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Minka stops again and glances up. “We weren’t sure how long I’d live for,” she explains, her words a suckerpunch to my gut. “The world has changed a lot in the last twenty years, to the point I can manage my hemophilia and expect a pretty normal lifespan. But back then, no one was sure if I’d celebrate my next birthday. Every time I tripped and skinned my knee, I was fighting for my life. Every time I caught a cold, my parents worried that would be the end for me.”
“Jesus.” I pick up a slice of toast and take a bite of the corner. “Kinda fills in the broader picture, huh? Knowing someone’s childhood helps fill in the blanks of who they are as adults.”
“Like how you’re motivated by sex?” she teases. “It’s a reward for you. Punishment. Control. Comfort.”
“And how you’re so highly strung,” I counter, since she wants to play. “You were raised on your deathbed, Mayet. Unsure what the next day would bring. Your parents worked more than they parented, so you basically raised yourself. Now you’re unsure of crowds, reject the idea of friends, and besides Mia, you abhor the very existence of children. Especially those in packs.”
Some women might take offense to my words, but Minka only flips the book closed so it lands with a ‘whap.’
“The most terrifying experience of my life,so far,” she clarifies, “was not spent in a bank with an angry gunman, or in a warehouse watching you get shot.”
“No?” I take another bite and chew thoughtfully. “When was it?”
“Walking through a toy store, looking for Care Bears, and watching a thousand kids race around like they’d just finished snorting lines of cocaine. They were screaming and running and crying and demanding.Demanding,” she quivers. “They wanted every toy, and they would shout until they got it.”
“Truly terrifying,” I chuckle. “Kinda wish I got to see you figure that shit out.”
“Aubree helped. Good thing, too, because Fifi was spinning out, as well.”
“You know the irony in all this?” I take Minka’s wineglass and sip, since she really shouldn’t mix alcohol with pain meds. “The vigilante isn’t out there slaying men for hurting adults. You’re not avengingwomen, Mayet. You hate that shit, sure. You wanna protect them. But that’s not what you do.”
“No?”
I shake my head and set the wine down. “No. You go to war forchildren. You never got a childhood of your own, and neither did that little girl who was stolen from the park in January all those years ago. You want to help everyone, because you loathe injustice above all else. But you save your efforts for the kids.”
“Because they’re innocent.” She scowls, like she needs to defend her choices. “Adults get to make their own decisions. They can avenge the injustices thrown into their laps, whether through legal channels, or by tying a man to a fancy dining chair and plucking his eyeballs out of his head. But kids…” She sets her fork down and shakes her head. “They’re prisoners to the grownups’ world. So many of them are born into broken families. Their parents are scarred from the generation before them, and the planet is sprinting toward its own doom.”
“Cheery outlook,” I quip. “Are you okay?”
She rolls her eyes. “As adults, we get to choose which path we take and how we want to face that shitty fate. It’s all going downhill anyway, but at least we get to decide on the speed at which we race toward Hell’s gates. But kids are tossed in without their permission. And so when an adult abuses his or her power and hurts those they’re supposed to protect—”
“The vigilante rides in to save the day,” I finish. Then I exhale. “I hated that form of ‘justice’ when I first found out.”
She drags her bottom lip between her teeth and looks into my eyes. “And now?”
“Now, I think it might be the noblest, bravest, most amazing thing I’ve ever known about anyone in my entire life. I still don’t like that it’syouon the front line,” I add with a grimace. “I hate that you’re at risk. But I’ll be damned if I ever question your actions again. Just means I’ll stand on the front line with you.”
I look across when my phone beeps with a text. But instead of finding Felix’s name on the screen, or Cato’s, or anyone else I don’t feel like talking to tonight, I snatch up the device when I register it’s Fletch’s name that flashes for my attention.
Got some reports back. I’m finding a couple of crossovers between Benedict and Aaron. And a couple more between Benedict and Kyle. Kinda leaning toward Benedict being our anchor, and the rest coming after. I think it’s time to bring the wives in tomorrow and trace everything back. There has to be a crossroad there somewhere.
“He alright?” Minka shovels a little more egg into her mouth and steals back her wine. “You’ve got that wrinkle between your brows that says you’re frustrated.”
“Yeah. He’s fine.” I quickly type a response:Let’scue them up for nine a.m. Four different interview rooms, same time. We’ll play tag and maybe have them cross paths in the halls until something shakes loose. Mayet just gave me an idea that might break this, but I gotta think on it first.
I hit send and lock my screen, then I set the device down and glance up to find her watching me.
She tilts her head to the side in that way she’s learned from me. “What idea did I give you?”
“All of the best ones.” I slide my phone away and ignore when it lights up again. “How are you feeling?”
“Like…” She looks down at herself, inadvertently showing off perfect, peaked nipples that turn my mouth dry. “I’m fed. Warm.” She peers up and smirks. “My husband’s a little irritated with work, and a lot needy.”
“I’m always needy.” I glimpse her plate and decide, with two-thirds eaten, she’s had enough to satisfy my desire to keep her healthy. “You remember that thing you said, about sex being reward and punishment and emotion and comfort and all that shit at the same time?”
“Mm.” She picks up our shared wine and tips back the remaining little bit. It’s barely enough to wet her throat, but it makes her smile. And her smile makes my cock hard. “You wanna take me to bed?”
“Always.” I move my plate aside and push up to stand tall. Striding around the counter and coming to a stop between Minka’s trim legs, I place my fingers beneath her chin and force her eyes up.
