Page 46 of The Ties That Bind
Lea grinned. “Don’t you worry, Brie. I’ll protect you and the little alien you’ve got there.”
Brie closed her eyes, caressing her stomach as she talked to the baby. “Don’t listen to Aunt Lea. Despite her bad jokes and alien references, she’s a wonderful human.”
She lay there reveling in the warmth of the sun on her skin and the soothing sound of the waves, content to be lying beside her best friend. The two lay together in pleasant silence for a long time.
Lea sighed. “I miss our girl time.”
“Yeah, we should do this more often,” Brie agreed.
The comfortable silence resumed until Lea said, “I’m worried about Mary.”
“Me, too…” Brie confessed. Her heart started to race. She was frightened that she might say something to Lea and accidentally break Mary’s trust. Not wanting to take the chance, she diverted the conversation back to Lea. “What was it like living with her?”
“Oh, Mary’s a real peach,” Lea chuckled sarcastically. “I get why she feels the need to make snarky comments about Hunter and me—that Greg of hers is a total fuckbucket. What I don’t understand is why she went back to the creep…” She shook her head angrily. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“I don’t think anyone knows what Mary’s going through because she’s so good at putting up barriers to keep us out.”
“Well, she’s only hurting herself.” Lea’s tone grew softer. “She’s changed, Brie… There is a soft, squishy side to her now under all those porcupine quills. Even Hunter noticed it.”
Brie turned her head to look Lea in the eyes. “Mary’s a lot kinder than she lets on.”
Lea snorted with amusement. “Who would have guessed on that first day at the Training Center? She was so full of herself. God, I just wanted to smack her!”
Brie chuckled, remembering their first day. “She definitely earned her name as ‘Blonde Nemesis.’”
“I thought you were freakin’ crazy to invite her to have drinks with us that first time.”
Brie shrugged. “It felt wrong to leave her out.”
Lea clicked her tongue. “She sure doesn’t make it easy to like her, does she? Still, she sees things I don’t see—especially when it came to Liam…” Frowning, Lea glanced at Brie.
Brie could tell her friend was privately reliving the hell she’d gone through with Liam.
Lea shrugged. “That’s why I agreed to let Mary stay with me when she asked. Even though she’s a total pain in the butt to live with, I always know she’s got my back no matter what.”
Tears pricked Brie’s eyes. “I feel the same, Lea.”
Lea’s eyes suddenly flashed with resentment. “That’s why it pissed me off so bad when she told me she was going back to that asshole. How can you feel sorry for someone who keeps making bad choices over and over again? I have to admit, Brie, I lost respect for Mary when she went crawling back to Greg this time.”
Brie wanted to tell Lea what was really happening, that she only went back to Holloway to protect Brie.
But she’d vowed to keep Mary’s secret.
Rather than break Mary’s confidence, Brie said miserably, “Maybe there’ll come a day when she’ll tell us what’s really going on.”
“I hope so,” Lea sighed. “But I’m convinced that girl is a train wreck waiting to happen—and I don’t want to be around when it does.”
Brie’s heart skipped a beat, feeling terrified for Mary. “God, I hope that day never comes…”
When it finally came time for Lea to head back home, she knocked on the doorframe of Sir’s office.
“Sir Davis, before I leave, I just wanted to warn you not to play Scrabble around Hope.”
He turned, looking at Lea strangely. “What are you talking about, Ms. Taylor?”
“If she eats a bunch of those tiles, it could spell disaster.”
Silence filled the room.
