Elena and Brinley had taken up a spot at a high-top table near the back right corner of the bar. Both were sipping beers, their gazes taking in the decadence and debauchery unfolding in front of them.
Fuck. I wanted to shield my sister. Cover her eyes and her heart. Send her back to the house and shove her back into that cage, clip her wings the way I’d been doing for so long.
It was utterly wrong, but I didn’t know anything else.
How to protect her when I forever felt our safety slipping away.
Knowing I was traversing treacherous ground, I turned course and beat a path to the main bar.
Tonight, Lulu was slinging drinks behind it, her grin both warm and sly. Her weathered face arched in knowing speculation as I slipped onto a stool.
She immediately set an old-fashioned in front of me. A sugar cube and cherry floated in the amber whiskey.
“It’s been a day, honey.” Care filled her tone.
“Yeah,” I mumbled, wrapping both hands around the glittering tumbler like it might serve as a lifeline.
She cut a glance at Brinley and Elena.
“She okay?” she asked.
A huff puffed free as I brought the tumbler to my lips, soaking my tongue with the sweetness, relishing the burn as it slid down my throat.
I hoped it would soothe the chaos, but it only poured gas on the flames that raged in my stomach.
Amid it, there was nothing I could do but slant my attention to the two who had their heads pressed together. Giggling and whispering.
As thick as thieves.
Like they’d been friends forever.
Wasn’t exactly sure what tightened my chest at the sight of it. That same wayward emotion that had detonated inside me when she’d run Kai and Elena to safety a few days ago.
I turned back to Lulu. “Doubt it. Who would be after going through what she did today?”
She hummed as she wiped a rag over the gleaming bar top. “Well, I’m sure it definitely made a mark, but I can also say she’s doing a whole hell of a lot better right now than she would have been otherwise.”
Rage burned hot, and I attempted to swallow around the shards of glass that rolled around at the base of my throat. “Bastard never should have gotten that close to her.”
“No, but you did what counted and because of that, she is sitting right over there tonight.”
“That doesn’t mean I didn’t almost fail.”
“Key word here isalmost.” Lulu said it wry. Almost a tease.
I grunted, and she laughed. “Sorry to break it to you, honey, but you weren’t close to failing. There is zero chance that scoundrel would have gotten her off this property the way he intended. Idiot would have had twenty-five Crows chasing down his tail in nothing flat.”
“She shouldn’t have been here for the chance of that to happen in the first place.”
She shouldn’t be subject to me or any of this bullshit that would ruin her life.
Lulu arched a brow, her wrinkled features deepening with disbelief. “Like that’s your fault when you stepped in to protect her? Took on that extra burden, invited more danger into your life? God knows where she’d be right now if it weren’t for you.”
A growl got free with the toil of hate the thought spurned, and I gripped the glass tighter, so hard I was surprised it didn’t shatter.
“And that reaction right there tells me that girl is exactly where she is supposed to be.” Lulu bobbed a finger at me, like my expression alone offered up proof.
Handed it to her on a silver platter.
