Page 79 of The Fix

Things like … don’t you dare go near her and if you see anything you shouldn’t, you’re losing an eye.

I clear my throat and settle on a simple statement, growled just loud enough for him to hear. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“Why?”

Good fucking question, Lugh.

“She’s a fucking savage when you interrupt her.” Open to interpretation … Mentally, I pat myself on the back for not saying anything to the contrary.

“Well, if she’d answered her phone …” The man trails off, his insinuation clear, and that jaw clenching comes right back.

“She’s been back there all day.” Not a lie.

My back heats with his gaze and that twinge in my stomach becomes a full onset of nerves flipping the organ all over itself.

Why does it feel like I’ve been caught with my hand in the cookie jar?

Oh, right. Because my face still smells like Anna’s actual cookie.

“Listen,” Lugh starts, his gruff voice coming closer to me, easing the guilt and possessiveness threatening to build higher inside me, possibly even choke me until I figure out how to keep him from her. “I don’t care what you two have been up to while you’ve been here. None of my business. But she’s Leo’s sanity.”

Is this going where I think it is? Is Lugh really about to hit me with the talk?

“So, keep it to your fucking self,” Lugh finishes.

Almost went where I thought it would.

“I like you better when you don’t talk,” I mutter on a sigh that I hope sounds irritated, while stirring my actual pot and not the metaphorical one at my back.

Grunting, he knocks on the bedroom door.

I hang my head on a strained neck, my utensil hand still steadily stirring with a grip too tight on the wooden spoon, and just wait.

I wait for the Jenga tower to come crumbling down around me, burying me in its blocks until there’s no light left.

Life is officially going back to the way it was.

Except, I’m not ready for it to.

Chapter Forty

Anna

When the bodyguard startled us by showing up to escort us home and essentially ruined any chance Toby and I had to discuss our … situation, I did not expect a whirlwind of crap to be waiting for me when I arrived.

Crap that Leo apparently forgot to mention each time the two of us ended up on the phone while I was stowed away in the mountains.

Which was literally every day.

He’s still getting the cold shoulder from me for it, which is why he’s staring bullets at the side of my head while I ignore him.

Again.

Keys tap on my laptop, my fingers stuttering over the emails I’ve been forwarded from my oh-so-wonderful boss that include so many inquiries that the band’s schedule is about to be booked for the next two months straight if I agree.

Which I don’t.

They need a break. Time to be with their growing families. Deal with their affairs before embarking on yet another tour, even if this one is strictly just to interview, record, and meet with fans.

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