Worse, because I know he still wants me and there’s no one else bleeding his attention. Brady freaking cares enough about me to go feral in the clumsiest territorial way possible.
And that’s what makes this so dangerous. He can’t see the risks.
I couldn’t the first time, and neither did Mom.
Not until she lost everything.
With a quick goodbye head rub for Queenie, I leave the apartment with my head down, speeding down the elevator and through the lobby, where there should be an Uber waiting by now.
Brady would’ve driven me or had Luis do it if I’d said a word, but I’m not making my dependency worse.
Some things a girl has to do herself.
If only to prove she still can, to hold her crumbling self together just a little while longer.
This weepy, uncertain, guilt-ridden girl is not who I am.
I’ve always prided myself on being stronger than iron and sharp as nails. Ready to take my problems head-on, along with everybody else’s, since the day an amoral porn addict ripped my soul in two.
Sworn to never be so weak I let the lightning that ruined Mom and Raven Swirl strike twice.
But what if I’m not as strong as I think?
What if I never really healed and scarred over?
What if Brady’s right, and I need him to swoop in and save me?
And what if Harry Jay isn’t done with me yet?
What if he’s the raging storm I can’t stop, and he’ll destroy everything I love a second time?
True to Brady’s word and my miserable confusion, we don’t see each other for a few days.
I throw myself into work and the new adjustments in my life. After we close up for the day, Dr. Ezzie brings me into business briefings, feeding me one bite of management at a time.
The transition has begun.
Soon, she’ll be handing me the keys. I won’t be alone with Trish and Keith very long once I’ve found a partner.
I flick the sign toClosedand switch off the main lights, heading back to her office, where the sunset spills out in that cloud-filtered gold that makes a Seattle evening.
“Hi, Lena. Come in.” She looks up over a stack of papers on her desk.
“You look like you could use some sleep, Doc.” I frown at the dark circles under her eyes.
“Someday,” she says dryly. I pull out a chair and sit beside her. “Give yourself another twenty years, and you’ll know where it comes from. There’s nothing easy about running a clinic.”
“No, but I’m ready.”
“I hope so.” With a sigh, she gestures to the paperwork heaped on her desk. “There’s been a complication, I’m afraid.”
My heart stops. “What complication?”
“The money-and-rules kind,” she says, looking down. “Fun new city fines.”
“Oh my God, what? Code enforcement again? You haven’t broken any laws, right?”
“Right. Or so I thought.”
