Page 97 of Break the Barrier

“I know that’s a fucking lie, did your fake husband tell you to say that?” Anger brews under his eyes as he lets out a puff of smoke.

“He’s not fake, he is my husband, and if you don’t want a repeat of last time, I suggest you leave. Now.”

Wow. I sound sure and confident. Again, it’s fake, but I’m still highly impressed with myself.

He barks out a laugh. “You think that scares me? One phone call and all my brothers will be here in a heartbeat.”

I wasn’t sure how true that was now, if he had linked himself to Eric, I was taking a wild guess that he was on the outskirts of the South Roses club.

“Fine. Do it,” I bravely call his bluff, feeling my heart rate tick up in my chest again.

Shaking his head with a sardonic smile on his lips, he says, “Eric isn’t going to be happy you don’t have his money.”

I take a step forward, anger pushing me to do so, and growl out, “I never took a single penny from him, and I am not giving him another dime, so he can take his threats and shove them where the sun don’t shine.”

Not my best line, but…it did the trick for my anger.

Barking out a laugh, Bones takes a few steps forward, getting into my space, but I hold my ground. I’m surprised no one hasstumbled upon us, but he must have known that I park behind the building away from Main Street and planned his interception from there.

“You still got that fire in you.” He takes a finger and rubs it over my collarbone, but I don’t dare flinch. “I’ll be sure to pass that on to Bookie, just remember.” He starts to back away then, but my breath is still caught up in my lungs somewhere, unable to escape.

“If he can’t get what he wants from you in money, he’ll take it some other way.”

And with that, he turns and walks off, leaving me with icy fear and cold, hard dread latching onto my heart.

35

logan

Perhaps campingin September wasn’t my brightest idea, but it was our first time we could get out here for this summer break. Even though it wasn’t technically summer anymore, and Lue was fully in high school right now, I needed to find the time to take my girls away and just have some time as a family.

Thea was being quiet, and I wanted to figure out what was going on with her. Lue was her normal bubbly self, even after she had called us out last week.

We’d been getting up from watching a movie when Thea announced she was going to bed. Normally, I’d get up, give her a polite kiss, and let her go to her room where she’s been staying since the “mice infested her apartment.”

When I’d pulled away, my daughter had been standing there, her brows furrowed in confusion.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, wondering if this was going to be the moment that she told us she wasn’t happy with Thea being here, that it made her feel weird or uncomfortable.

I should’ve known that wasn’t it.

“You guys are together, right?”

Thea glanced quickly at me, then back to my inquisitive daughter. “Yeah, we are.”

“So, if you’re together, and we’re all living together, then why are you staying in the guest room?”

Relief flooded me, knowing now that her thoughts were about practicality and not about getting rid of the woman who had entered our lives.

“Well, we didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, Lue,” I tell her, rubbing her head with my hand, which she promptly swatted away.

“Why would that make me uncomfortable?”

“Well…just because we’re not married.”

Lue gives her a look, and then, like something dawns on her, she nods her head seriously. “Oh. You guys don’t want to have sex yet?”

I nearly puked.