Page 105 of Bad Enough

“Yeah. Nemo has a war going on with TB. No one understands why. My brother is… annoying. I love him, but he marches to his own beat. For some reason he has this need to ambush TB with all kinds of crap. Confetti cannons, water balloons, air horns. It never ends. We’re still finding feathers from an incident two years ago. Anyway, he threatened to truss Nemo up like a piñata not too long ago, and he meant it.”

The story had its intended effect—light and funny to ease the tension and help her forget she was on the verge of a panic attack.

She considered the scenario. “Yeah. He probably would. Is that why he never calls Nemo by his name?”

“Yup. Always calls him something negative starting with the letter N.” Midas snuck a look at her. “Okay, Flame, everything about Gendry. And I mean everything. Height, weight, hair color, body marks like tattoos and scars, you name it. Then, address or description of the part of town. Anything you can remember. After that, associates.”

“Okay.” Her voice was small and lost. Even she could hear that.

A warm hand reached for hers and clasped it with a reassuring squeeze. “I’m right here. None of them can hurt you anymore. But I’ll be honest—we need to get through this part before TB gets back. He’s gonna lose his shit as it is. If he has to hear it live… well, let’s just make sure he doesn’t.”

He reached into his desk jar and handed her some mini Snickers bars. “You’ll need the sugar. And do me a favor. If Waters comes in, even if you’re not hungry, make a big production of eating one.”

“Why?”

Midas winked at her. “He’ll know why, and that’s all that matters.”

There’d been a lot of tears. Midas had held her through several bouts that were soul-crushing.

There had been a lot of jaw-clenching on Midas’ part.

Demon had been in and out to make sure she was hydrated and warm.

Cherry had brought her TB’s leather jacket out of his office after the second long crying jag, thinking it would calm her. She’d been right. It smelled like him mixed with the leather, and it made her feel like he was there with her.

Three hours later, they were still in the conference room, just finishing up, when she felt a sizzle go up her spine.

Will I always feel this when he walks into a room?

Leaning in the doorway was TB. “You okay, princess?”

She flew into his arms, his jacket hanging on her small frame like she was playing dress up in an adult’s clothes.

He caught her in his arms and lifted her off the floor into a hug, then carried her back inside the room. “You look good in my jacket, princess.”

It felt so good to be in his arms. But for how long? Once they caught her stalker, would he leave her like everyone else had? Or would he simply drift away with time?

Could she even hope to be what he needed so that he stuck around permanently?

Not likely.

She registered that somewhere along the line, Midas had snuck past them, leaving them alone in the conference room.

“I didn’t thank Midas.”

“He hasn’t done anything yet to be thanked for,” TB grumbled into her neck. “And a nicely addressed envelope sent by mail from your house will be sufficient. If you’re feeling especially generous, you can send him a box of Snickers candy bars.”

She smiled.

Possessive and jealous. More reasons to be called Total Bastard.

One of TB’s hands slid from around her shoulders to her braid, pulling on the end so that her head tilted up to his. Heavens, but she loved when he did that. So powerful, and it seemed to pull at every other part of her insides as well, all the way to her core.

Their eyes met, and all she could do was stare, trying to find the answers to her questions in his eyes. While she surveyed them, as usual, they were devoid of answers.

“TB—”

“Stop. Please.” He set her down on the floor, making sure she was steady before taking her hands in his. “There are a lot of things I should say to you right now. But everything’s all jumbled up, and I don’t even know where to start.”

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