Page 161 of The Puck Stops Here

‘Because I knew you wouldn’t like it.’

‘Hell, I would have brought you!’ He raked an unsteady hand through his hair. ‘If it was what you really wanted to do,Iwould have brought you.’

She shook her head. ‘You hate it here.’

‘I don’t hate it here, I hate him, it’s different.’

‘You know I’ve been trying to track him down, you knew it was a possibility.’

‘And you should have fucking told me.’

‘What difference would it have made?’

‘It would’ve made all the difference!’ He slammed his chest with his fist. ‘Iwould have been here to protect you.’

‘Protectme?’

‘Yes!’

‘I don’t need you to protect me.’

‘Yes, you fucking do.’

Steel shot through Astrid’s spine. ‘I’ve been doing this job for years; you think your father is the worst I’ve encountered? I look out for myself, Blake. I don’t need a man to hold my hand. Not now. Not ever.’

Something flickered in his eyes, pain, like she’d lanced him with her words. But it was true. It had always been that way, and it would continue to be that way, and she’d been pretty bloody clear about it up until now. Until him!

‘Yeah, and what if you’d pressed the same buttons we did as kids, what if you’d made him snap, you never saw what I saw…’ He choked on his own words. ‘And the thought that you… out here, where you know no one…’

No one.Only she did. She knew Sissi. Had felt safe because of Sissi. Her friend’s knowledge of the town and the people. But he couldn’t know that because he didn’t know about Sissi. And that was on her, 100 per cent, her.

‘It didn’t come to that,’ she whispered, her deceit rolling through her, stealing her strength, her rigidity…

‘But what if ithad?’ He reached out and gripped her arms. ‘Christ, Astrid, if something happened to you, I?—’

‘Let her go!’ Sienna launched herself out of the bar, door swinging, eyes wild as she took in Blake’s fierce grip.

‘Sissi, it’s okay,’ Astrid hurried out.

‘Sissi?’ Blake’s grasp weakened, his head turning as Astrid stiffened, realising her mistake to late. ‘Sienna?’

‘If you want to be angry with anyone, Blake, be angry with me,’ her friend implored. ‘I was the one who told her he was here.’

‘You?’

26

‘You’reSissi?’

Blake couldn’t believe it. The blonde woman before him with the big blue eyes giving a nervous nod was none other than Sienna Mastrangelo, his brother’s ex. The same woman Astrid had been speaking to from the very first day they’d met. The same woman Astrid had claimed was afriend.

‘Sissi knew I wanted to speak to him,’ Astrid said, trying to tug his focus back to her, but hell, he didn’t give a shit about his father now. How could these two know each other? How could they befriends?

‘Does she know? Do you know?’ he said, spinning back to Astrid. ‘Whoshe is? Her connection to my brother?’

Astrid’s gaze flicked to Sienna behind him. ‘I’m so sorry, Sissi.’

‘What are you apologising to her for?’ He was gonna freaking puke, his gut rebelling as he tightened his hold on her, feeling her slip from his grasp even though she was very much still there. ‘What the fuck is going on, Astrid? You gave me the impression you hadn’t been here before, that you hadn’t met anyone here, and suddenly your friend rocks up and she’s my brother’s ex!’

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