Page 58 of Frayed Owner

“Guilty,” I immediately replied. I sighed and scrubbed my hands over my face for like the millionth time when he just kept staring at me. “I made her the witch she is. I did this.”

“Hey, no, you can’t—you were a fucking kid, Bevin,” he argued, giving me a half hug. “Seriously, none of this is on you.”

“Oh sure, logic normally works in these situations. Yeah, I’ll just flip that switch to—”

“Yeah, okay, point made,” he chuckled. “Then let’s go at it another way. Is Jean the better option to Alex?” He flinched when I didn’t immediately answer.

“I really don’t know,” I whispered. “Alex would have imploded. He would have been Father’s puppet, and—I was looking forward to them being so busy fighting each other and for power and all the bullshit that—”

“They lost the focus on everything else and you,” he sighed.

“Yes. I saw them—my Shaw crystal ball had them basically destroying each other with the right pushing. Make Father implode so Alex had to take over and then watch them eat each other and the whole house of cards fall. Now I just…”

“Yeah, it’s a right hook you didn’t see coming.” He blew out a slow breath. “I don’t look down on her because she’s a woman. I don’t know her—I don’t know any of them really. But you know I’m not sexist.”

“I know,” I accepted. “I said that because you busted me and were a dick.” I flinched. “Wow, I’m a hypocrite.”

“I don’t buy that for a second, but we’ll go back to that. Let’s tackle this Jean thing first.” He waited until I nodded, kissing my hair. “You were the kid, and she took advantage of her kid sister—jealous and horrible to her without ever actually helping her, just using her for her own purposes. None of this is on you, but she owes you a huge debt for all you gave.

“Even unknowingly and play that card. Now yes, this didn’t go the way you wanted,butshe’s smart. You’ve said she’s smarter. I would take a smarter foe than a dumb one any day. Dumb ones send hitmen after Kevin. Smart ones never have those messes and come after you different ways that you can fight better like the meeting you had.

“Smart ones cut their losses when they’re outmatched. And more than that, you weren’t traumatized by Jean. You were confident and amazing with her from what Aunt Marilyn said, and she only came in at the end. That is your winning card, Bev. You were a scared and abused girl with your dad and brother by default.”

“I was fighting it,” I grumbled.

“Yes, you were, and it was impressive, but you have too much going on to have to puke in the bushes every time a Shaw pokes their head into your life. Jean—even if smarter and more evil—wants to be the star. Alex wanted revenge for his perceived slight. That’s—there’s no level people like that won’t go to.”

“True,” I accepted. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” he yawned. “Okay, so why are you a hypocrite now? What is that nonsense?” He didn’t say it in a mean or dismissive way, more like he just couldn’t picture it.

“I was all over you for blurting out something about me that was so private and I just did the same damn thing,” I explained with a heavy sigh. “Everyone didn’t need to know about your power jump and what was going on with your sessions. That was a huge invasion of privacy. I’m so sorry, Link.”

He didn’t say anything, so I kept rambling on with my apology. It wasn’t exactly the same level, but I saw that I was a jerk and it was the right thing to do to apologize. I did feel bad and I didn’t want him to be upset with me.

Still, he didn’t say anything, so I tried to frame it in another way.

I thought maybe I’d said something that gave him a hint that I hadn’t meant to because his hand fell from my shoulder and down my back… To my ass.

What? Like… What?

I flinched when his head moved to my shoulder, shocked he was taking this moment to put the moves on me.

Or at all.

I pulled away so I could talk to him and ask what was going on.

And he fell onto my lap like dead weight.

Completely asleep.

I slapped my hand over my mouth at the last second to keep the laugh in. Oh, that was so much—my life was way too complicated for my confidant and someone always helping me to switch lanes on me like that.

He awkwardly brought his hand from behind me with a grunt and snuggled up to my lap.

I sighed, not sure what to do and deciding to just text Winter since I figured he was still there talking with people or… I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t even sure how long I’d been gone. I had sessions to still do and a lot to do.

I swallowed a second sigh as I looked down. Well, apparently, my help for my prank was out. Sleeping even.

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