“Okay,” I conceded, pulling out a chair and slowly sitting a good distance away. “Then I’ll just sit with you.”
His expression was distant, hard. A muscle fluttered in his jaw. “Go inside, Lynn.”
“No.”
His shoulders tightened, and I knew I should back off now, but Cobra had never abandoned me when I was in a black mood. I couldn’t walk away from him. I didn’t say anything, just stayed where I was.
He dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. “You need to leave me alone right now. I’m fucking serious.”
“Let me help,” I breathed.
“No,”he snapped, a growl darkening his voice, slicing into my chest.
“Right,” I laughed bitterly. “Why would you let me help? We’re just friends with benefits.”
His hands flexed, curled, fingernails gouging into his forehead.
“All the shit you’ve helped me work through, and you won’t even let me fuckingsitwith you so you’re not alone with your demons.”
“I’malwaysalone with my demons,” he snarled. “I don’t need help. I need you to get the fuck away from me.”
I flinched.
“Fine.” A wounded laugh came from me, a stranger’s laugh. I knew he was having a bad day, and I was making it worse, but Cobra was my person, my lifeline, and it fucking hurt that he wanted rid of me. “You want me to stay away? I’ll stay away. Enjoy your fucking space.”
I shoved out of the chair hard enough that it scraped across the patio stones, and left him there even if everything in me screamed to turn around.
22
Cobra
When she left, I dropped my hands from my face and let the tears that had been building all day finally fall. I stayed out there all night, alone with the stars. And I couldstillsmell bitter cherry chocolate.
23
Lynn
“Plucking my eyelashes out one by one would be more fun than this,” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my leather jacket and scuffing the glossy white floor of the clothes store with my heavy boots. I’d been dragged here against my will.
“Come on, Lynn,” Jessia chided, knocking her shoulder into mine. The only reason I didn’t scratch her eyes out was because we were friends and she’d earned my trust. Plus, it was hard to attack someone who was so good and full of sunshine. I couldn’t fight a woman who wore a peach, flowery sundress. “This whole day is to cheer you up.”
“I don’t need cheering up,” I muttered.
She ignored that. “You might even find something you like. This shop is so big, there must be something black and spiky here for you.”
ChaCha interrupted my snarky response with a whistle from a few aisles away. She held up a wine-red dress with a deep boob slit and an even higher thigh slit. “Do you think I could kill Sweetie with this?”
Dreamer barked a laugh where he stood against a mirror surveying the shop, arms crossed over his giant chest, his bulldog face transforming from gruff frown into a gruff smile.
I snorted, relaxing whether I liked it or not. Sure, shopping was boring as shit, and I already had enough clothes, but I liked these women. I’d endure hours of brain-numbing shit for them. They adopted me at my worst, and stuck with me through my healing, never once judging me for my insecurities, fear, or trauma. They judged me for everything else, sure, but that shit was mutual.
“That’s a cardiac arresting dress,” I told ChaCha, Jessia nodding vigorously in agreement.
Jessia grabbed a black vest with a pink cat holding a knife on it, and despite myself I smirked when she jiggled it at me. “Now, Iknowthere’s pink on this top, but I promise it won’t kill you.” The jiggling intensified. “It’s your size,” she sang.
“Fine,” I groaned. It reminded me of the horrifically cute avatars Cobra always chose when we gamed. I sighed, my shoulders drooping.
“No,” Jessia huffed, thrusting the vest into my hand. “Nope. We agreed not to talk or think about him today. I can tell you’re breaking that rule, Lynn.”
