Page 52 of Bleed the Shadows

He didn’t have to tell me he was talking about Maeve.

“No shit.”

He frowned. “Way to rub it in.”

I shrugged. He’d cost us time with Maeve, had done something bad enough to make her leave without saying goodbye.

He’d made his bed and we’d all had to lie in it. I wasn’t above rubbing it in.

“I’ve tried apologizing,” he said.

“You apologized?” I didn’t buy it.

“Okay, I didn’tapologize,” he said. “But I tried to let her know I was sorry.”

“How?” This should be good.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen Bram squirm before, but he squirmed now. “I tried to kiss her.”

I couldn’t help it: I burst out laughing.

He glared, but I couldn’t stop. I didn’t know how it went down, but knowing Maeve, I could imagine, and the possibilities kept me laughing for a good two minutes.

“Are you done?” Bram asked.

I tried to catch my breath. “Let me get this straight. You did something bad enough to Maeve to make her leave, and then, instead of saying you were sorry, you just…” I started laughing again. “… you just tried to kiss her?”

“You weren’t there. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Let me guess,” I said, “she slapped you.”

“Kneed me in the balls.”

I started laughing again. “You’re lucky she didn’t shoot them off.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “Let me know when you’re done.”

I was practically wheezing, which wasn’t very dignified, but this shit was funny as hell. “Okay… okay.” I took a deep breath. “I’m done. How can I help?”

He stared me down and I stifled another round of laughter.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said.

“Well, you’re going to have to do a whole hell of a lot between here and kissing her again, I can tell you that much.”

“Like what?”

“You could try being nice to her for one,” I said.

“I offered to drive her to the store the other day and she refused.”

Was this Bram pouting? I’d never seen Bram pout before but I was pretty sure that was what this was.

“So keep trying,” I said.

“To drive her to the store?”

I sighed. “Try something else. Take her to dinner, buy her something.”