“Stay out of it, Tallulah,” Kael snaps, still not looking at me. “You don’t get to defend him.”
Wrong. Absolutely wrong. Anger burns through the haze, clean and hot.
Bran’s jaw tightens.
“For the record, it wasn’t a matter of ‘lettin’ him’ do anything,” he says, voice low. “He’s clever. He found a crack. We’ll close it.”
“A crack you should’ve anticipated,” Kael fires back. “You think this is the first time I’ve had a man like him fixate on someone of mine? You think we don’t know how this goes?”
“This isn’t a turf war,” Bran says, and there’s an edge in his voice now. “This is a man who’s been learnin’ my girl’s habits for years, who’s already proven he’ll kill anyone in his way. You wanna play ‘what if’ with him, take a number. I’m busy keepin’ her breathin’.”
My heart stutters.
My girl.
Kael’s hand tightens on his shirt. “You call her that one more time and I’ll—”
“KAEL,” I snap.
Neither man bother to look at me.
I grab the plastic water cup off the tray and throw it.
It’s half-full, hitting Kael square in the chest and splashing water up into his face.
The room goes very, very quiet. He turns slowly, murder in his eyes.
“Did you just throw water at me?” he asks, incredulous.
“Yes,” I say, glaring. “And if I could get up, I’d do worse.”
“Tallulah—”
“Don’t ‘Tallulah’ me like I’m five,” I cut in. “I am not a package that got mishandled, Kael. I am not broken dishes for you to yell at the movers over. I walked into this with my eyes open.” My throat tightens, but I push through. “Bran saved my life tonight. If he’d gone after Henry instead of catching me, I’d be on a slab or in a coma. You wanna be mad at him because you’re scared? Fine. But do not stand in my hospital room and act like I’m an object you own that someone scratched.”
He stares at me, stunned.
Bran looks like he’s forgotten how to breathe.
Jack is doing a terrible job of pretending he’s not amused.
“You sent him here,” I go on, jabbing a finger in Kael’s direction. “You signed off on him being here. You knew what he was, who he was. You don’t get to scream at him for doing his jobandfalling in love with me at the same time.”
The words tumble out before I can catch them, and silence slams down.
Kael’s eyes flick between us.
“Falling in—” he starts. “GODDAMMIT, first Brodie and now you. I’m going to lose another of you motherfuckers to this godforsaken bumfuck town.”
My face goes nuclear.
“Oops,” I whisper.
Bran’s hand tightens around mine again, like he wants to say something and can’t in front of this audience.
Kael swipes his wet sleeve across his face, like he’s wiping the whole moment away so he can start over.
He looks at Bran.
