AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Aye, you are. Now, if you want me to keep my mind on the game, I’ve got to get this crushing weight off my chest. There are things she and I need to talk about. A child, for fuck’s sake. Then I can...”
“What?” he asks after a beat.
“I’ll figure that part out later. Give us some time alone. This needs to be handled. She needs to know what we’re facing at that wedding. I don’t want anything to happen that could take this off the tracks.”
He takes a step back and leans against the wall. It’s the first time I’ve seen Max look tired. “There’s a rooftop terrace. You can have some privacy up there.”
When I walk away, he calls out, “McGregor.”
I slowly turn back to face him.
“No jumping off the roof. I hate that shit. It sucks for everyone.”
A wry grin tugs the corner of my mouth. “There’s only one way I’m going down. In blazes. You should know that by now.”
He gives a single, quick nod. “If I was a betting man, I’d say I am too.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
The nail tech carefully puts the finishing touches on my toes while I worry at my lip. Over and over my thoughts go to Finn. My beautiful baby boy.
He’d love the house. It would be so much fun to see him grow up with a big, beautiful lawn with swimming pools...
The hair rises on my arms as goosebumps adorn my skin. Did Kieran buy a house that size because he wanted kids? Lots of kids.
My heart speeds up. There is so much we need to discuss.
For now, Finn is safe. He has to stay safe. So many risks. So much uncertainty about how to keep him safe going forward.
By the time the nail party is done, I’ve got a beautiful French manicure, a pale pink pedicure, and a mind that would rival any lunatic. On top of that, there’s a knot of worry the size of a jumbo jet parked inside my stomach. I may never be able to eat again.
Kieran’s waiting for me. The fire in his eyes could destroy entire cities. The icy flood in my veins could douse them.
Eva and the guards see the nail crew out. Ariel excuses herself to take a bath, probably because she expects an impending tornado to touch down in the penthouse.
She has questions. Millions of them. But she’s too caring to push me right now. Maybe because I look unhinged.
I pick up my bottle of Icelandic spring water because I need something to do with my hands. But I’m careful of my freshly painted nails as I walk toward Kieran’s smoldering ‘station’ by the windows. He’s been standing like a statue—a boiling, hurt, angry statue with a storm cloud circling his head—for the last two hours.
I don’t know where this conversation will go, but I know that there is so much pain between us. He’s just as much a mess as me.
We all know what happens when two giant, churning weather systems crash together. Decimation.
As we drove back to the hotel, he was ice-cold one minute, then steely the next. Angry the one after that. Emotions were flying by like lampposts on the highway today.
I know because it was exactly the same for me.
Slowly, I walk up to his side, taking a moment to stare at the view—at all the normalness below—and gather myself. “We can talk now if you’re ready.”
He doesn’t look at me before he turns and walks away.
I gulp down my pain. I knew he might shut me out. But it hurts as much to have him walk away as if he were to slap me.
I don’t even realize I am moving, but I stumble and almost fall flat on my face. That would have been great.
With a careful breath, I try to get myself grounded. However, that seems impossible when my barometer is somewhere between consuming dread, gritty determination, and panic. “Where are we going?”
Kieran’s by the door to the hallway now holding a black jacket toward me. I recognize it as his, but I barely recognize the tone of his voice when he says, “The roof.”
