Pushing my cheek out with my tongue, I nod. “Okay. So that means if Bay comes to you wanting to abort that child, we’lltalkabout it, right?”
“That’s her right.”
My eyes clench at him for being so fucking understanding of such a thing. I understand women’s rights and shit, but that’sourbaby. That’s…
“And no one else gets a say?” I leer back. “We just never get to experience something that could bring us back together as a family?”
Cairo’s dark features don’t lighten and give me any sort of comfort. He’s in diplomatic mode, and there’s no getting through that. “Not if she doesn’t want it, Torin. We can’t force her tostaypregnant.”
I can.
I can tie her up to a bed, feed her, and wait the nine months or whatever for her to give us that child.
“Youcan’t,” Cairo repeats, his voice harder now. “She’s scared shitless right now, and we’re not in the best position for her to be?—”
“Whenisthere a right time, brother? When The Landings and South Shore are skipping and holding hands with each other? We don’t even know if that’s going to happen.”
“They announced her Queen of South Shore today,” he snarls angrily. “So, yeah, I do think it’ll happen.”
This motherfucker.
So fucking naive.
“Why?” I press back casually. “Because you’ve fucked her, you think you’ve got a free pass? That it means something to her? Because let me let you in on a little secret…she can disconnect better than any man. What you’ve done means nothing. She lives, breathes, andisSouth Shore. And now with her dad and Wallace dead, she’s going to avenge and come back ten times harder. Nothing is stopping her now, brother. All good queens reign long and prosperous. She’ll be one of them. And that means you’ll always be the odd man out because she doesn’t need you.”
“So it comes to this? You’re jealous of?—”
“I’m not jealous,” I emit tersely. “You could never take her away from me,period. Bay Astor has been and always will be mine. That shit is written in the stars and trust me, you don’t fuck her like I do.”
Cairo blinks at me. “How many pain meds did you take today?”
I scowl at him but don’t answer the question. I’m taking the prescribed dose, andno,I’m not taking any more than I should. The last thing we need is another addiction problem.
Well, the kind that makes you a raging asshole, anyway.
Shit, apparently, I don’t need pills to be that.
“Give it time,” Cairo echoes out. “Don’t underestimate how she feels about you.”
“I don’t need a lecture or a pep talk,” I retort. “I need you to not allow her to make any rational decisions when it comes to that kid.”
“Then stop acting like a bitch and talk to her about it.”
“When? Do you want me to stroll up to her house and walk right through The Nameless?”
“I’ll handle that.”
Of course, he will. The prick has an answer to everything.
“She feels alone,” he tacks on. “She doesn’t have you or Reeve. Ozzy is out there now searching for that moron, and I got you healin’ up. She just lost Wallace, brother. I’ve finally got her tonotgo out and hunt De Leon down herself.”
I steal a glance at him. “How?”
For the first time in this conversation, I watch Cairo hesitate before he says, “I told her I’d give him to her on a silver platter. I figured, we get him, we solve the problem.”
“How noble of you, brother.”
He glowers. “Stop being a fucking asshole. I’m doing this forallof us.”
