Page 65 of Unconditional

So, I told her about Cara and let the grief swallow me the entire time.Maybe it was time to talk about her.To stop hiding her away in my memories and only letting it out when it had bubbled so close to the surface it was suffocating me.She deserved better than that.

Birdie was devastated that I hadn’t told her, but she understood.She’d lost her brother, grief not a new concept to her.I should’ve confided in her sooner, trusted that she would understand.It felt good to share Cara with her, the only other person I’d ever trusted nearly as much.

“It was wrong of Talon to use her against you.”I heard the fury in my friend’s voice, even thousands of miles away like we were.“How dare he?”

I shrugged, not that she could see it.“He was just trying to hurt me.”

“After all the hubbub he made over the wayIspoke to you?The hypocrisy.”

“He was only trying to push me away.It worked.”

Birdie was still muttering curses toward Talon when the buzzer to my apartment sounded through the small space and I jumped.Saying our goodbyes, I made my way to the intercom and pressed the mic.

“How can I help you?”

A short moment later a man spoke.“Misely, it’s me.”

forty-seven

Talon

Ihadcometoexpect the unexpected when in regards to my brother’s life and his girl.For example, I certainly had not expected for him to lead me into their backyard and show me the coop he had built and filled withthirtylaying hens.If someone had asked me if I would ever see my punk ass little brother tending tochickensand educating me on things likebumble foot,I would have laughed in their faces.Yet here we were, standing in the middle of a covered chicken run, while he introduced me toCluck Norris.Yeah.Apparently, they namedallof them.

And yet, even preparing myself for the unexpected, I still was not ready when Birdie flung open the door to the chicken run, stomped up to me and slapped me with so much force my face flew to the side.

“You absolute son of a bitch!”

Milo, ever the loyal brother, immediately jumped to Birdie’s side and inspected the hand she now held tucked to her heaving chest.“Baby,” he cajoled, tugging at her hand.“What is it, what happened?”

“Nothing!”she snapped, shooting daggers at me.I held my cheek in confusion, taken aback by the sheer force the woman had put into the slap.“Nothing except for what I said.Your brother is an absolute son of a bitch.You!”she shouted at me, pointing her finger with menace.“You are an asshole!”

“I know!”I shouted back, feeling the need to say something, even if it meant agreeing with her.“I know.But what did I do this time?”

Milo held her still but still Birdie lunged.“How could you use Cara against her like that?Shetrustedyou!”

The gut punch was worse than her slap.I fell back a step, one of the chickens—Hennifer Lawrence?Rotisserie Cullen?Who the hell knows?—squawked as they narrowly dodged my boots, a fuss of clucks and feathers floating up around me.So, she really hadn’t told Birdie about Cara.It didn’t matter because she had told her now, and the brunette was spitting mad.

“I don’t…I just…” Words wouldn’t form in my mouth the way they were supposed to, guilt and shame tying my tongue.

“It doesn’t matter.”She stood straight now, balling her fists at her sides.She’d gone eerily calm, her gaze shooting through me like a laser.“Because you’re going to apologize.”

“She doesn’t want to see me.”A pathetic excuse.

“I don’t give a shit.You are going to grovel and you are going to plead and you are going to apologize.Because I’m with your brother and if you don’t make up for how you hurt mybest.Fucking.Friend.” She punctuated each word with a sharp jab to my chest.“Then I will make your life a living hell.Do you understand me?Until the day you’re in your grave, I will torment you for how you have hurt her.”

Milo’s chest shook with laughter he barely held at bay before putting up a hand like a white flag.“I’d listen to her, man.These women are fierce about each other.If I remember correctly, Misely gave me a very similar threat when I first started hanging around Bird.”

I gaped between the two of them, at a loss.I wanted to apologize.I’d wanted to apologize the moment the words left my mouth.But more than that, I’d wanted to keep her safe.If I went to her now, I’d be putting her at risk,again.Especially now that a decision had been made.I hadn’t told Milo yet, but I’d accepted the offer to at least have a conversation with the detective overseeing Milo’s case against Kyle.

Leo’s safety was the priority, above all else.If we couldn’t come to an agreement ensuring that he and his family would be okay in all of this, the deal would be scrapped and I’d have to figure something else out.And after receiving yet another call from Kyle warning me that I was running out of time, I felt like I was covered in fire ants.There was no way that he still had eyes on Leo, but if something didn’t give soon, Kenna would take them back home.Right back into the waiting clutches of Kyle.

“You gotta apologize, brother,” Milo said, softer.“You’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t.”

Grinding my teeth together, I ran a hand through my hair.“What am I even supposed to say to her?”

Birdie, who had not softened in the slightest, pulled her lips into an evil smirk.“I don’t know, and I don’t care, but I’d hurry.It sounded like she had company when I spoke to her.Of themalevariety.”

It was two in the morning when my plane touched down in Chicago.I’d paid an inordinate amount for all the baggage I brought back with me—both mine and everything Misely left—and struggled to get it all loaded into a cab once I’d landed.

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