Page 74 of Forged in the Fire
“Those are disgusting.” I grunted it under my breath.
“You’re disgusting,” she shot back.
Touché.
She wasn’t wrong.
Then she grabbed three packages of Peanut M&Ms and a bag of barbecue potato chips like she was stockpiling for the apocalypse.
“What? Lulu’s food isn’t good enough for you?”
Her glance at me was exaggerated. “Like I’m ever going to be able to show my face in front of Lulu or Elena again. I can only imagine what they thought when I went running out the door last night.”
Apparently, I wasn’t a quick learner because I couldn’t help but edge closer.
Mouth not quite hitting the shell of her ear as I murmured, “Never be ashamed of fighting, Brinley. In this world, we do what we need to in order to survive. You were just fighting the wrong person.”
Energy blasted from her.
That fine line between hate and desire tossing her into uncertainty.
Unfortunately, right then, that hate didn’t seem so severe.
I hesitated then added, “Elena was worried about you this morning.”
“How you have people who are so sweet related to you, I have no idea.” There was no fire behind it. It almost sounded like a tease.
I grunted as Elena and Kai’s faces traipsed through my mind.
Barbs of loyalty speared through my consciousness.
“At the end of it all, my family is the only thing that matters.”
“The club?” she asked, her head tilting to the side.
“Sure, they’re a part of that. My family. But my blood? They’re the reason I’m in this life. So I can take care of them.”
Fuck.
She didn’t even ask me, and I was dishing dirt like I was a TMZ reporter.
So fuckin’ reckless.
Brinley peered up at me. Devotion fully exposed. “Taking care of my family is the most important thing to me, too.”
A tiny, self-conscious laugh rippled from her. “Though Dereck is the only one I’ve got left.”
Unease twisted my stomach. My abhorrence of her brother clashing with the clear care she held for him.
I hated it for her.
That she got tangled in his bad decisions and she didn’t even know, but I supposed that was often the way life went down. You were trapped before you realized you’d become a pawn.
We both startled when the cashier called, “Next,” and my head popped up to find the customer in front of us scrambling to grab their bags, scuddling out the door like a spooked cat.
Casting wary glances behind them as they raced to safety.
No doubt, thinking I was gonna rob the place.
