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“I’m not in your dumb club!” I yell back. Then, trying to control myself, I lower my voice. “I can do whatever I want, Quad,” I hiss. “Your club doesn’t get to tell me what to do. And neither do you.”
Veins are standing out on his forehead and neck. He leans closer, getting in my face, and for a second, I think my brother is going to hit me. “That asshole doesn’t know who he’s messing with,” he snarls. I’ve never seen him so angry. “You stay away from Fury, you get me? Or I’ll deal with him.Permanently.”
My upper arm is throbbing as he lets go of it, then wrenches open the door and storms out. His boots pound down the hallway. I stand there silently, shaking, until I can’t hear them anymore.
“What the hell?” I whisper to myself. “What thehell?”
Feeling weak and more than a little unsettled, I pull out my phone to call Connor, but something stops me. I’m afraid that if he hears the trembling in my voice, he’ll overreact and come to the hospital. I can’t have my personal life interfering with my work like this. I’m lucky no one saw what just happened with my brother, and I don’t need to tempt fate even more by having Connor come here. Instead, I opt to send him a text. I stand there for a moment, trying to find a tone that conveys my point without being alarmist. I settle on:
Hey, someone saw us together last night and told my brother. He’s not happy. Be careful if you see him, okay?
I presssend and put the phone back in my pocket. On the way back to the department, I do my best to calm myself down. Quad is just flipping out for no reason. He’s just blowing hot air, trying to act like a big man. Nothing will come of it.
Besides, Connor can take care of himself. It’s fine. It’ll all be fine.
Won’t it?
13
FURY
Afew hours after Kat sends me the text about her brother being mad about someone seeing us together, I ride over to the hospital to pick her up from work. When I get there, I shoot her a quick message to tell her I’m out in front. She doesn’t respond right away, but a couple minutes later, she sends back a text telling me she’s not at the hospital. She gives me the location of a park a few blocks away.
When I get there, I can see right away that there’s something wrong. Her face is pinched and serious. It seems like she’s having a hard time looking at me — a total one-eighty from when I left her this morning. My heart plummets into my gut.
“Hey,” I say to her softly as she comes up to my bike. I lean forward to kiss her, but at the last second she turns her head, so the kiss lands on her cheek.
I’m confused, but try not to show it. “How was your day, babe? I missed you. Didn’t like leaving you here all alone.”
Kat purses her lips. “I wasn’t alone, though.”
I shrug. “Sure, I know. I just meant that I didn’t like not being able to keep an eye on you.”
Kat doesn’t say anything for a few seconds.
“I don’t need you to keep an eye on me, Connor,” she finally sighs. “In fact, I need you to stop.”
“Shit, are we gonna go back over that again?” I try not to show my frustration. “Look, I know you’re a big girl and you can take care of yourself normally, but…”
“No, Connor,” she interrupts, giving a rough shake of her head. “Just… stop thinking I’m your responsibility to keep safe, okay?”
“Kat, what’s wrong? Is it something your brother said when he was at the hospital before?”
“It’s not that,” she insists.
I reach out and put a finger under her chin, lifting her face to mine. “Kat, talk to me. You okay?”
Her forehead creases. Her eyes dart away from mine. She looks… I dunno how she looks. But whatever it is, it ain’t good.
“No, not really,” she sighs. “I think we need to talk, Connor.”
Shit. That’s never a good sentence coming from a woman.
“Sure,” I say easily. “Let’s go to your apartment and talk.” I turn toward my bike, but she puts a hand on my chest to stop me.
“No.” Her voice is soft. “I mean, I think we should talk here.”
“What the hell, Katrina?”What the hell is going on?
