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Lie, I thought while my stomach began crawling up toward my mouth.Lie. Just lie, for fuck’s sake… “She was murdered.”
Shit.
“Really?” Before I knew what was happening, Luke had guided me into a seat before settling into the chair next to me. “I didn’t know that. How old were you?”
“Eight.” There wasn’t any harm in telling him that much. Probably.
“Did they ever catch the fucker who did it?”
“It was a murder-suicide.” At least, that was what my father had shown me in the newspapers. “What about you? Did you ever try to make any contact with your birth father?”
“No point, since he was already a married man with a couple kids who wanted nothing to do with either Bebe or me, and don’t try to change the subject,” he chided, once again reaching for my hand while settling back into his seat. “You’re not going to deflect your way out of this one, though props to you for giving it the old college try. What was your mother’s name?”
“It happened so long ago I’m not sure that I remember. I do find your mother’s name interesting, though,” I added, verbally tap-dancing my heart out in an effort to get away from that subject. My past, and my mother, were a minefield I didn’t feel like waltzing through today. Or ever. “The name Bebe is French, literally meaning ‘baby,’ and therefore someone referred to as most precious. But I’ve been wondering if it actually stands for a full name, like Brianna Belle, or something like that. Were you really named Bebe, and therefore someone’s most precious baby, or is your name initialized?”
Bebe’s grin was huge before she made big eyes at her son. “Are you hearing this? She knows the meaning and origin of my name. I feel so special.”
“That’s the point,” Luke said, nodding. “Apparently Eden memorized thousands of names and their meanings before she had her twelve-year molars in.”
“Wowie. Is she good, or what?”
“She’s not just good, Bebe. She’s the best I’ve ever come across.”
“Same here, and I’ve seen ‘em all. You’re one slick operator, Miss Eden Steadfast,” Bebe announced admiringly, returning her attention to me. “I’ll bet you have fun running mental circles around people, yeah? And they’re so dazzled by you they don’t even know it’s happening, do they?”
This conversation was seriously beginning to suck. “I’m so sorry. I feel like I’ve somehow offended—”
“And that won’t work, either, now that I know what you’re doing.” Luke chuckled, squeezing my fingers. I had to be an idiot to think it felt like a reassuring hug. “When we first met, I was surprised by how you apologized for your words. It made me think I’d reacted too strongly and made you feel bad, so I backed off. Now I see that you use apologies as weapons. Whenever someone gets too close, you swing them around like a damn sword to make sure everyone backs off and keeps a respectful distance. Again,” he added to his mother while I began to fume, “ it’s a brilliant tactic.”
“No kidding,” Bebe said, studying me as if I were an interesting specimen under a microscope. “And you know what? It totally worked on me. The moment she said she was sorry, I felt like a jerk for being too nosy. Baby, are you sure you can handle her? I get the feeling this is one knife that might be too sharp, even for you.”
“You know me,” Luke said with that killer grin of his. “I’ve never been able to resist a challenge.”
I cleared my throat, struggling to hold onto my temper. “As much as I hate to break in on this private conversation, I’d like to point out that one, I’m always sincere when I apologize, so you’re wrong there, Luke. And two, I’m not a thing to be handled, therefore no one can handle me.”
“That’s probably true,” he offered with a thoughtful tilt to his head. “I mean, you were strong enough to break away from your father three years ago, something that must’ve taken a helluva lot of willpower, so yeah.Handling youis never going to be an option.”
“Ooh,” Bebe said, leaning forward with avid curiosity. “Now that’s a nice tidbit of information. What happened three years ago, honey?”
Kill me now. “I couldn’t say what happened three years ago. I just decided one fine morning to go my own way, so I did.”
“Sweetie, no one believes that. There’s always a story behind what people do.”
“And my story is one where I chose to go my own way. Speaking of which, I’m afraid I do need to be going,” I announced at a near-shout, but it couldn’t be helped. One brilliant monster I could take, maybe. But two? This nightmare tag-team had me trapped in a corner, to the point where I could barely breathe. “I’m sorry, but I have a business meeting at three, and I need to get back to prepare for it.”
“Gotcha.” Wide-eyed and sending her son a look that vaguely translated intoyikes, Bebe rose at the same time I did. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that Luke brought you over to meet me, Eden. Honestly, I’m just tickled pink. Feel free to drop in any old time for some girl gab, okay? My door’s always open.”
“Thank you.” And I would teach triple axels at hell’s local ice arena before that ever happened.
There was no air left in the entire club for me to breathe, so it was all I could do to stop myself from running for the door. I hit the exit door to the parking garage with the impact of a small meteor, not even waiting for Luke to open it for me, because if I didn’t get out, getfree, I wasn’t sure what I’d do.
All I knew was that whatever I did, it wouldn’t be pretty.
“Hey, hold up.”
I saw nothing but what was in front of me—dank and depressing underground parking that was both sunless and airless. Fuck. I needed the outside, with lots of sun and air and no boundaries.
I just neededout.
