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It must burn on its way down, but rage simmers too close to the surface for her to care.
“Go away, Felix Malone. I can take care of myself. And Archer is more than capable of ignoring yours, Pastore’s,andyour dying father’s existence.” Finally, she flashes a vindictive grin. “He’s been doing it for half his life.”
“She’s mean.” Bringing his eyes back to me, Felix lifts two questioning brows. “Wowza, Arch. You picked mean.”
“He picked strong. He picked spine.” She looks across and pins me with a stare. “He picks Copeland, and not New York.”
“I have to go.” I hate myself. I hate this life. I hate the Malones, and I hate New York City. Most of all, I hate the way Minka’s eyes flash with hurt. “Babe, I have to go.”
* * *
“They took Micah. And now they’re talking about Minka.”
I sit inside Tim’s bar, in a booth that hugs the side wall, while Tim and Felix take up the bench seat across from me. Minka’s like a murderous statue on my right. Steely and hard. Angry and unwilling to leave my side, yet unwilling to talk.
Or negotiate.
Fletch paces the room with his hands on his hips and a fiery temper bubbling under his skin; it was his daughter Felix held a gun to. There will be no forgiveness between them yet.
“She dated Pastore a couple years back,” I fill in for Tim. “They got dinner. She didn’t know who or what he was, but she didn’t want a second date anyway, so they parted ways.”
“And he…” Tim studies my wife with a mixture of exasperation and fear in his eyes. “He let you go?”
“He had his sights on someone else,” she answers with a sigh. “His focus was never on me. In reality, he probably doesn’t even remember me.”
“Oh,” chuckling, Felix leans closer to leer. “He remembers.” Despite the risk of a fist to his face, he winks. “A man wouldn’t forget.”
“I’ll kill you.” Reaching across the table to the knife he always keeps close, I drag it closer so the steel scrapes along wood. “I promise, Felix, you won’t need to worry about Pastore if you don’t learn to mind your words when it comes to her.”
“And I assure you both,” Minka rests her elbows on the table and pastes on a sugary sweet smile. “I won’t need Archer to protect me, or your knife for self-defense. I don’t need anyone to stand in front of me, and I won’t allow my husband to traipse across the country to avenge my honor. Whenneeded, I’ll take care of my own business. But when it’s about male ego, I won’t even feign to think it’s cute that any of you want to step forward.”
Finally, she looks to her left and glares. “I’m not okay with you going to New York. I willnotstand by and pretend to allow it.”
“You gonna stop him?” Felix taunts. “Tie him to the bed and have a mega-bitch tantrum until he does as the wifey tells him?”
Slowly, she turns and pins him with a glare. “Unlike anything you’ve ever known, Archer and I work hard to maintain a relationship of respect. I cannot control him, just as he can’t control me. But when I say I don’t approve,” she comes back to me now, pleading instead of angry, “I expect you to put serious consideration into my words. I expect you to understand I won’t sit quietly and let you go. We’re still new, Archer. We’re doing our very best to figure us out.” Extending her hands, she takes mine and twines our fingers together. “Don’t throw us away because your brother is annoying and Pastore once knew a woman.”
“I’m not throwing us away,” I breathe out. Bringing our hands up, I press a kiss to her knuckles and hate how, over them, her eyes redden with unshed tears. “I’m trying to keep us alive. And we both know he hasn’t forgotten you.”
“He’s never bothered me,” she argues. I hear the hitch in her voice, just as everyone else does. But no one mentions it. Least of all her. “In all this time, Pastore hasneverlooked my way again.”
“But he’s looking now,” I grit out. “If I knew you were connected, I never would’ve married you.”
She surges back like my touch is electric—or worse, like I punched her in the face. “That easy, huh? You’d toss me out like trash?”
“I never had a choice but to have you! The second I saw you inside that airport, my entire fucking existence was rerouted, and every road pointed to you. But if I knew he’d target you, if I had any clue he knew your name, there’s no chance in hell I’d have tied us together and put you back on his radar.”
“But I’m not on his radar! He literally hasn’t come anywhere near me.”
“Felix says they’re speaking your name,” I bite back. If she wants to fight, I’ll fight. But I won’t leave her unprotected, and I refuse to let her become his new infatuation, all because he has a problem with my family. “They took Micah, and Felix said they’re already talking about you.”
“Oh yeah, and Felix is the epitome of truth and honesty,” she growls. “He,” she thrusts her hand across the table, “was our enemy not all that long ago. He was ouronlyissue. But now you’re walking back into that Malone world onhisword?”
“I won’t risk you.”
“And I won’t risk you!” She shoves up and steps onto the bench seat, then walking over my lap, she smacks the top of Felix’s head as she passes. “You’re all stupid assholes. You’ve inherited this machismo bullshit ego you think youhaveto defend.” Stepping off the edge of the booth and landing on the floor, she burns Tim with a glare. “You’re the oldest, Timothy. But you’ve said nothing. Talk sense into these idiots before someone gets hurt.”
“Aww.” Felix brings his hand away from his head and down to his heart. “She cares about me.”
