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What she needed was comfort and trust. She trusted me enough to tell me. I needed to trust her enough to listen.
“I’m—confused, I guess is the best word. It’s a dramatically uncomfortable feeling too.” She made a face. “Confusion and doubt, are weaknesses that others can exploit. There’s—there’s a lot going on. Deals. Blackmail. Corruption. Maybe worse. No, definitely worse.”
She licked her lips.
“All my life, Grandfather has been teaching me how to arm myself against the world. To be strong and capable. To assess before I made a decision and to resist being impulsive.”
“Not bad things to know.”
“No,” she said slowly. “But with Ezra, I was impulsive and knew it wasn’t the right move. Only at the same time…”
“You struggled because you weren’t sure it was the wrong move.” I could see that if I looked at it sideways and squinted.
“Yes. Something scared him… I’ve been thinking about it. When he showed up here, he was drunk—he always drinks—so he was a little drunk yet also hyper-aware. Something had worried him enough that he came straight to me. And thisafterhe sent that bodyguard back.”
“You think he knows about a new threat to you.” A threat he wasn’t warning anyone about? That was definitely a reason to punch.
“I think he might believe there’s one. Ezra’s—he’s hard to define. But he’s very passionate and over the top. The only person I know he trusts with everything is Adam. They’ve been in each other’s back pockets forever. It used to annoy me that what Adam knew, Ezra knew—and vice versa. If you got one, you got both.”
Her nose made the cutest crinkling.
“But the last couple of years, especially since Adam had to play dead, things have changed, and Ezra’s… I’m worried about him. I think he genuinely wants me safe and at the same time, he was at that auction to take the painting I was trying to get for Grandfather. So whose side is he on? I don’t know. However I don’t think he’s my enemy, and…he hates you. Which I’m not terribly fond of.”
I had to smile at that. She sounded so exasperated. At the same time, there was a lost look in her eyes I disliked intensely.
“Telling you was a risk. I was scared it would hurt you and make you leave. Or that you would be furious and go after him. I honestly didn’t know how you would react. You’re so—tempestuous, Pretty Boy.”
“Nice word.”
“It fits,” she said with a small smile. “But I also couldn’t lie to you. With the party coming, Ezra will be there without a doubt. If he wanted to cause trouble—dropping that information on you in the middle of it would be the way to go.”
“True.” Of course, that beckoned a little further exploration. “If there was no party—would you have told me still?”
“I think so,” she said with a slow nod. “I don’t want secrets between us. There are so many secrets and conspiracies in my life, so many behind closed doors. Grandfather did what he did today since I let it slip that I like you and he is worried.”
“He’s a good man, and don’t worry about him, I can handle your grandfather.” When I cupped her cheek, she leaned her face into my hand.
“Was that both questions?”
“No, just wanted to clarify what you said about the party.”
She nodded. “Second question?”
“Am I losing you, Mayhem?”
“No,” she said so fiercely, it relaxed the fist of tension that closed when she first dropped that bomb. “No, you’re not losing me. Am… I going to lose you?”
“No,” I assured her, and the fact she sagged with so much relief gave me the answer I hadn’t realized I needed. Coming back down here and just talking to her was the right call. “I might get mad, and I’m not promising I won’t punch him in the face, but you’re not losing me…I need you to do one thing for me though.”
“Anything.” Then she hesitated.
“It’s okay, I won’t take advantage.”
The genuine smile on her lips was its own reward.
“If you do decide you want to have sex with him again—give me a heads-up?”
“You mean, like just text you or something?” The absolute bafflement was worth a chuckle.
