Page 296 of Broken Like Me
She doesn’t even get the end of the sentence out of her mouth when the bird breaks out in a vibrant, sweet song. It’s loud and bright. Almost as beautiful and bubbly as the woman I love.
Or maybe like her twin sister.
Lila chokes out a sob, covering it so she doesn’t startle the bird. The force it takes to stave off the tears makes her shoulders quiver.
I wrap my arm around her shoulder, holding her to my side lovingly. While we wait for a monster to decide our fate and the fate of twenty-three others, the bird sings to us.
Yes, to us. There’s no other way to describe what’s happening.
She’s serenading us.
The timing couldn’t be worse, but I’m reminded of that adage about cups of love when I’m flooded with so much adoration for Lila that it comes pouring out of me. “Lila, if I lived a thousand lives, I’d find and cherish you in every damn one. No matter what happens in there...”
She expels a lingering stream of air, then brushes away her residual tears. “Cherish me in this one first. Everything will be okay. My sister says so.”
The sound of steps approaching from inside the house ends the beautiful, tender moment.
My body stiffens on instinct, preparing for battle.
Despite wanting to gasp with relief, I keep my breathing steady when my eyes land on my fellow agents heading in our direction. “Here we go, cookie.”
Lila tightens her grip on my hand.
A grating female voice greets our ears. Ginny Lawrence. Street nameDumbass. “Hands up out there.”
She stands in the middle of the living room, a handgun pointing at the head of an agent. I don’t know this guy’s name, but he’s on the smaller side. Even still, he could take her out easily if he wanted to. But he’s doing what he should and letting her think she’s in charge. It’s gotta be killing him, though. It’s making my jaw clench from forty feet away.
“Here’s how this is gonna go down, kay? Eight of yous cops are gonna walk out when Lila comes in. Nice and slow. Passing in the middle. Hands up over your heads. After that, we do it again with another eight when Kenzie’s brother comes inside. Get it? See how it’s gonna work? If any of yous heroes try to fill big shoes, I blow his brains. Got it?”
It’s theyousthat does it for me. Adding ansunnecessarily to the end of a pronoun is the hallmark of intelligence. Badgering whatever phrase she was aiming for at the end was the icing on an otherwise brilliant cake.
She didn’t even addoutto the end of her threat. So is she just blowing his brains?
Fucking hell. How did we end up in this position with her part of the team with the upper hand?
Releasing Lila, I lift my hands up and climb the remaining porch steps. “Ginny, let me go inside first instead of Lila.”
“No, no,nooo. You ain’t in charge here, Mr. Officer. This ain’t your little interrogation room. I call the shots here. Got it?”
I could easily point out the only two things she’ll ever be in charge of are jack and shit. But I bite my tongue, literally.
With a stiff arm, she swoops the revolver toward the porch. “Do yous got it or not?”
“We got it, Ginny.” Lila glides in front of me, the picture of calmness. “I’ll come inside first. Send out the first eight agents now.”
Ginny does another stiff-arm arc, using the gun to gesture to the first group of agents being freed.
When Lila inches her way over the threshold, I start to reach for her. Every cell in my body is telling me to stop her from going in there.
Protect your woman.
Keep her close.
Never let her go.
As if she can sense the moment I begin lowering my hands to stop her, she gingerly slants her head to give me a partial view of her serene expression.
I ball my hands into fists, keeping them over my head like shit for brains demanded.
