Page 68 of For the Birds

I didn’t confirm or deny. Instead, I closed my eyes and tried to memorize the feel of him. His solid chest and arms. I never felt safer than when I was with him, and I was losing this. Probably forever.

“This was a mistake,” he said, his voice rough. “I’ve only made it worse for you. I’m a selfish asshole. See? I don’t deserveyou.”

I tilted my head back to look up at him. “You deserve love, James. And whether you believe that or not, there are people who love you all the same.” I love you. But I couldn’t bring myself to say it. It wouldn’t help anything. “And this wasn’t a mistake. I’m grateful.”

“Grateful.” He nearly spat the word as he wrapped his arm around my back and led me to the front door. Sure enough, Jed’s car was idling in the circular driveway, and he was pacing the length of the car on the driver’sside.

The two men locked eyes silently, and a new tension filled the space between them, which made me even more worried about James. His brother had been kidnapped. He’d lost Jed. And now he was losing me. Panic setin.

James led me down the steps and reached for the back passenger-side door, but I grabbed his arm. “Wait.”

He stooped down and waited.

“You’ve lost everyone,” I whispered. “Scooter. Jed. Me. You don’t have anyone.”

He smiled at me with sad eyes. “I have Merv. I have people you don’t even know about. Don’t worry about me, Rose. I’m fine. You need to be worryin’ about yourself.” He paused. “If you get into trouble, I want you to callme.”

“You know I can’t.”

“That’s bullshit, and we both know it. Bein’ free of my name doesn’t mean jack shit if you’re dead.” His fingers dug into my arm and desperation filled his words. “Promiseme.”

“I promise.”

He kissed me, hard and possessive, as though he couldn’t get enough of me. Then, just as abruptly, he released me and took a step back. He opened the door to the backseat.

I threw my arms around his neck and clung to him for several moments before I finally relented and got in the car. James shut the door behind me, turned around, and walked into the house without saying aword.

Jed got into the car and started to drive while I leaned my head against the back window.

“How’d you get roped into comin’ to get me?” I finally asked, trying to take my mind off the fact that I was driving away from the man I loved.

I was cursed. Maybe I needed to give up on men altogether.

“I didn’t get roped into it,” he said. “I came of my own freewill.”

“But James called you, and you don’t work for him anymore.”

“You and I are friends. And me and NeelyKate . . .”

“Are good friends,” I finished with a halfheartedgrin.

He caught my eye in the rearview mirror. “Neely Kate is worried.”

“Does she know anything about what happened?”

“She knows that you had a run-in and James picked you up and took you home with him. She’s goin’ to kill me when she finds out I knew more and didn’t tellher.”

“So why didn’tyou?”

“Because she would have wanted to call you, and honestly, Skeeter needed youmore.”

I sat up at that. “What?”

“He’s been a mess since your fight at the parley, and when your call got disconnected last night . . . It wasn’t pretty.” He paused. “I have no idea what he would have done if something had happened toyou.”

“You mean he would have been upset?”

“No, I mean there would have been a massacre. There was no way he was going to let Buck Reynolds hurt you and live to talk about it. Especially after Scooter.”

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