“Yes, you do,” I say, harsher than I meant. I take a breath and try again. “Yes, you do. I don’t know why the fuck I’m telling you to, but you need to. For you.”
“I’d rather just hate him,” she sniffs, turning her head away.
“You don’t hate him. If you hated him, you wouldn’t find ways to keep him in your life,” I tell her honestly, causing her head to flip back to me. “Quit lying to yourself.”
“I can’t do that,” she says, tears flashing down her cheeks. “The moment I admit what I already know, I can’t ignore how I feel anymore.”
“As much as I don’t want to say this,” I sigh. “We would do anything for you, Pretty girl. That includes whatever happens with Zane.”
She laughs, but it’s watery. “I think Ryder may feel different.”
“You would be surprised what Ryder would handle for you.”
She looks over the property and doesn’t say anything for a long time. I rub her back and give her time to get her thoughts together.
Do I want her with Zane? No. But will I deny her if she wants himwith her too? Also no. I just want Les in my life, and the truth is, Zane isn’t a bad guy. Yeah, he lied to her and made her feel like their whole relationship was a lie, but Zane would lay his life down for her just like the rest of us would.
“This is going to have to be a problem for another day,” she says, finally standing up from the swing. “We have too much going on.”
She walks away, and I watch her until she disappears into the house. That’s going to be her excuse until the end of time. We always have something going on; it’s the way of this life.
I might just have to push her a little.
Chapter 55
Ryder
“Idon’t like this,” Dex says, leaning back in the passenger seat.
“Which part?” I grunt. “Watching Les and Gage boost a car or them meeting Zane?”
“I don’t give a shit about Zane. I meant this whole thing with Nina. Viktor is going to hit back tenfold.”
I’ve already thought about that and know she’s more than ready for whatever Viktor throws at her now. Something hits me, and I look at Dex. “What do you mean you don’t give a shit about Zane?” He should because this man is hot on Les’ ass and has been for years. If she didn’t get so fucking mad about him becoming a cop, I have no doubt they would still be together. And where would that leave all of us?
“I mean, Zane is the least of our worries,” he sighs, and I can tell whatever is about to come out of his mouth I’m not going to like. “He tried to kiss her at the house.”
“What?” I explode, slapping my hand on the steering wheel. “I fuckingknewsomething was off when I walked back into that room.”
“He implied he was okay with sharing her. With us.” Dex finally looks at me. “She still loves him, man.”
Gage and Les get the car they’re taking fired up, and I drop myExplorer into drive. “I know,” I reply, pulling out behind them. It’s something I’ve always known, and she would never admit it. She buried her feelings in anger. Now that he’s making his intentions known, it’s getting harder for her to hide how she feels.
“What do we do?” Dex asks.
“What can we do?” I ask harshly. “If we do anything to fucking hurt him, Les will have our asses.”
“I don’t mean that,” Dex replies evenly. “I mean about her feelings for him. She can’t keep that shit buried too much longer.”
“Are you telling me you want her to tell him how she feels?”
“No. I’m saying she needs to. It doesn’t matter what we want.”
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” I ask him because I’m pretty sure he has.
“I’m the only one who hasn’t lost their fucking mind,” he argues, fully facing me in the seat. “We agreed that Les gets whatever makes her happy because she deserves that. What if that’s Zane?”
Gage takes an exit off the highway, and I keep going straight. We agreed this is as far as Dex and I can go for the risk of being seen. We just needed to watch their backs in Concrete Row when they stole a car in broad fucking daylight. We’re going to meet them after they drop Nina off so they can ditch the car, and we can go the hell home and finally sleep. We dropped Holden and Leo off at the house, and Giovanni brought Micah, Evander, and Mateo over later. I’m so damn tired, and all this talk about Zane makes me crazy.
