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I nod, unable to look him in the eyes.
“I’ll leave.”
He shifts to the side, blocking my path but making sure not to touch me as I try to walk past him.
“Where will you go?”
“Not really your concern, now is it?” I manage when all I really want to do is curl up into a ball and cry like a baby.
Independence is one thing. Being told no one wants you is a whole other ballgame. Even after living in a home with absentee parents, hearing that one more person in my life isn’t interested in me is like a slap in the face. I think everyone wants to be wanted, and it’s a jagged pill to swallow, knowing there isn’t a soul on the earth who even cares.
Quincy hasn’t called or texted, and I know it makes me petty to not have called or texted her either. Testing our friendship in this way isn’t healthy on any level.
When I go to step around him again, his hand reaches for me, the warmth of it wrapping around the inner part of my elbow.
It’s an inoffensive touch, one I wouldn’t normally bat an eye at, but there’s something different in it. Something that makes my heart race with more than the disappointment I felt mere seconds before.
I look from his hand on me to his green eyes before locking on his mouth.
How in the hell did I go from showing up here with no real plan, to wanting to kiss this man?
Chapter 8
Legacy
I know what I said to her was mean.
Hell, as truthful as those words were, I’m not looking down at Devyn Malloy right now and seeing a little girl.
Her height, the willfulness in her eyes, and the length of that damn dress she’s wearing, don’t allow me to see her as Vaughn’s little sister.
I swear she’s staring at my mouth. Instinctively, I lick my suddenly dry lips, watching as she subconsciously mimics the action.
I release her, taking an immediate step away.
There’s no fucking way I’m attracted to her.
Granted, I can objectively look at a woman and see she’s attractive, but internalizing any of that where she’s concerned would be a mistake of epic proportions.
She’s no longer a child.
I hate Kincaid’s voice in my head right now.
Perfectly legal and morally right are two very fucking different things.
Knowing that still doesn’t keep me from taking her in. It doesn’t stop me from looking at her dark silky hair and wondering how it would feel flowing between my fingers. Her bright blue eyes are similar enough to Vaughn’s that I have to look away.
No matter how pretty she is, I can never forget who she is.
“Are you going to let me stay?” she asks, even though she was seconds from walking out of the room less than a minute ago.
“I don’t own this place, Devyn. I work here.”
“You’re not allowed guests?”
My throat works on a rough swallow at the implication my mind reads in her words.
“I can’t just invite people to stay. There are rules.”
“What are the rules?” she challenges.
Don’t have random women over when events are planned with kids. Make sure the people you entertain are fully clothed when in the public areas unless otherwise planned. You know, basic MC shit, despite those parties I’ve heard so much about that haven’t happened since I arrived.
Her eyes grow watery as I stand there, refusing to answer.
“I have nowhere else to go.” She hangs her head, defeat tensing her shoulders.
I feel like a complete shithead right now, but maybe she wasn’t lying.
I know the Katrina Malloy who called me a murderer and told me she hated me and never wanted to see me again was not the same woman who hugged me goodbye and told me to be safe the day Vaughn and I shipped off for boot camp.
I guess it would be fitting that their grief bled into the relationship they had with their daughter. Even though I don’t think I could neglect one child after the loss of another, people have their own way of dealing with their pain. I don’t get to judge how anyone heals, especially when I was part of the reason they lost their child.
I wasn’t joking when I told her that Vaughn wouldn’t approve of her leaving home, but he’d be less impressed if I sent his little sister packing into an unsafe world. I mean, look at the trouble she found already in that man she had bring her here. If she left with him, at a minimum, he’d try to touch her. I shiver at how bad it could’ve been. I’ve seen how dangerous horny entitled men are. We fight against them all the time through our work with Cerberus. Just thinking of the man and the possibility of what he could’ve done to her makes me want to go find him and rip his fucking arms off.
