Breathless (Steel Brothers Saga #10)(35)

“Not so much. He couldn’t wait to get out of here this morning. Except he couldn’t, because he was meeting with Joe and Ryan. I got up to feed the boys and take them to the bus, and then I escaped here as soon as I could. He could hardly look at me, Jade. I felt like a pariah.”

“But…during?”

“The fucking?”

“I was thinking lovemaking, but yeah.”

It had felt like lovemaking, but I was determined not to get caught up in euphemisms. Not when he’d run like hell afterward. “He was attentive, sweet, everything wonderful you could imagine.”

“Wow.”

“That’s it?”

“I’m just surprised,” she said. “Not that the fucking was good, but that he hightailed it out of there. Bryce is a warm person, from what little I know of him.”

“He is,” I agreed. “Or was. A lot like Ryan, you know? Always joking and laughing. That side of him seems to have taken a hike.”

“Coinciding with learning the truth about his father, I’d guess.”

“Well, of course, and I understand that. I just thought…” I stopped. What had I thought? Fact was, I hadn’t really been thinking at all. I’d let my horniness be my guide, and so had he.

“You thought what?”

“Nothing. Maybe I was just in the right place at the right time. Truth is, I was determined to show him I was no longer the little girl with unicorns on her bedroom walls.”

“I think you’ve done that.”

“I thought I had too.”

“Methinks unicorns are no longer the issue,” Jade said.

“Then what is the issue?”

“Bryce himself. Maybe he doesn’t want to saddle you with an instant family?”

“But I love Henry.”

“True, and he knows that. But there’s his mother, too. She’s become totally dependent on him and Henry.”

“I have no problem with his mother.”

“You say that now…” She shook her head. “Talon was an angel while my mom was living here, but I know she got on his nerves.”

“Evelyn is not Brooke Bailey. In fact, she’s the anti-Brooke.”

“True again.”

A thought speared into my mind. Had Talon mentioned Colin to Jade? I didn’t know. I’d check with him before I mentioned to her that I’d run into him at the smoothie shop. The last thing I wanted was to upset her while she was still freaking out about the pregnancy.

Donny returned, dragging Dale with him. That was my cue to leave. I needed to talk to Talon.





Chapter Twenty–Two





Bryce





I joined Henry and my mother for lunch and then told her I was going for a walk to think about the Steels’ offer.

Truthfully, I just wanted some alone time. In between daydreams of Marjorie, I’d been ruminating on the call from Ted Morse. What the hell did he want? If he was gunning for money, he was barking up the wrong tree. I didn’t have any. The Steels had the deep pockets in this scenario, and neither they nor I owed the Morses anything.

I wasn’t responsible for my father’s actions.

Still, I gulped.

Ted’s son had been through something unthinkable at the hands of my old man.

If I had anything close to Steel money, I’d consider giving something to Colin. But his father? Hell, no. He’d tried to frame my best friend for my father’s crimes. He’d get nothing from me.

I walked along, peering through the windows of the shops on Main. I stopped at the flower shop. In the window was a bouquet of the yellow lilies I’d seen on Marjorie’s kitchen table. I stood there, overwhelmed by the urge to buy flowers for her. I resisted, shoving my hands in my pockets. I didn’t have money to spend on expensive flowers, and I didn’t have the emotional strength to get involved with anyone—especially Marjorie Steel, who deserved everything in the world.

I wandered by the tattoo shop. I was ink free, but I’d often thought of getting one. Definitely not a phoenix. A dragon, maybe. Or an eagle. Absently, I turned the handle on the door and walked in.

“Hey,” a multipierced young woman with spiky black hair greeted me. “Can I help you?”

“Just thinking. Do you have any design books I can look at?”

She pointed to a table where several thick books sat. “Knock yourself out.”

I picked up the thickest book and sat down, plunking it on my lap. I thumbed through the pages quickly, waiting for something to catch my attention.

Something did.

Not a tattoo I’d consider getting, but the phoenix Ruby’s father had on his forearm, the very tattoo that had both tormented and saved Talon during his months in captivity. Theodore Mathias had gotten the tattoo years ago, using the name Milo Sanchez.

I quickly turned the page. I couldn’t deny it was a fascinatingly beautiful tattoo, but to the Steels and to me, it meant so much more than that. It was a symbol of an evil man, a man we all wished we could forget.

Maybe a tattoo wasn’t such a good idea after all. I had no idea what image I was looking for. Most probably went into a shop already knowing what they were looking for.

If only I could find something that could negate my father.