Page 100 of Bad Blood

“Suit yourself. I can’t keep digging you out of these holes. There are only a couple more months until the restraining order is no longer in effect. Five years have flown by. Then what?”

I take this morsel of information—who cares if the restraining order is almost up—and decide I won’t be the one to budge. Despite the need to protect myself, I need to make a change and stop being self-centered. “Liam is getting ready to start treatment. I’m not leaving.”

“And you’re gonna keep Liam safe.” It’s a statement, not a question.

I answer anyway. “Yes.”

She pulls a pack of cigarettes from her bag, shakes one into her hand, and slides it between her lips. “Like I said, suit yourself. Next time, it’s probably gonna be worse. She could get you thrown in jail if she provokes you enough to touch her again or, god forbid, damage that money-making face.” She runs her pointer finger over my cheek before pinching it.

“In this profession, we keep our hands to ourselves,” Garrett scolds as he stops next to Bree, stuffing his hands in his jeans pockets. “We don’t want to spoil the merchandise, especially since he’s the Golden Boy.”

“Shut up,” I bite out.

“He has a point,” she says as Garrett pulls her in for a side hug, and she slips the cigarette between her lips before she lights it. She inhales.

Catches me staring.

Flips me off and smiles.

Her mouth quirks up.

“And what’s that?” I ask. I don’t really want to know, but something tells me she’s going to fill me in whether or not I want to hear it.

“If you would keep your hands to yourself, we wouldn’t be in this situation.” She bobs her head from side to side with too much attitude and pokes me in the chest for good measure. Her lips lift into a smile. “You need to learn to behave.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Garrett chuckles and nods for her to follow.

“We can discuss this later.” The two of them meander off and make their way inside the hotel. And I’m left alone with my thoughts and too much energy to call it a night.

I reconsider the idea of joining everyone at the bar but decide on the solitude of the hotel pool. I take a couple of minutes to make my way through the lobby and to the back of the hotel. I plop onto an empty lounge chair and bask in the quiet.

Avoiding Bree is a bad idea, but I don’t have it in me to listen to her explain how much I messed up for the hundredth time. I am an adult, and I always take ownership of my decisions, but my time with Dani has turned into the worst thing I’ve ever done—yes, my list of past incidents is long.

I lean back and drape my arm over my eyes, tired from the direction my thoughts have taken. Dani was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have let things get out of hand. But I can’t change what happened, and the situation with Dani is now a thing of the past.

Or it was until yesterday.

Besides seeing her across the room at the party—I tally it up—it’s been a little less than a year since I ran into her while on a jog at the park, but that encounter was nothing compared to what happened at the hospital the other day.

Bree drops onto the chaise beside me, clearing her throat. Her presence draws me out of my contemplations. She sits there without saying a word. I hate how she does this. And she knows it. But she uses it as a means of torture to get me to spill my guts.

“Your entourage gave you away,” she says, pointing over her shoulder.

I glance at the fence surrounding the pool and the flock of women outside it. “They’re not here for me.”

“Bullshit. They were watching at the shoot earlier. You didn’t see them?” She reclines on the chair, closing her eyes.

“I was preoccupied.”

She humphs under her breath.

I smile and wave at the crowd. It’s my duty, and I should be on my best behavior. “Why didn’t you shoo them away?”

“I’m sick of dealing with your dirty laundry.”

“I’m not the one who hooks up with the fuck bunnies. That’s Garrett’s thing, not mine.”

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