AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sucked in my breath. “Why are you doing this, Darren?”
“Because Xavier asked me too.”
“Bullshit. You would’ve turned things over to Grant and left if that’s all it was. You can consider your work done.”
“My work’s done when Xavier’s favor is repaid.” Darren’s icy calm made me want to scream.
“What do you owe him anyway?”
“My life and everything I have.”
“Shit.” I hadn’t expected that.
“What did you think? That I lost a poker game to him?”
“No. If you’ve ever seen him play, you’d know better than to join him.”
“Very true. And remember, I told you that now that these men know I’m involved, I’m part of this.”
“You don’t seem like a man who just accepts his fate and rolls with it.”
“No. That’s why I’m going to make sure they’re very dead. Only then will I consider this mission finished. I’m not accepting fate. I’m fighting it.”
I was trying to do that, but fate kept pushing me closer and closer to Darren, and the force of it was stronger than anything I’d ever battled.
“Fox, look at me.” I did, knowing Darren would see the pain in my eyes. “We’re going to fix this.”
“I protect people. That’s what I do. That’s the only thing I was ever really good at.”
“I know you’re good at it, and plenty of people owe you their lives, but that’s not all you are. There’s more in there.” He laid a hand over my heart, but I pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Do you not like me pointing out that you’re more than just some protecting machine?”
“No. Yes. Just don’t touch me right now.”
He raised his brows, but I also saw a flash of pain in his eyes. “So that’s how it’s going to be?”
“It has to be that way.”
“You really are trying to shut everyone out, aren’t you?”
“With you, I don’t have a choice because everything I need to keep locked inside… I can’t do that if you touch me. It’s too much.”
“You need to let all that out.”
I shook my head. “No, because then I will truly be broken.”
“And I’ll put you back together again.”
“Dammit, Darren, you can’t.”
“Do you trust me?”
“I…”
He held his hand out to me. “Come back to the house. We’re meeting in their fancy war room.”
“Don’t you have a fancy meeting room yourself?”
“I do, but it doesn’t look as much like a supervillain’s lair.”
I frowned. Was Grant a supervillain? Was I? “We’re heroes, aren’t we? Or at least some of us are.”
“You’re asking me to tell right from wrong? That’s a line I’ve teetered from one side of to the other all my life, and it grows thinner all the time. I don’t want to know who the heroes and the villains are. I just want to know who I should fight for in the moment.”
“And right now, that’s me?” My voice shook as I spoke.
He took both my hands in his and squeezed them. “Yes.”
“Because Xavier told you to?”
“No.” He let go and turned toward the house.
I had so many questions, but I couldn’t ask them, not right then, maybe not ever. Except… No, I couldn’t allow myself to think beyond this mission. For the next few days, this mission was going to consume me. I just hoped there was something left when it was done.
When we were close to the house, Darren stopped and turned to look at me. “Are you ready to stop pouting and admit that doing this together is better than you trying to solve the problem alone?”
I drew in a deep breath. I knew I’d been acting like an ass. I knew I was in denial about how serious this was. I blamed myself for the problem and for putting my friends in danger, but I also knew that if one of them was in my situation, I would never hesitate to help. “Yes.”
“Then let’s do it.”
I followed Darren to the house, and after enduring a scathing lecture from Grant, we stepped into the basement lair. Everyone turned to look at me. Their expressions were a combination of anger, concern, and on Rogue’s part, amusement.
I needed to say something to all of them. I just hoped I could keep my voice steady. “I’m not taking this well. As you may know, I don’t like relying on other people. I don’t like to follow rules. I got myself into this situation, and I don’t want anyone else hurt by it.”
“Something happening to you would hurt all of us,” Rhys said.
“Yeah. I guess I figured that out.”
“Good.” Grant gestured to a chair. “Sit down and let’s get on with this.”
When we’d finished making plans for securing the ranch and a potential showdown with the enemy at the ranch or in Houston, everyone headed to bed. Darren didn’t even bother to talk to me. He just climbed the stairs and headed to the room he’d been assigned.
