“Yes. Reuben was the first to jump overboard for you on the Millenium Star.”
“He’d have done that for anyone.”
“No.” His expression darkens, heavy with unspoken thoughts. “He wouldn’t have.”
My eyes flicker with surprise for a fraction of a second before I school my expression into indifference, shifting my attention elsewhere. “I’ll handle it differently next time.”
“You handled it perfectly,” Gabriel counters. “That’s not the problem. The problem is, there may not be a future where Reuben chooses to be protected if you’re in danger.”
“Reuben doesn’t need protection.”
“Everymember of the Taiga family needs protection.” Gabriel’s eyes narrow.
“I’m not going to listen to you tell me I’m a liability to Reuben’s safety.” A spark of anger ignites beneath my exterior, slipping into my voice before I can stop it.
“That’s not what I’m saying!” His restraint frays at the edges.
“Is there a problem, sirs?”
“No!” We both snap in unison and the waitress at our table flinches before scampering off to reception.
I hadn’t even noticed how loud we’d gotten.
“If you’re both taking each other seriously,” Gabriel finds the will at least to pull back on his irritation, speaking through gritted teeth, “one of us needs to be assigned to you, to protect you.”
I open my mouth to protest but he cuts me off at once, “That. Way.We can all keep our heads and do our jobs protecting Reuben properly.”
“If you assign anyone to meatall,” I grind through my teeth the same way he did with a calm smile, “I’ll shoot them. In both knees.”
“Why can’t you be logical about this?” he snaps again.
“It’s beenthree weeks!” I hiss in return. “And you’re talking about assigning me a guard. Iamthe guard, Gabriel. It’s my job. Aside from that, I’m nothing.”
Gabriel’s mouth snaps shut as he watches me.
It opens and snaps shut again.
“You’renothing?”
Fuck.
“Whatever conversation you’re both having,” Xavier’s voice through the comms is so tainted with fury, the both of us flinch, “I’m sure you can have it andnot disrupt the people around you.Ornot have it at all.”
“Gabriel’s being ridiculous,” I mumble.
“And Christian’s being unreasonable.”
“AndIwill come down there and kill you both,” Xavier snaps. “Then we’ll all be happy.”
Across the street, Evie spits coffee from her nose and we both freeze.
“What’s wrong?” Philip’s voice comes through the earpiece and Evie shakes her head, trying—and failing—to conceal a smile.
“Nothing, nothing. You reminded me of someone I met a long time ago.”
Fuck, we used the wrong comms line.
“Xavier’s going to kill us,” Gabriel mutters, but I only click my teeth and sink into my chair.
