Page 28 of Wild Card (The Trident Trilogy 3)

“You put him down?” Mack says as I get out of the car.

“He’s down,” I say gruffly. “He’s not coming back at her.”

“She told me he’s your best friend. I get that, but if you can’t take care of him, I will.”

“Mack, I told you I took care of it,” I say, glaring at him. I want to punch him right now, too. “It’s done.”

“You said that last night at the barbecue, but here he is tonight, coming at her again—”

“Mack!” I take a long breath and force myself to calm down. “Look, man, I told Millie a while back that I loved her with everything in me, but that I still had no problem believing that it’s only half as much as you love her. I still believe that. I know she’s your everything, and I’m fine with that, but you’ve got to give me some room to love her, too. You’ve got to back off a little.”

He stares at me for a good two minutes without moving. He finally stands up and walks out toward his car.

“You’re right,” he says, turning around. “I’ll back off. I know you love her. I appreciate the way you take care of her.”

“Thank you,” I say, walking over to him and extending my hand. He shakes it. “I will never let anything bad happen to your daughter. You know that.”

“Yeah, I do.”

As he turns around, I say, “Will you repeat that first part you said? That part about me being, uh, what was it? I think it rhymes with light.”

He shakes his head slowly. “We’re having a nice moment and you have to go and ruin it.”

“Since that’s probably the only time you’re ever going to tell me I’m right, I thought I’d try to hear it again,” I say, smiling.

He snarls at me. “She wants me to come over tomorrow morning to say goodbye to her before you leave. You have a problem with that?”

“She literally wouldn’t leave unless she gets to hug you again, so yeah, you’re going to need to be here.”

He nods and starts laughing. “Did you really ask her to marry you?”

“Yeah—”

“Aww, man, rookie mistake. It’s way too early.” He smiles as he gets into the car. He rolls down the window. “Did she flat out say no or did she say she’d think about it?”

“See you tomorrow, Mack.”

He’s still laughing as I turn around to go into the house. Millie’s sleeping on the couch under her usual mound of blankets. I lift her gently into my arms to carry her back to the bedroom.

“Mase,” she says, looking up at me with sleepy eyes. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, baby.” I kiss the top of her head lightly as I lay her down on the bed and cover her back up.

“Are you and JJ okay?” she says, sitting up.

“Everything’s fine.” I try to get her to lie back down, but she climbs into my lap. “Mills, try to go back to sleep, okay? We have an early call tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to choose between us, not for me. You know that, right?” Her eyes are insistent.

“I know, baby, and I appreciate that, but it’s always you—before family, friends, work, whatever—it’s you.”

“But—”

“Millie,” I say, kissing her softly. “I understand what you’re saying. Thank you, but that makes me know even more that you’re always the right decision. Now, will you please go back to sleep?”

She starts nibbling on my ear.

“Baby, we have to get up so early. You need sleep.”

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