Page 119 of Damaged Desires

“It was my very worst moment,” I told her, and her body stilled. I’d had lots of terrible moments. Some she knew about, and others she only knew a hint of, but she knew enough to know exactly what it meant for it to have been my worst.

She kissed me and then laid her head down again, a restless slumber finding her. My eyes closed, and I let myself settle into a resting doze. One that would jerk me awake at any threat. One that would have me alert and ready to fight at the smallest, unexpected sound.

???

When we got off the plane and out to baggage claim in the wee hours, Mac and Georgie were waiting for us. I was surprised to see them, but Dani was not, and I wondered when she’d texted them. Mac stepped forward and hugged her so tight I was surprised she didn’t yelp.

“Go with Georgie to the car. Nash and I will get the bags,” Mac said as he turned his eyes to me with a glare.

Dani nodded. Georgie wrapped her in a hug of her own, and then they walked toward the exit, arm in arm.

When I turned from watching Dani to Mac, he punched me in the jaw.

My face and body jerked to the side by the unexpected hit, but I didn’t raise my fist or return the shot. I just stared at him. His eyes were glowering in a way I’d only ever seen Mac once. The time he’d watched me get off a plane with four flag-draped coffins.

“That’s for sleeping with my sister and then letting that bitch near her again.” Mac’s words were full of anger and hurt. I couldn’t defend myself against either emotion. He had a right to them. But I also wasn’t letting her go.

When Mac turned and stormed toward the conveyor belt, I called after him, “I love her.”

He stormed back at me.

“What. Did. You. Say?” The anger was still rippling off him in waves.

“I love her.” And I readied myself for another punch, stance going wide, arms crossed. I wouldn’t stop him. I deserved it. I would punch myself if our roles were reversed. Hell, I wanted to punch myself for all the stupid shit that had happened between us and to her since I’d first accepted her challenge to play poker.

My repeating my admission of love seemed to take the steam out of him. He brushed a hand through his hair, meeting my gaze. “Hell… Does she love you?”

“Yes.”

He still looked like he wanted to kill me. “Jesus. How long has this been going on?”

“Do you really want me to answer that? The hows and whens or whys?”

“No! You’re right. I don’t want the details.” Then he raised a finger at me. “But if you hurt her or let anyone else hurt her ever again, I will come for you in the night.”

Any other time, I would have laughed at him. I would have reminded him that the chance of him ever getting the drop on me would be almost a million to one, but I couldn’t.

Instead, I nodded and said, “I’m going to hold you to it.”

Dani

REMEDY

”When the pain cuts you deep,

When the night keeps you from sleeping.

Just look and you will see,

That I will be your remedy.”

Performed by Adele

Written by Adkins / Tedder

Nash didn’t look happy to findGeorgiein the back seat of the SUV with me when he and Mac returned to the car with our bags, but he didn’t object. He climbed into the passenger seat, and Mac pulled out of the garage and out on to the freeway that would take us from Ronald Reagan to Wilmington.

Nash and I hadn’t said much since leaving the theater. We hadn’t said much since leaving L.A. But we’d said the most important things. We loved each other. It seemed like those were the only words that mattered. There was more we needed to say. More things to figure out. But my brain was too exhausted, so it would have to wait.