Page 73 of His Captive Pet

“No bus. I’ll take you. I parked over there.” He gestured to his truck.

“I-I’m good, Blake. You don’t have to.”

“Maybe I want to?” He touched her shoulder. Of course, he’d stay friendly.

“Fine.” She sighed and walked to his truck, gripping her purse with both hands and hoping like hell she could keep herself together while with him.

Chapter Thirty-One

“I’m leaving in two weeks.” Greg dropped a small stack of papers on Blake’s desk.

Blake looked at the heading. United States Marines.

“You’re just telling me now?” Blake leaned back in his chair. Aubree had mentioned Greg had been toying with the idea. “You’ve had to take a physical, the MEPS testing, so you’ve been planning this for a while, you just bring it up now?”

Greg plopped down on the couch, draping his arms over the back of it. “I’m giving you plenty of notice. I was going to wait until I had my bag packed, so you couldn’t get all big brother on me, but you’re going to need to hire a bartender.”

“Hire a bartender? That’s what you think is my concern?”

Greg looked at him with a hard expression for a long moment. “No. You’re concerned that you won’t be able to keep me from getting hurt. It’s what you’ve always been worried about. With me, with everyone. You spend all your time protecting and helping.”

Blake raised his eyebrows. “Really? Is that so?”

“Look at Aubree.”

He’d love to look at Aubree, if she’d fucking let him. She’d spent the last week napping and hiding in the guest room. She was hiding from him.

“What about her?” Blake tried to sound neutral. Like his soul wasn’t dying a little, every time Aubree dove into another room when he walked in.

“You blame yourself for this whole fucking mess. You think it’s your fault because she went off half-cocked and you couldn’t get to her in time.”

“That has nothing to do with your decision to go into the military. You made that call long ago.” Blake shoved the papers away from him. He didn’t need to see the enlistment papers; he knew what they said.

“You understand that it wasn’t your fault, right? You get that you can’t put people in little steel boxes and keep them safe from the world.” Greg leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His little brother all of a sudden had a grown-up view of the world.

“Greg—”

“I saw her yesterday. She was walking Samuel in the park by your house, and I had gone for a run. That woman looks nothing like the one that used to come in here for a Coke and lime after work.” The accusation hardened the words.

“She won’t talk to me. I can’t apologize and make it right if she won’t fucking talk to me.” Blake shoved out of his chair. The frustration of her stubbornness and the guilt of his failure weighed on him. He hadn’t slept in days, not well anyway.

“I swear, I’d like to kick both of your asses. You’ve been in the same condo for a week but haven’t had the conversation you need to have.” Greg stood up and pointed a finger at Blake. “She thinks you will never forgive her. She thinks you’re just being a good guy by letting her crash at your place while she finds an apartment.”

Blake shook his head. “What? That’s—that’s…”

“That’s Aubree. She tries to save everyone by charging with guns blazing, you try to protect everyone by shoving them behind you.”

When did his little brother start knowing so damn much?

“What the hell do I do then?” Blake sank back in his chair.

“What would you have done up in the cabin? She broke your rules, right? So, what would you do? How would you bring her back in line?” Greg and he had the same tastes when it came to women, though they didn’t speak too much about their sexual prowess, they knew their lifestyles would run along the same seam.

“She’s been through so much.”

“Yeah, and since then, what’s she been through? Did you pick her up and put her pieces back together or did you let her flap in the wind?” Greg’s eyes darkened. “You never got soft before. She doesn’t want soft. It’s not what she needs. We both know that, why the hell do you think we both wanted her when she walked in this place?”

“You know, it’s good you’re going to the Marines. They’ll knock your ass down a peg or two.” Blake stood back up, grabbed his phone from the desk, and shoved it in his back pocket. The only person he wanted to hear from was Aubree, and since she’d gotten her phone back from him she hadn’t contacted him once.

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