Page 14 of Cruel Love

Lilah’s stare shifts between us and she shakes her head as soon as we make eye contact.

Right now, we know where Fox Fitzpatrick is. More than that, we know the danger of losing sight of him, even for a moment. He’s disappeared before and anyone who tracked him ended up dead. Lilah still doesn’t trust him enough to think that wouldn’t happen again and she’s probably right. If Fox walks out of here now, we may never see him again. We shouldn’t trust him.

But I choose to anyway.

“Okay,” I say. “We’ll be here in the morning.”

“Dante.”

I ignore Lilah. “Go do what you need to do,” I say over her.

Fox picks up his gun from the bed. “Thank you,” he says to me. He walks to the door and stops, slowly turning back with his hand on the knob. “I’m sorry about Elijah. He was a good man.”

“Yeah,” I say. “One of the best of us.”

He steps outside and closes the door behind him.

Lilah lets out a rough scoff as she marches to the bed. “Can’t believe you’re just letting him go.”

“He’ll be back,” I say.

“Sure, okay.” She grabs her gun and stuffs it into her belt. “I’ll be the realistic one this time.”

Archer clears his throat. “Lilah, he seemed sincere.”

“People like Fox don’t do sincere,” she says. “They say I’m a monster. What do you think they say about him?”

“Lilah.” I stare at her. “Go cool off. Get some rest.”

“No, Dante, I won’t go get some rest. One of us needs to be awake here and it sure as hell isn’t you.”

“I know what I’m doing, all right? I worked with Fox every day for over a year. If I thought for a second he’d hurt any of us, I’d take him out.”

“Bullshit,” she says. “I don’t think you care at all about what he could do to you or me. Or Lucy. No, I think you’re just happy to have your old drinking buddy back.”

She throws the door open and bolts outside. I don’t bother calling after her. She’s dead set in her opinion and I don’t care to change it. She might be right. If my judgment really is compromised, then I want her to check me when necessary.

Archer takes a step along her path. “Excuse me,” he says. “I think that’s my cue to play the supportive bloke.”

I nod. “All right.”

“Goodnight,” he adds, quickly waving back at me and Lucy.

“Goodnight,” Lucy says.

The door closes behind Archer, leaving me and Lucy alone.

I exhale and lower down to the edge of the bed, staring hard at the floor. The carpet pattern blurs in my vision until I’m finally forced to blink. My eyelids feel heavy. Getting Fox on the same page was the easy part. It’s not time to relax just yet.

Lucy slides onto the bed behind me and wraps her arms around my neck. “You okay?” she asks, her warm breath tickling my ear.

I rest a hand on her wrist. “Yeah,” I answer. I turn to look at her and see her right leg extended out to the side, avoiding the bend.

“How’s the knee?” I ask, reaching over to rub her lower thigh.

“It’s fine,” she says.

“Doesn’t hurt?”

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