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“In your family, jeez, what a surprise.”
“Right? Stunned us all.” I smirked. “But he’s always been the fists of the fam so it’s fitting. Anyway, Seamus got bullied at school and I told Brennan he needed to train him. Shay needed moral support, so I got into the swing of things.
“All the sisters-in-law train with him now too.”
“Self-defense?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s awesome. Brennan sounds like good people.”
“You’re only saying that because he’s the fists.”
Her laughter burned away some of the truths she’d spilled. “True. You know I love me some bloodshed, but I couldn’t deal with my partner being like me.”
Her head had rocked to the side so she could look at me as she uttered those words.
Our eyes locked on one another’s, I rasped, “No?”
“No. A partnership can only sustain a certain amount of crazy. We both know I tip the balance of that set of scales.”
Unsure if she’d let me touch her, I moved even closer so that we were back to where we’d been earlier—she made no move to stop me.
“Do you judge me for thinking about getting an abortion?”
“That man bought you, Star. He owned your body; I don’t think he had the right to own that much of your future too.”
“His name was Hans,” she confessed, disgust making her lips twist. “I think that’s why, when I found Katina, I had to bring her home with me. I never thought I’d do something like that. All the shit I’ve done in my life, all the people I’ve killed, you wouldn’t think that’d matter, would you? But it did.” Her eyes closed again. “I cried when it happened.”
I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “He was a man who frequented a place that dealt in trafficked women. He bought you. He raped you. He forced you to get pregnant… I’ll never judge you, Star. Never.”
She swallowed. “Why not?”
I understood where her question came from, but I didn’t really know how to answer. Not because I didn’t have the words, but because… “I know who you are, Star,” I reasoned eventually. “I’ve known for a while. I know you’re cocky and arrogant. I know you have weird morals and a skewed system of loyalty. I know that you’re brilliant and have mad skills, but I also know that we fit together. We make sense.
“So, I won’t judge you because I’d also be judging myself, and people in glass houses shouldnotthrow stones. I’ve done shit that’s horrific too. I’ve given my father and brothers evidence that led to them torturing people and I’ve seen things that would make the average man cry.
“If I judged you, I’d be implying that I’m perfect and I’m not. Neither of us is and I wouldn’t want us to be because your crazy and my crazy work together, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I watched her work her bottom lip between her teeth. “I didn’t expect you to be patient.”
“What? Nearly two years of online chatting when we live barely an hour away from each other didn’t give you a hint?”
She smirked. “No. But there’s a difference.”
“I don’t see that there’s any rush.”
“So, this date…?”
“What about it?”
“I’ll go if I can have three scoops of gelato.”
“You drive a hard bargain,” I teased.
“It’s one of my best assets.”
“Nah, that’s your ass.”
