Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
This was true.
“He gave me an ultimatum, me or the Angels,” I announced.
It was Brady’s turn to stare.
“And he gave me about five minutes to decide,” I went on. “No thinking on it. No discussion. ‘If you want me, you’ll stop doing that shit,’ were almost his exact words.”
Actually, his exact words were: If you want me, if you want this, us, a future together, you’ll stop doing that shit. Not a single next mission. Walk away from it, Luna, right now. If you don’t, then walk out that door.
“What the fuck?” Brady asked into my unhappy reverie.
“I shouldn’t have told you,” I said quickly. “And you should know, I get it. It was after that homeless abduction case. You guys had to go in…again…and clean up the mess. I mean, why aren’t you going after Gemma? Are you hesitating because she’s an Angel?”
“This isn’t about Gemma,” he said shortly.
And boy, the dude could get short when Gemma was brought up.
“Brady—”
“And that shit with Knox was not about the Angels.”
I felt my throat get tight.
“Yeah, it’s not news to you that we all think you women have a screw loose,” Brady said (I couldn’t counter that, as mentioned, we were nutso broads doing vigilante shit). “But we also know there are reasons you do what you do. And you don’t pull stupid shit. Your moves are considered. You know your strengths. You know your limits. You’ve been easing into the game and doing it smart. And you know when it’s too hot and you need to back away and find someone else to finish the job.”
Aw, that was all sweet.
The server came with our food.
I immediately tucked in because…Nashville hot chicken.
I was on bite number two before I noticed Brady wasn’t eating (he’d picked the French dip burger so he should be all over it).
“We need to be just Brady and Luna,” I said after I swallowed. “Because I need to be just Knox and Luna, friends. Sure, friends with a history, but friends. I care about him, Brady. I care about you. It’s upsetting in the extreme you aren’t talking to each other because of me. And I don’t even know what I was thinking, because I’m not into games.”
For a second, he didn’t say anything. He just held my eyes.
And then, very quietly, he said, “This isn’t a game, honey. This is very serious, and if you don’t realize that either, then shit is gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.”
I didn’t like that at all.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“That means I guess I’m sidelined, and I’m gonna have to watch it unfold like everyone else.”
“We’re all just friends,” I asserted.
“You’re right,” he said, finally picking up his burger. “We are.”
“Then what’s with your new enigma gig?” I demanded.
“You want it straight?” he asked.
“Always,” I retorted.
He then gave it to me straight.
“You and my boy are in love. And when shit that is not supposed to come between you comes between you because one of you is fucked in the head, and the other hasn’t figured it out yet, things, like they are right now, get messy.”
Although I did realize I needed to figure things out, I had to admit, everyone telling me I needed to figure it out was beginning to get on my nerves.
“I can’t say I don’t feel deeply for him, Brady. And I know he feels the same for me. But that was then, and after screwing up, both of us, we’re finding our way to what will be now. Something that’s healthier for both of us and a lot of people we care about.”
At least that was what I hoped we were doing.
“If you say so.”
Now he was ticking me off.
I didn’t feel like being ticked off.
I felt like eating my sandwich, going home and deciding whether I was going to let it go and allow Cheyenne to burn it out, or go over to Raye’s and tell her that I had a feeling Cheyenne was following me, then create a strategy around what to do about it.
So I moved to put a line under it.
“You’re right, I’m in love with him.”
Brady’s head cocked sharply to the side.
And I remembered what Jessie said earlier in the day.
“He showed me that, gave me that, then he took it away. No discussion. No going to our corners and cooling off. One second, we spent every minute with each other when we didn’t have to be doing something else. The next, he told me who I had to be for him, or that I needed to walk out his door. I’m me. I can’t be anything other than me, even if I love a pretty awesome guy. If he wants me to be other, I just can’t do it. More, he shouldn’t ask me to. And if he can’t discuss important issues with me, I can’t do that either. I walked, Brady, and he didn’t back down. He didn’t rethink what he’d said and come to me to discuss it. He didn’t call. He didn’t text. I walked, but it was Knox who let me go.”