Page 196 of A Lick and A Promise
“You’re fucking with me,” he whispered.
I shook my head.
He held my gaze a beat then looked to his feet.
“Knox, honey?—”
He lifted his head. “What did she say?”
“She wanted to talk to you.”
His entire face got hard. “What did you say?”
“I told her I’m not your go-between. And I told her it was highly unlikely you’d want to talk to her after you learned she ambushed me.”
“Damn straight,” he bit off, set his mug down with a loud thunk and pulled his phone out of his joggers.
“Knox—”
“Nope, Luna. Fuck no,” he ground out while his thumb moved on his phone screen. He stopped and looked at me. “There a reason you know that explains why the boys in the control room missed her?”
“She was careful not to step into camera range.”
Hellfire broke out all around us.
“Honey, take a breath,” I advised.
He did not take a breath.
He went back to his phone with his thumb then put it to his ear.
It was early, but I knew it didn’t ring very long because he said, “Yeah, it’s me.” Pause. “You don’t get that seein’ as one of your boys put holes in me.” Pause, then, “Do not tell me that shit. I do not want to hear that shit. You talkin’ to Mom?” Another pause, and then, “Tell her she gets near Luna again, I will not be responsible for what I do.” Pause and, “Fuck you, Gypsy. Fuck Rocco. Fuck Dad. Fuck Crew and Poe. And fuck Mom. I cannot fuckin’ believe you don’t have the love and respect for me to keep me out of that mess.” Pause. “No. Hell no, Gypsy. Be fuckin’ smart.”
A long pause while he lifted his hand to the back of his neck, squeezed, dropped it and then went back at her.
“You gotta know how much it guts me to say this, but I got no choice because you didn’t give me any. I want you out of my life, Gypsy. Forever.”
One last pause while my heart broke for him.
Then, “You really need to get that message because I’m not going to change my mind. And if you don’t do it, and I hear from you, especially if any of this shit touches Luna, her and me will disappear. I’ve been done with your shit for ages. Hear me, one way or the other, this ends now. Do one last fuckin’ thing for me. Finally, unlike how you’ve been playing it, make how that happens easy for me.”
With that, he hung up and immediately said to me, “It isn’t gonna be us disappearing, babe. It’ll be her. I just had to say that because she can’t know I know they’re fucked.”
I nodded.
“Please come here,” he said.
I went right there.
We wrapped our arms around each other, and I pressed tight.
“I’m sorry she pulled that on you,” he muttered into the top of my hair.
“It’s not yours to apologize for.”
“I’m still sorry.”
I knew he was.
