Cato perches on the counter with a bag of chips in his lap, crumbs littering his shirt. But his eyes are on the doorway, so as I pause on the threshold, he brings a single digit up and holds it in front of his lips.
Shh.
I glance across the apartment to the back of the couch, and in front of it, the television with a cartoon lighting up the screen. Aubree sits on the arm of the couch, her smile growing as she looks me up and down, but that smile turns up a thousand megawatts when her eyes flicker to the man behind me.
I don’t empty my pockets like I usually do when I come in here. Phone and keys in the bowl by the door, a rock or two beside those.
I can’t. Not for as long as Minka’s heart hurts. Not for as long as she’s in New York’s crosshairs. Instead, I finger the one I’ve been holding on to and cross the old, worn floor, stopping at the back of the couch and breathing easier, breathing cleaner air once more, as I find her curled up with Mia, their arms andlegs tangled, their cheeks smooshed, and both sets of eyes shut so long, dark lashes kiss their faces.
“Aren’t they the sweetest things ever?” Aubree brushes a lock of hair off Mia’s face. “They’ve been like this for an hour already.”
Minka wears a pair of shorts and one of my shirts. Her face is red and splotchy, even while unconscious, because her lack of sleep and emotional turmoil have held her hostage for far too long.
She could’ve asked everyone to leave. She could’ve locked herself in her bedroom. Instead, she chose to snuggle with Mia… and my shirt.
“How anyone could think I wouldn’t want her is just…” Exhaling, I lower into a crouch and rest my arms on the top of the couch, my chin on my hands. “Jesus. Haven’t I said it five million times already?” Daringly, I reach over the couch and drag my fingertips through Minka’s hair. “I can’t live without her.”
“I think Cordoza is?—”
“Yeah.” I don’t even meet her eyes. I’m too fucking busy studying Minka’s plump lips. Her dimples, dug into her cheeks even when she isn’t smiling. Her nose, objectively almost too small for her face, and the shadows under her eyes, way too fucking dark for a woman I vowed to take care of. “Tim said you think Cordoza’s fleecing me.” I shake my head. “I don’t wanna talk about it right now. I just wanna take a few minutes with my wife before I have to leave again.”
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” Aubree licks her lips in my peripherals, her body folding forward until her chest touches her legs. “Loving someone as much as you love her,knowingyou’re meant to be together forever, but not being able to have it.”
Tim wanders across the living room and comes around the side of the couch, stopping behind his new bride and splaying his hand over the column of her neck.
Her lips quirk higher in response. “I’m not mad anymore.” She cups his hand and straightens her back, leaning against him and exhaling a happy sigh. “But I feel it, Archer. I feel your pain. And hers. While everyone else was swinging punches and shouting at each other, asking what the hell you were thinking…”
“You already knew.” I hate that my eyes itch. That my heart aches, knowing I won’t be sleeping here tonight. I won’t be sleeping in the same bed as my wife, and that… that’s not fucking fair. “I was shot and tortured by my own father, Aubs. Tormented. Pitted against my brothers. I left my family when I was still a kid and ran face-first into a world where I was fully prepared to be alone. I watched my father die. Literally helped dig the hole he would eventually lie in. I’ve done a lot of bad shit in my life…”
“But none of it hurts nearly as much as this.” She drags Tim’s arm around, holding his palm to her heart and resting her cheek against his belly. “I believe everything will work out. Eventually.”
“Because that’s the path we’re on? That’s how it works, right? We’re headed toward whatever we’re headed toward, and our actions create the path laid out ahead of us.”
She nods, soft and barely moving. “Right.”
“So even though the things I’ve said and done damaged us, the path you see proves I’m doing the right thing.” I clear mythroat and twist a lock of Minka’s hair around my fingers. “Right?”
“The path is murky,” she admits, her lips firming into flat lines. “I believe everything will work out, because the love you have for each other is powerful. But Cordoza is on that path, too, and he’s the reason things are less clear. I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I truly think he’s influencing her future. For whatever reason, whatever his desires, I don’t…” She shakes her head. “I can’t…” Giving up, she exhales a noisy sigh. “I’ve had a constant headache since the weekend because I’m trying so,sohard to understand. We must remember Estefan did not stumble into his power. He cultivated it. He grew it. And for decades, he has defended it. He’s not a man to be messed with, but I don’t believe he should be trusted blindly, either.”
“I don’t have any other options.” I wish we were in an alternate reality where I could pick Minka up and take her to bed. Where I could crawl under the covers beside her and pull her close, so tomorrow, we’ll wake with her drool on my chest and, most often after infusion, her delicious hips rolling over mine. “Estefan has been good to my family,” I murmur. “He’s helped Lix and Micah, and Soph and Michelle trust him. The fact is, I just don’t know what else to do. If he says she’s at risk, ignoring him could be the reason she dies.”
“And listening to him could be the reason her heart never recovers.” Aubree carefully unfolds her legs and twists on the arm of the couch, setting her feet on the floor and smiling her appreciation as Tim takes her hand and helps her stand. She fixes her shirt and tucks locks of pink-streaked blonde hair behind her ears. “I’m gonna do everything I can to help repairwhat’s been broken, but ultimately, until Cordoza reveals his motivations, and until you tell her the truth, there’s nothing anyone can do except stand by and watch her break a little more. And that…” She wraps herself around my brother’s chest, laying her ear on his heart and cinching her hands together at his back. “It’s a real shame. She was already convinced everyone would eventually leave. She got to experience something else for a little while. It was a growing, pulsing, magical belief that, even if the rest of the world sucked, her soul would be safe with a Malone.”
My eyes burn, itching and tempting me to bring a hand up to wipe them.
“This week shattered that belief.”
“You’re digging those knives in, Aubs.” I press my free palm to my aching stomach. “Twisting like you get off on hurting me.”
“I’m sorry.” She pulls out of Tim’s embrace and comes around to me instead, placing her hand on my shoulder and squeezing. “That was never my intention. I simply needed to pass on a message Minka never would. I hope this is resolved soon. For everyone’s sake.”
She grabs Tim’s hand and leads him away now that I’m here to take over.
Too bad I’ll have to pass the baton to Cato soon.
“I’m heading into the office tomorrow,” Aubree murmurs by the door. “I know it’s the weekend, but cases are piling up, and the chief hasn’t been at the top of her game lately. Mia really wants to swim at the house, too, though, so maybe I’ll swing by after and hang out.”
Cato grunts into the back of his throat. Agreement. Confirmation. Love. Then the door opens, and the duo leaves.
