Page 42 of Brandon’s Mate

Kitty put down the tea mug with a thump that splashed hot tea and whiskey onto the countertop. “Like you don’t deserve it? I am done with your shit, Brandon Fierro. Either you tell me what’s going on with you, or I will come over there and beat it out of you.”

Brandon looked at her in her ninja unicorn pajamas and goofy sheep slippers, looking completely adorable with her hair scrunched up on top of her head and chocolate crumbs on her cheek.

“Stop, please. I’m terrified. Your sheep slippers are scaring the fuck out of me.”

She growled. Serious growl, not playing around. He suddenly wondered if she really could beat him up. That would suck for his ego.

But he loved that she’d grown into a strong, amazing, badass woman. She’d come to find him when she thought he needed her, even though he’d left her behind. She’d kissed him in the shop with a passion that curled his fucking toes and made his cat wild. And when the Talons came after her, she didn’t run from the situation. She came here.

After everything, she was still trying to be on his side. And he’d forgotten how good it felt to have someone on his side.

He gave a huge sigh, and for the first time in forever felt some of the tension drain out of him.

“Okay.”

“I—” She stopped as she took in what he’d said. “Oh. Okay, then. Spill it.” She gave the whiskey bottle a shove and it slid down the counter to him.

Brandon leaned his hips against the countertop, caught the bottle and took a sip.

“An old friend of mine called me in to help him out with a problem.”

“Someone from the Agency?”

Brandon stared at her. “How the hell did you find out about the Agency?” She’d been digging into his past. How much did she know? He hoped like hell she didn’t know about the New Mexico crew, and what had happened to them. He didn’t want her to know how broken he was, or feel sorry for him.

If he could just fix this one thing—find Nick’s killers—at least he could hold his head up again, and maybe feel like he might have something to offer her that wasn’t just dragging her down into his shit.

A ghost walked through the wall into the kitchen. He turned his back on it, but his cat started rumbling.

“Hello,” Kitty said, waving to get his attention. “I grew up knowing the same people you did. And I’m very persuasive. I asked Kane and Rachelle Colton if the Agency could find you, and they said you used to work for them.”

She didn’t know about the broken crew, then. “Yeah,” he said. “Nick and I worked some jobs together.”

“And he’s the one you told me about? The one who died?”

“Not died,” Brandon said. His voice grew harsh. She needed to understand this. “Murdered. Because I didn’t get here in time. So now I need to figure out who killed him, and then I need to rip them into bloody pieces.”

“I see.” Kitty took the bottle from him, but she didn’t drink. She just wrapped her hand around the neck and he saw her muscles squeezing, her knuckles getting white.

He added, “But it’s my mess, not yours, and not Colt and Remy’s. I have to fix it myself.”

He started to speak, but her wolf was growling again. “So you’re shoving us aside again, because your pride won’t let you ask for help? Risking your life for what? So you can tell your friend’s ghost you did it all by yourself? Or so you can end up dead like him, like some kind of fucked-up atonement?”

She couldn’t really see Nick’s ghost, he told himself. It was just an expression. She didn’t understand.

“For justice,” he snapped, turning away. “I owe him.”

“Oh, you owe him. You’ll chase all over the country and risk everything for some guy you worked with a few times, but us—your family—you cut us out of your life like we never even mattered to you. We’re not even good enough to back your fucking revenge.”

The other ghosts were drifting through the wall now. Ranger. Jeb. Fargo. His cat gave a strangled growl.

He closed his eyes. “You don’t understand.”

She turned on him. “No, I don’t! I never understood. You were my best friend. I trusted you. I told you all my stupid teenage dreams and feelings about you, and what did you do? You ran away. You fucking left town. And you never came back. You never even said goodbye.” Her voice choked. “You broke my heart.”

The ghosts looked at him accusingly. He couldn’t handle this. Something in him just fucking crumbled.

“Then why did you come and find me, if you hate me so much?” he yelled at her. “Because of some gut feeling? Why now? I’ve been in danger lots of times. I’ve been hurt worse than you can imagine, and you didn’t come then. You didn’t even know.”