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“They’ll probably kill me before they kill you.”
Her eyes widened at my quip. “What?”
“I’m expendable here,” I said easily, watching as that news settled in her bones and rattled her.
Well, that was a relief.
Shedidcare.
“I’d better behave then.” Something flickered in her eyes, something that warned me I needed to get better at interpreting those looks. Her face, after all, was blank. Utterly expressionless. Even when she grated out, “Or protect you before they can get to you.”
“I’m willing to be saved,” I teased.
The tiniest of smiles curved her lips—I’d take that as a win. “Why am I surprised you’re like this?”
“I don’t know. What am I like?”
“A joker.”
I was with the people I trusted. She hadn’t earned that admission yet, even if it was the truth, so I just said, “I’m the middle child. We have to stand apart from the crowd.”
Though she snorted as I intended, I saw her unease start to drift back into her expression. I half-hoped she’d share her concerns with me, but whatever progress I’d made over months and months of text chats had been stalled by our time apart.
The irony was, of course, that if anyone should be pissed here, it was me.
Her chin angled up and she inhaled briskly through her nose as if coming to a decision she didn’t let me in on, one that had nothing to do with purple soup... “If he feeds us borscht, I expect you to eat it.”
“I’m not Katina,” I retorted.
“I’m only breaking bread with the man because you’re hungry, so if he serves beet soup, you’d better start eating.”
I hid a smile of my own. “You eat it; I’ll eat it.”
Though she sniffed, her hand reached out. I stared at it, unsure of what she was doing, then her fingers curled in on themselves before she could make contact with me.
Fuck, I wished shehadtouched me.
“I’m sorry Maverick hurt you.”
Ah, the bruises.
“Don’t be.” I meant it too. Everyone needed a support system like the Sinners’ MC. “It means Katina is in safe hands.”
Her eyes tangled with mine. Just when I thought I could drown in them, she told me, “I wouldn’t have left if I didn’t think she was safe.”
At first, I thought she was being antagonistic for the sake of it, but then I realized shewantedme to believe her.
I gave her a nod. “She’s with family but she wants her mom.”
Agony flooded her eyes, but she didn’t answer, just straightened her shoulders and started toward the door.
How she edged around the corner let me know she was on red alert.
I guessed, as miserable as it sounded, I’d grown used to Eoghan behaving similarly—ever prepared. Ready to face anything—a bullet to the face or to the heart, whichever struck first.
I didn’t realize that it would destroy something in me to see her share the same mannerisms.
Because I thought Kuznetsov was telling the truth, even if that truth was another person’s insanity, I didn’t fear for my life as I stepped into the hallway.
