face and his conflicted eyes met mine. I braced for whatever horribleness that was about to come out of his mouth.
I’d learn really quickly that I hadn’t braced enough.
“Things with the Council are only going to get worse. You’re very well aware of this. I think you, better than most of our coven, know what they are capable of because you’ve seen pretty horrible shit firsthand. But it’s more.”
He looked down at his scarred hands, and I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed thickly.
When he looked back up at me, his face was carefully blank, all emotion had been wiped clean. If I wasn’t worried before, I sure as shit was now.
“They are going to try to take you away from us. In their eyes, you belong with them now. The only reason they haven’t tried yet is because they are worried about how strong you are. They are worried because everyone who meets you is either intrigued by you or in love with you. The only witch who didn’t like you decided to take your side before she died. They have good reason to fear you. But the day will come when they show up to take you away, and I think that day will be here sooner than we’re ready for.”
We were covering old news I didn’t want to have yet another discussion about. I knew we were running on borrowed time, and time was quickly running out.
I wasn’t stupid.
“You’re not telling me something I don’t already know, Quint,” I bit out with annoyance.
He got up from his seat and rounded the small table. He crouched down beside my chair and took both of my hands in his. He looked at my hands and frowned. Probably at my scars. He never really enjoyed seeing those, even though they matched his own.
“I think we need to make this a little bit more permanent. I know you’re not going anywhere, and so does the rest of our coven, but I want everyone else to know it too. I don’t just want to call you my girlfriend or my coven member. I want to call you my wife.”
He ran his thumb over where an engagement ring or wedding band would sit on my left hand and my eyes widened.
Holy shit, he was serious.
If this was his proposal, it was quite possibly the worst one ever.
“I have more than one boyfriend,” I reminded him carefully as I watched his face for his reaction to my words. It wasn’t something I should have needed to say.
Now, if he wanted to talk about me having children, then I wanted no part of that. My own babies would never be in the cards for me. Just the thought scared the shit out of me. And besides, I had my kittens now.
But marriage?
I wasn’t exactly opposed to the concept of marriage, but—and this was a big but—I would never ever choose between my men. I couldn’t.
I absolutely could not.
