Page 66 of Broken Love

I force a laugh and look around the abandoned boutique. It wasn’t quite this deserted twenty minutes ago when Lilah walked in here and politely asked everyone to leave while Elijah knocked out the poor check-out girl. She’ll wake up eventually, although I’m surprised they are so willing to leave a trail of witnesses around.

Lilah pulls her shirt off and I catch sight of the black cobra tattoo swirling down from between her covered breasts, nestled inside a tight, red bra. I’ve only seen Fox’s tattoo once. He wants to have it removed but every tattoo removal place in the country has been on high alert since Snake Eyes was exposed. Something tells me the Harts aren’t too eager to remove theirs. They seem like the type who take a lot of pride in their work.

“I’m really digging the green…” Lilah ponders aloud. “It brings out my eyes.”

“I don’t know…” I quip, staring at the bright, crimson shiner taking hold of her forehead. “Green and red are more holiday colors, don’t you think?”

She spins around to face me and her lips twitch. “Cute.”

I shrug.

Lilah pushes the dress down to the floor and grabs the blue one to try on as Elijah steps in from the back.

“For fuck’s sake, Lilah…” he says, shaking his head and averting his eyes. “Is this really the time for that?”

“Well, this bastard is taking too long.” She slides the blue dress down over her sizable chest. “I’m bored and I never get to buy new clothes.”

“Because we don’t exactly have anywhere to put them,” he says. “We live on the road, remember?”

“Not for very much longer, if you’re to have your way.” She steps back in front of the mirror to check out the dress and tilts her head in approval. “You know what, I think you’re right, Caleb. Blue is better.”

“Yay,” I mutter.

Elijah hops up to sit on the counter and crosses his arms. “My way?”

“Oh, please,” she says. “You’re obviously considering going through with what Dante suggested.”

“And you’re not?”

“No. Of course, I’m not.”

She pulls the dress off and Elijah twists his neck in my direction, rolling his eyes with annoyance. It’s clear which one of them inherited modesty and which one obviously has no shame whatsoever.

“Lilah, I just think that it might be nice to try living a normal life for once in our lives,” he says.

“Uh-huh…” she murmurs, her eyes full of suspicion as she slips back into her own shirt.

“I really don’t think there’d be any harm in trying. It’s not like I’m about to go shopping for a mini-van or anything.”

“Okay. Hey, Caleb.” She zips her pants. “You and I aren’t that different.”

“We’re what?” I ask.

“We both come from very interesting backgrounds,” she says, counting on her fingers. “We’re both highly-trained in various forms of combat and possess unique, but valuable, survival skills.”

“What’s your point?”

She sighs. “When you came back from the war, did normal life come easy to you?”

“Lilah, come on—” Elijah interrupts. “No offense to you, Caleb, but this doesn’t seem like the type of thing we need your opinion on.”

“Don’t be rude, Elijah,” she says, batting her thick eyelashes. “Her opinion is just as valid as anyone else’s.”

“I’m not saying it isn’t, but it might be a bit tainted considering we tied her to a chair.”

“Caleb, be honest.” Lilah crosses her arms in defiance. “You came back home and you looked around. Were you happy to be here or were you confused as all hell?”

“Oh, it was great, actually,” I say, forcing a tight smile. “Normal life is the best thing ever. In fact, you two should start right now. Go home. No hard feelings. Bye-bye.”

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