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“I could say the same about us.” Peeking up at me, she smiles when our eyes meet. “Sometimes, obsession is another word for love. And I mean that in the least creepy, stalkerish way possible.”
“Well, duh.” I tug my good arm from her grip and toss all caution to the wind when I throw it over her shoulders.
Just for a minute. Just until I get my fill. After this, I’ll send her on her way.
Pulling her tight and pressing a desperate kiss to the top of her head, I inhale the scent of her shampoo and swallow down the panic that still jumps in my blood when I think of her inside that warehouse.
Guns. Knives. Men who would see her dead.
She got out once to save Mia, and then she went back a second time to save me.
She’s a danger to herself, because of her loyalty to me.
“Where are we going?” I slide the tips of my fingers along the side of her neck and pull her closer when she shivers. “What could possibly be more important right now than takeout, a comfortable couch, and a blowjob?”
She snorts. “Bold of you to assume a blowjob is in the cards tonight. Bolder yet that you think you could come without popping your stitches and hurting yourself more.” She glances up and grins. “You’re on bedrest.”
I look out at the street in front of us. The cars bustling by. The people, rushing from one place to another. “Evidently not.”
“Have you heard from Felix today?” Minka’s eyes swim, even when she doesn’t intend them to.
Instantly, her question sets me on edge and reminds me what I have to do.
Clamping my lips, I release the woman I love and walk side by side instead of draped all over her. This is for the best. This is what needs to happen. She’s to become to me what Aubree is to Tim. Even if it pisses her off.
“He asked us to come with him. We said no.”
“So he went back to New York? Just like that?” Displeased with my distance, Minka steps closer and slides her hand into my back pocket. If I won’t hold her, she’ll hold me. “He’ll walk that easily?”
“Nope.”
And the fact that Felix will bring a war here after I already left, after I already found freedom, enrages me. His presence destroys everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve these past few years—everything I’ve been gifted these past few months.
“It’s never gonna be that easy,” I clarify. “He’ll be back.”
“And what happens then? Youknowhe’s committing those crimes, Archer. Will you say nothing?”
What she doesn’t understand is I can’t say shit and expect to live. I can’t toss him to the authorities and expect anyone I love to survive.
“Who knows. Maybe we’ll get a new vigilante, and they’ll step in.”
She rolls her eyes. “Imight be inclined to do something about this mess. Someone has to.”
Precisely why she’s to be cast aside; she can live without me. Without the Malones bringing risk to her world.
“Have you talked to Tim today?” she asks next.
“Mmm.” My oldest brother is enraged. With Felix’s presence comes a demand that he return home and take his place as our father’s successor. To stay away and hide from what he was born to do is a death sentence. “He’s around. He’s busy.”
“Well, I talked to him today.” Minka cuts right over whatever I was intending to say. “He’s always grumpy when we speak, so it’s not like this mood swing is really anything different than what I already know.”
“Minka—”
“And do you know what I discovered while we chatted?”
She hurries to step in front of me, stopping in my way, and forces me to stop too. On the middle of the sidewalk, in the middle of Copeland, amongst thousands of other residents as they rush around, Minka sets her hands on my hips and steps close enough to press her lips to my bad shoulder.
“Not only is today Valentine’s Day—which, by the way, I note there werenoroses on my bedside table, like I kind of expected there to—”
