Page 72 of A Fine Line

Antoinette smiles at him softly and mouths, “I love you,” to which he appears to reply with, “I know,” and she laughs.

Tony clears his throat, and he’s shaking his head in denial, so I grab onto his shirt with both hands and yank on him until he stops shaking his head and looks at me. “I may have been your damsel in the past, but you already saved her. Now, I don’t need you to save me. Now, I need to save myself.”

Both of his hands come up and cup my cheeks as he searches my eyes before finally muttering, “Fuck.” I release my grip on his shirt, moving my hands to his wrists, which have relaxed a fraction as he replies, “It sounds like I don’t have much of a choice here.”

“You have a choice,” I reply. “You can stand by my side and help me, or you can get the fuck out of my way and watch me.”

A noise from the doorway catches our attention, and we all turn to see who’s coming in now. “Well, fuck me sideways. She shoots a couple of people, and all of a sudden, she’s a fully trained vigilante.”

Declan fucking Hughes—in the flesh.

“Did we ever decide who gets to punch him first?” Dare asks.

Matt laughs and replies, “I was thinking about giving him a free pass for that whole tracking thing. I mean, for a second there, he was acting like a professional.”

“Haha,” Declan retorts as he walks across the room toward his brother. “Still hanging with the comedian, I see, Darius.”

“Still the constant fool, I see, Declan.”

The two men stand there, eyeing each other warily for a few moments until finally, Dare laughs under his breath and shakes his head. “You have the worst fucking timing, you know that? Of all the moments to try to pull a prank on me, this is the one you choose.” He pauses and then laughs again as he raises his hands and grabs Declan by both of his biceps, giving him a little shake as he continues, “How come you didn’t show up six months ago, or a year ago, when I really fucking needed you?”

Declan shakes Dare’s hands off him, his face twisting as he sputters, “Why didn’t you call me and tell me you needed me? You know I would’ve come.”

They stand there, silently glaring at each other, and I look at Tony, who’s standing there watching them with an amused expression. I glance over at Antoinette, who’s rolling her eyes in annoyance, but then she finally steps forward, putting herself between the two men with a hand on both of their chests as she says, “You’ll need to save your sniping at each other for another day. Either focus on the immediate issue we’re dealing with or take your little pissing contest to another fucking room so us adults can get on with it.”

Both men look at her, then they go back to glaring at each other, and then Declan asks, “Is this the little hellcat that you risked everything for?”

Dare smiles at him wickedly as he responds, “Oh, yes. Please say more so I can watch her kick your ass.”

Declan frowns, giving Antoinette a once-over before raising his eyebrows at Darius questioningly. Dare’s smile broadens, and Declan turns his questioning eyes on me. I give him the universal sign for cut it out with my finger across my neck. His frown deepens as he looks back at Antoinette, squinting pensively.

Antoinette pays him no mind as she huffs, “Don’t encourage him, Darius. Remember, the longer this takes, the less time we have for that thing you were talking about earlier.”

All humor drops from Dare’s face, and he instantly straightens and click his tongue. “You heard the lady. Let’s get this shit together, so we can enjoy what downtime we have left before shit gets messy.”

I walk over to Declan and ask, “Shouldn’t you be in a hospital?”

“And miss all the fun?” he replies dismissively, but I raise my eyebrows at him and give him my best-unconvinced look until he finally continues with a low chuckle, “Okay, I probably won’t be going on any super missions in the immediate future, but I figured I could come here and see what help I could be. If nothing else, I had to show myself outside of the hospital in an upright position, so the paparazzi didn’t go fucking cuckoo.”

“As annoyed as I am with your fucking bullshit, it’s for the best that you didn’t die,” I say quietly.

He laughs, leans closer to me, and whispers, “And even better that you didn’t die. Not sure exactly what was going on when I came in here, but Tony seems a little committed. It’s a good look for him, but don’t tell him I said that.”

My face heats at his words, and I shake my head in denial. “He’s a protective guy in general. He’s mostly an overbearing pain in the ass.”

Declan looks over at Tony, who’s deep in conversation with Matt and Dare, the humor on his face disappearing until he appears far off, like he’s stuck in a memory. Then he shakes his head, and it’s gone. He looks back at me and says, “You may not want to believe it, but this is different. And frankly, the fact that he heard you out at all says more than anything. But make no mistake, Tony Andersen has braved the fiery pit of hell for the people he cares about, and he’ll keep fucking doing it until the bitter end.”

He doesn’t say anything further; he just gives me a curt nod and walks off, and I look back at Tony to find he’s watching me. I give him a small smile, and he winks at me, my smile broadening as he walks toward me. “You okay, sweetheart?”

“I think I am.”

He leans his head down so he’s looking me directly in the eyes as he whispers, “Do you want to get out of here? Let these fucking yahoos figure it out on their own?”

I smile and nod, so he straightens and then holds his hand out to me. I don’t hesitate. I put my hand in his, and then he doesn’t say anything to anyone as he leads me out of the room and down the hallway.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Carolina

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