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“Um. It’s not that bad.”
“That’s why you smile so much even when you clearly aren’t happy?” Steele asked. “Because that bitch is poisoning your mind.”
“This isn’t acceptable. She can’t live with that sort of shit in her head,” Grady said fiercely.
Whoa. Effie didn’t think she’d ever seen him look this upset.
“Agreed.”
“It’s really okay,” she said, hastily. “I’ve heard it for a long time.”
“And you haven’t done anything to stop it? Joe didn’t help you stop it?” Steele asked.
“He . . . I . . . I never told him.”
Steele straightened his shoulders.
“But you told us,” Grady said.
“Of course she told us,” Steele said. “Because she trusts us to help her with this.”
Um, also because they were super pushy and likely wouldn’t let it go. But she decided not to mention that.
“Every time that Nan speaks to you, I want you to tell us,” Steele told her.
“I, um, every time?” Or did he just mean whenever they were around?
“Every. Time.”
Holy heck.
“Grady, add it to the list,” Steele demanded.
“On it already.”
“She says something in your head, you call one of us. Understand me?” Steele gave her a firm look.
“But what if you’re working?” she asked.
“You call. We don’t answer, leave a message and we’ll call you back.”
“What if you’re asleep?”
“Well, considering the hours we work, it’s unlikely that we’ll be asleep while you’re awake, but if Nan’s voice is there in a dream and you wake up, you call. Hear me?”
“I hear you,” she replied. Even though she thought they were crazy.
“Good,” Steele said firmly. “Because Nan is messing with your view of yourself. You’re fucking beautiful. So stunning that I can’t believe you’ve said yes to being with us.”
She gaped down at him. “What?”
Grady came around to sit next to Steele. “She doesn’t believe you.”
“I can see that. Effie, in this relationship, we’re the lucky ones. Grady and I.”
She shook her head. Grady had said something about not being good enough for her before, but she hadn’t really taken it in. Because it was preposterous. “Okay, have you two been smoking something? Don’t you look in the mirror? You’re gorgeous. Sexy. Successful. Smart. And you smell really good, like leather and the sea.”
“Yeah, baby, we’re all those things. And we’re still the lucky ones.” Steele shook her lightly. “Because you’re all of that and more.”
