Page 79 of Broken Bonds

I really hope she loves this and isn’t upset that I’m the one that puts it together.

ChapterTwenty-Four

FORDE

“You,come with me. We need to have a talk.”

That’s what I walk into when I step foot inJinx.

I sigh, cursing under my breath, and follow Maribel to the back office she’s taken up residence in. She shuts the door behind me, and my palms start to sweat as she walks around the desk and sits, intuitive eyes on me the entire time.

“Sit,” she says, her tone no-nonsense, and I listen, parking my ass in that seat like it’s on fire and the chair is water.

She takes so long to say anything more that I get even more nervous, shifting in my seat. The silence in here is deafening and my mind is racing with things that I could have done that have me in the hot seat, but I’m coming up blank. Which only makes me sweat more. I rub my palms along my pants legs to wipe the sweat off.

“What are your intentions with my Ramsey girl?” she finally asks, brow raised.

I cough, nearly choking on air.

“Uh, we’re friends… I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

“Mm. Friends, he says,” she says mockingly. “I wasn’t aware that friends sleep together.”

My eyes widen.

Did Rion run and fuckingtattleon me?

Maribel rolls her eyes at my dumbstruck expression.

“I wasn’t born yesterday, sonny. When I kicked you out the other night, you stank to the high heavens of that girl. Add in that morose look you’ve been wearing for the past few days, and I can put two and two together. Let me guess, something happened between you and Ramsey and after it was all said and done, she came back down to earth and remembered those boys of hers. Prolly kicked you right on out, based on that kicked puppy expression of yours. Am I right?”

I wince.

“More or less…”

She gives me a dull look, and I can tell she’s not going to put up with any shit from me right now. I sigh and scrub a hand through my hair.

“Look, it wasn’t planned or anything. She asked me to come hang out because she didn’t want to be alone. I must have fallen asleep, and I don’t know what happened. I woke up to…” I stop and glance at her, my neck burning, and clear my throat. “She’d moved in her sleep. She must have been having a dream and I don’t know! She asked, I said yes. I should have said no. I know that. She had a fucking panic attack after, for fuck’s sake, and it nearly broke me.”

I close my eyes as I remember how helpless I felt when Ramsey started crying. When she begged me to let her go as I’d tried to calm her down when I realized she was panicking. The broken way she’d slumped against me and told me to let her go, then to leave.

Maribel pinches the bridge of her nose and huffs.

“Oh, you’ve made a right mess of things, Forde. That’s my girl and if she comes back from her weekend away with Jillian and I get even a hint that she wants you gone, that’s it. Look, I don’t want to be an asshole. I like you, and you’ve been good for our girl. But the next time she asks you for anything, you better be damn sure she’s certain it’s what she wants, you hear?”

She points her finger at me and narrows her eyes. I nod in the affirmative, slightly afraid of the older woman. She kind of reminds me of my mom, and I shudder because,fuck, is that terrifying.

I hope they never meet.

“Good. I know one day she’ll move on. She might not think so, but she will. You’re a wonderful alpha, Forde. I know my boys would have loved you. I think you three were always meant to be here, with her. I wouldn’t put it past them to be pushing you two along from the beyond,” she says, shaking her head with a chuckle. “It’d be just like them to hand pick the perfect pack to replace them. Or maybe it’s all down to fate. Fate is such a fickle thing, isn’t she?”

When she looks at me this time, her eyes twinkle. I give her a small smile.

“Yeah, she is,” I murmur.

Maybe we all have someone in the great beyond pulling strings behind the curtains.

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