“I doubt it.She’ll probably be happy.She never did like me.I was never thin enough or outgoing enough.She’ll be relieved the charade’s over.”
“It might be in private,” Ryan told her gently.“But not in public.That won’t change.Maybe you shouldn’t get out of the habit, sweetheart.”
El shrugged.“It’s not like we’re in the same circles.”
“Bullshit,” Shawn snorted.“There are very few circles for people like you and your family, El.You run in the same ones out of sheer necessity.”
She huffed.“Stop being a killjoy.You and I both know that I don’t exactly frequent the ones she’s in—that was always something we argued about.
“I’m sure as hell not going to be making as many public appearance as I did in the past, and let’s face it, I didn’t make that many anyway.There’s no way I’m hiding you four, and no way I’m hiding you as security.
“I can help my charities and the Pride, even, all without having to make a splash.My money does the talking anyway.If they don’t like it, they can lump it.”
For a second, silence fell at her passionate words.
She meant it, Trip knew.Truly meant it, and it touched him like nothing else could.
He knew his Triad and Shawn also felt the same way.
It was her fervency, her passion that made this unusual relationship they all had work.She had four men to see to, four men to attend, and yet, she did it with a laugh and a smile, even under the most difficult of circumstances.
She truly was their blessing, he realized, and in more ways than Ryan had meant earlier.
Just having her was a gift.But to have her be this way, too?
That was definitely a kiss from The Mother.
Still unable to believe thatJarrett Ledger was a Shifter, that he was closer to two centuries than five decades, and that he wasn’t actually gay but living with one of his Triad brothers, El processed it all in silence.
Around her, the men talked.Even Shawn.He was quiet by nature.Never one to really get involved, and most of the time stayed out of conversations.It wasn’t that he was an introvert, it was simply that he listened and read situations.Usually damn accurately.
Even when he’d been more of a friend than a bodyguard, he’d been that way.Never one to throw his opinion around, never one to take center stage.
He didn’t do that here either, but he’d relaxed.A lot.
It surprised her in point of fact how much he was willing to let them take pointe on so many things concerning her safety.She knew, from that alone, that he trusted the Triad, and that, over time, he’d become more at one with them.
She guessed even Ryan had found it hard to blend into the Triad when he, Trip, and Marc had finally found one another.It was difficult breaking into an already established relationship, and if anything, that was one reason why she’d felt so guilty from the start.Shawn was like the odd one out, and because she loved him, had done for many years, it hurt her to think that he might be being hurt by constantly being on the outside.
It wasn’t, however, like she could do much to change that, and thankfully, the drama that had been their lives of late seemed to be having one positive aspect on the situation—he was getting comfortable in this unusual unit.
A smile curved her lips at the thought.Things, though still crazy, were settling down some.
In a way, it actually let her breathe easier.
Sure, there was still a shitstorm waiting around every corner, but if they were good, then she felt like she was too.
A long breath escaped her, and Marc, noticing it, shot her a smile and squeezed her arm which she’d left hooked through his since the beginning of the journey.
Their conversation didn’t drop by a beat, and she didn’t want it to.If anything, she stayed silent, snuggled into him more, and stared a little blindly into the distance out of the windscreen.
They’d been traveling out of the city for a long time.The only break in the darkness was from their headlights.In two hours of traveling, they hadn’t passed another car yet.
Accustomed to the crazy traffic of the city, it made her uneasy to be so alone.It made her feel vulnerable on a visceral level.A level that, she was coming to realize, was her cats reacting to whatever situation she found herself in.
She bit her lip at the thought and tried, as always, to process that she had two beasts living inside her.
It had been hard enough when she’d had only the one in her.But two?
