AllFreeNovel
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In our line of business, there's hardly any downtime, and when there was, there wasn't anyone to share it with. Having a meal with your live-in criminal partners isn't comparable to what we're doing now.
“How are your legs?” I ask her teasingly.
“Barely functioning, thank you very much.”
“You’re so very welcome.” I grip her hand and tug her toward me. “I’ll have to run out and make a stop at the pharmacy.”
"What? You don't want to send Alec after a morning-after pill?" She leans into me and I welcome every bit of her body close to mine.
“I didn’t think of that, actually.” I kiss her forehead. “Good idea.”
June glides her fingers under mine and weaves them around each other. “I’d just rather be the cool aunt, you know. Cora can have all the babies, and I’ll sugar them up and dip when they’re bouncing off the walls.”
“Is Cora even dating anyone?” I ask her.
"No," she chuckles. "She still swears she and Miller had a moment and is trying to convince me that he's bi and not gay."
“I wonder how long we can keep up the act before she figures it out.”
“Forever, hopefully.” June sighs. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, because I’m forever grateful you guys finally told me the truth, but…” She trails off leaving the rest of her sentence up in the air.
I finish it for her. “You don’t want this life for her.”
She turns toward me. “Is that bad?”
“No, not at all.” I tuck her hair behind her ear. “Not everyone is cut out for it. I think it’s smart of you to want to protect her.”
“But?”
“Well, how did it make you feel when that decision was made for you?”
“Like shit.”
I nod. “It’s an impossible situation. Someone is going to get hurt either way.” Like right now, the secrets I’ve been carrying haven’t just been eating away at me, they’ve been harming June, too. No matter what we do, no matter how hard we try to do what’s right, we keep fucking up. Maybe one day we’ll figure out how to keep her safe without fucking lying to her.
My phone buzzes and without meaning to, I glance down at the notifications that pop across the screen.
Dom: I have a lead. You need to get here now.
Dom: Right fucking now.
“You have to go, don’t you?” June pulls away, her mood immediately shifting.
“I…I don’t want to.” I’d do anything to stay here with her for the rest of my life.
“It’s fine, I’ll call Simon and let him know.” She hops up from the couch and grabs her phone from the table.
Simon answers on the first ring.
I can't make out what he says, but she tells him, "You're on babysitting duty." She hangs up without another word and comes back over to me. June plants her hands on my shoulders. "I love you, a lot, Magnus. But I don't know how much more of this I can take. This isn't a warning, it's not a threat, it's just the truth. You should try it out sometime." She kisses my lips before walking away and leaving me here alone to wonder about the implications of her declaration.
11
JUNE
I’m not sure what’s worse—knowing that something has the potential to be great or realizing it’s never going to happen.
That’s my life. A balancing act of always coming close but never being close enough.
