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“You really don’t want to know,” I responded coolly.
Or maybe he did. That thought made me rather sad.
“Tell me something. How does Ariel Kimber feel about you moving in on her family? Females can be very territorial, and you seemed to have just moved right in on her turf. I know she was a little bit unstable before her wedding with everything she had been through. How is she dealing with you on top of all that? How is the firecracker?”
And, just like that, the bubble popped, which was sad because he’d taken my mind off of my obsession and had been my sole focus. Not many things were able to do that these days.
But I hadn’t lied when I’d said Ariel and I were like family now. It wasn’t okay for anyone to talk shit about her in front of me and get away with it.
And, seriously, to talk about her being unstable after what she’d gone through really wasn’t cool, especially with me of all people. If Ariel was unstable after everything the Council had done to her, then what did that make me?
I didn’t want to know the answer to that.
A hand landed firmly on my shoulder, making me flinch, but I stayed in my seat.
“Finn,” Romero snapped. “Shut your mouth about my daughter-in-law. You caught her in a moment of grief that would have affected anyone. Don’t be a dick about it and stop running your mouth. And, while you’re at it, leave Isobel the fuck alone, she’s not here for you to harass.”
I had so many questions, but I wasn’t going to ask with Romero looming over me. Where the hell had he even come from?
I thought he was taking things a little too far by saying Finn was harassing me, but that was Romero for you, he was an asshole at the best of times.
Finn held his hands up to say he meant no harm, and his eyes filled with a light that spelled danger. Color me intrigued.
“How’s your day going, sweetheart?” Romero asked as he completely ignored Finn.
Sweetheart.He’d been calling me that ever since the wedding, and it never failed to melt the ice around my heart just a little bit. I wasn’t sweet, but I was glad that he thought so.
“It’d be a lot better if you had brought me a chocolate muffin and some coffee,” I sassed because I was a sucker for anything chocolate and coffee was life.
He laughed at me before leaning down to press his lips against the skin right below my ear. All I could do was sit there frozen as he straightened and his hand finally fell away from my shoulder.
He’d never, ever done that before. It almost felt like it was for Finn’s benefit as much as my own.
Now, I wasn’t really interested in playingthosekinds of games. Since I had a vagina and couldn’t simply aim and spray, pissing contests weren’t really for me.
“Your wish is my command.” And with that, he moved around my desk and headed toward the front door.
Someone came through as he was leaving, and they scurried quickly out of his way. I got it, he wasn’t exactly friendly looking.
He had gorgeous red hair that hung straight down his back, all the way down to his hips. His beard was neatly trimmed and always cropped close to his face. He had on flip-flops, nice jeans, and a black shirt. He was also really freaking tall, giving him a bit of an intimidating feel. It was his eyes that scared the shit out of people. Where Rain’s eyes could be empty, Romero’s gray eyes promised endless amounts of pain.
I didn’t blame anyone for getting the hell out of his way in a hurry.
“Ah,” Finn murmured. “Now I see.”
Really? Because that made one of us.
“Ariel and I are family.” I uselessly shared something with him that I was sure he’d likely already figured out. It wasn’t exactly hard. “I met her in a dream, and she’s the reason I’m not dead and in the ground. Well, she and Rain are. I owe them both a lot.”
And that was TMI and full of shit he—and no one really—needed to know. I’d long since learned that the less information you gave people about yourself, the safer you were.
Though I figured if I was in any sort of danger from this man, Romero wouldn’t have left me here with him, and Rain would have already abandoned his work to come over here and kick his ass. Rain didn’t have to say anything or acknowledge Finn’s presence yet, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was very aware of him and every breath he took in this space.
Finn sat forward on the couch, leaning in my direction. “Now this sounds like a story I’d like to hear. What were you saved from?”
The problem was, I’d rather die than tell the whole story, but I had started this, and I couldn’t blame him for being curious.
“From my death and the Council,” I said cryptically. “Sometimes being a girl in this world is overrated. I think I should have been born with a dick. I’d be better with that sucker than the rest of you lot.”
