Page 211 of Bad Attitude
“I’m not going to. Or the diamonds.”
“Yeah, I don’t care so much about those. I figured you and Declan would keep them.”
I pull my phone away from my ear and stare at it. Then put it back. “Are you Kurt Renner? Have I dialed the wrong number?”
He chuckles. “Call it a dowry.”
“Fuck you.” I try for venom, but it falls flat. “Besides, they aren’t mineorhis. They’re the crew’s.”
“I’ll cover their share, don’t worry. And I’ll fence the diamonds, so you don’t have to worry about that. But yeah, I think you two have earned them.”
I clench my jaw. “Why the hell doeshedeserve them?”
“He took bullets for you at Rodeo Drive—”
“That guy would’ve missed,” I say sullenly. “Declan only got hit because he rode into point-blank range.”
“Not going to try and argue with you in this mood, Genesis.” The amusement tingeing Kurt’s tone is beginning to grate. “He also protected our backs at Meridian Pacific. Under fire, no less.”
True. Irritatingly. “But he was only there because it was hisjob.Hewas never at risk of being arrested.”
“He still jumped off a building while doing the jobwewanted him to do.”
“Wait.” I frown. “You got picked up straight after. Wasn’t that Declan’s fault?”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Kurt sounds blasé about it. “There are other factors in play.”
“Yeah?”
“You focus on you, Genesis,” he says, with a tone that makes it clear I won’t get answers. “Go home, get some rest, think about what you want to do.”
“About what?”
“About the man you love.”
The line clicks dead, ensuring he has the last word.
Bastard.
And he’s wrong. I don’t love Declan Hale—Maddox—whatever the fuck his name is today. Ihatehim.
Don’t I?
It’s only been a week since I was last home, but so much has happened, I’m surprised it all looks the same. I figured there’d be more moss on the walls, maybe half the building fallen down, anything to mark the passage of time that feels like eons and isn’t.
I punch in the code on the main door, a reminder that Declan’s apartment building uses the same lazy-ass four digits. How many doors in this country unlock to six, seven, eight, nine?
It doesn’t matter. He can get in if he wants, then he can stand outside my door pounding on it to his heart’s content. I won’t open.
That assumes he even bothers. I’m certain hewon’t. I was pretty damn clear I want nothing to do with him.
My apartment hasn’t changed, and yet it feels different. Smaller, somehow.
Maybe it’s me that’s changed. I’ve grown up, got more bitter and jaded, lost a little more of the innocence that shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
I take a long shower, standing under the hot spray, letting it ease my muscles as my weariness catches up with me. My mind churns through the past few days, trying to make sense of it.
My family. My mother. BASE jumping off a building and being chased by Chinese enforcers. Cole getting shot.
