Page 116 of Bad Men

“I don’t think you need to tell me,” she said before I could open my mouth. “I think I already know.” She sighed and leaned back against the firm back. “I was with Cortez for two hours. He basically told me everything.”

I resisted glancing at Davien, preoccupied by my concern for Mia. “What did he tell you?”

She shrugged. “That you took his seat, his money … his life.” She rolled her eyes at the latter. “He may have mentioned that last part a lot. He seemed to think I could convince you to give it all back. I guess I never fully registered what he was telling me.” She gave the room at large a pointed glance. “Was this his?”

I wasn’t sure what to say. I hated that everything Davien and I had done, all we’d accomplished was marred by this tragedy. How could we ask her to stay with us when it would only bring to mind what she’d suffered?

“No,” Davien said quietly. “And he was wrong. We never took his money, and the seat was given to Nero.”

She nodded slowly. “I didn’t believe half the things he was saying.”

A stretch of silence extended between us that seemed to yawn into infinity. The uncertainty of her decision consumed me.

“We don’t have to stay here,” I murmured at last. “We can go wherever you want.”

Her gaze lifted to my face under the shadows of furrowed brows. “You want to leave?”

I sighed. “I want you to be happy. I don’t care where we live.”

She thought about that a long moment. “Do I get my own room?”

I hadn’t thought of that. The glance Davien shot me, it was clear he hadn’t either. We’d never had a woman stay with us. We never moved one in. Creating a sleeping plan had never been a topic up for debate.

“Do you want your own room?”

Something shifted in her features. The crease in her forehead deepened. The corners of her mouth tilted downwards and there was a hard knot in her jaw.

“Do we make up a schedule who gets to spend the night in my room? Do we alternate weekends?” She shot to her feet and stalked back to the window, arms folded tight across her chest. “We should probably figure all that out, too.”

I was stumped. Davien seemed to be as lost as I was. This was a situation we didn’t know how to address.

“Mia…” I started to rise, possibly to follow her.

“Can you just point me in the direction of my room?” she snapped, spinning to face us. “I think maybe I do just want to sleep.”

“Hold on now.” Davien got to his feet to stand next to me. “You’re pissed and we’d like to know what happened.”

She was quiet for several sharp seconds, but her anger was a plume of heat lifting around her in waves. Even from almost twenty feet away, I could feel the wash of it rolling over me.

“This isn’t what I wanted!” she blurted at last with just the hint of a hitch in her voice. “I didn’t want separate rooms and a stupid schedule.”

“You mentioned the schedule, we didn’t,” Davien murmured, and I elbowed him to shut up.

“Mia,” I edged towards her slowly. “We’re as new to this as you are. It’s going to take time and communication. We need to set ground rules and work out the kinks. It’s not going to happen overnight, but we’re willing to make this work if you are.”

I watched the tension dissolve from her limbs. Her arms slipped down to her sides and her features melted into one of uncertainty.

“No separate beds,” she whispered. “Rule one.”

I felt the corner of my mouth quirk. “Noted.” I crossed to her and pulled her into my arms. “No schedules. Rule Two,” I murmured into the top of her head.

I felt her back vibrate with her chuckle. “Agreed.”

“No clothes while in the apartment,” Davien chimed in, moving to join us.

Mia laughed and turned to wrap her arms around his shoulders. “You didn’t say rule three, so it doesn’t count.”

He made a protesting sound that she muffled with her mouth.

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