Page 56 of Brutal Power

“I want to stay here for longer than planned.”

I sit up, surprised and not sure what to say. I never really pictured him living in the oasis for any significant period of time, but now that he’s saying it, of course that’s what I want.

“Don’t take this the wrong say,” I say and put a hand on his chest. “But why?”

“Is it enough if I say that I want to be with you and I want to make you happy?”

“For a normal person, yes, but for you? Absolutely not. What’s the angle, Brody?”

He smirks and leans back on his hands and tilts his chin up toward the ceiling. “It’s not safe back home.”

I take a few seconds to process that. “You’re afraid Santoro is going to kill you?”

He closes his eyes and shakes his head. “No, I’m not afraid for me. I know Santoro is going to try to hit me again. I’m afraid that there will be people around when he does it and someone else will get hurt. I’m afraid for Seamus and Molly and my mother. I’m afraid for the people I’m supposed to protect. And I’m thinking maybe it would be safest if I stayed here for a while.”

I shuffle closer and wrap my arms around him. I hate that he’s thinking like this. Everything comes back to his responsibility. He acts like anything bad that happens is somehow his fault, even when it’s very clearly not, and it weighs on him too much. I kiss his neck and snuggle into his arm.

“You’re welcome here for as long as you want, but I need you to be happy, Brody. If you’d be better off closer to your family, then that’s where you should be.”

“I’m not surethey’dbe better off.”

I don’t want to argue. It’s probably selfish, but I want him to stay here, and I understand his reasoning even if it’s flawed. Santoro can go after his family whenever he wants, and if he wants to hurt Brody’s mother, that’s what Santoro will do whether Brody’s there or not. Still, I get why he’d want to draw attention to the oasis for a while and take some pressure off his family home.

“We’ll figure it out,” I say and I know it’s lame, but I’m not sure what else I can do. I kiss him and hug him tight, and I try not to smile at the thought of having him here for a while, since I don’t know how long this is going to last.

Chapter 29

Elena

Brody holds the door open for me as we walk into a sprawling Barnes and Noble out in in the Park West neighborhood.

“Got to admit, you don’t strike me as a literary man,” I tell him and loop my hand through his arm.

He grunts at me. “I like to read.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Thrillers. Horror. Stuff like that.”

“You’re just into crime novels.” I nudge him with my elbow. “You like to identify with the main character.”

“Only if the main character is a crooked lawyer.” He gives me a cheeky smile and pulls me down a quiet aisle. It’s the poetry section, and it’s empty as hell. He gently pins me up against the shelves and kisses my neck, his hands on my hips, and slowly moves them up to much more inappropriate areas.

“Cut it out,” I hiss at him, wiggling slightly, trying to get away. “We could get caught. You want that?”

“Maybe,” he says, and one hand teases my breast.

I smack it away. “Then you’ll ruin our meeting.”

“We’ll set another one.” He bites my lower lip. “Come on, baby. Don’t you want me to get you off right here next to copies ofThe Wasteland?”

“No, and if you can quote me one line from that stupid poem, I’ll take you into the bathroom and give you a blowjob.”

He laughs and puts a hand between my legs. “April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desireblah blah blah. Is that enough or should I go on?”

“Okay, now I’m kind of annoyed.”

“I’m a lawyer, baby, I had to reada lotback in school.” He kisses me again and it takes some effort to finally push him away.

---