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“You think I’ve been trying to ‘rescue’ you?” I stared at her, waiting for a punchline. When none came, I had to accept she was serious, and it did nothing for my temper. “You’re one of the strongest people I know. How the hell would I rescue you?”
“Oh, come on.” Sienna laughed, but it was bitter. “You really expect me to believe that you see me that way? With all the money and power and your perfect family and everything you have? Why would you ever see me as anything other than a project?”
And that’s when it hit me—the reason she’d been pushing me away. I didn’t know the exact trigger, but understanding her struggle was enough to find the words.
“I was nine when my parents died in a car crash.” I looked down at my hands, unable to face her expression. “My older brother, Blaze, was eleven, and Rose was just one. She doesn’t remember them.” I took a deep breath. “I’m not telling you this so you’ll feel sorry for me, or trying to compare our shit.”
“Then why are you telling me?” Her voice still had an edge, but it felt forced now.
“Because you said my family was perfect,” I explained. “I love them, and I know how lucky I’ve been. My siblings and I could’ve been split up and sent to foster care. Instead, we were taken in by my aunt and her new husband, both wealthy enough to care for their own kids—some from their first marriages and three from the two of them—but also for three orphans. So I call them my cousins and my step-cousins, but we were raised more like siblings.”
“Sounds like you’re all close.”
“We are,” I said. “Maybe not the way some people think, but in the ways that matter.” I glanced up at her. “Like being there for each other. Not because we think anyone is weak, but because that’s what we do for those we care about.”
“It’s not the same,” she protested.
“One of my cousins, Eoin, was in the army. He nearly died in an IED attack, and he wasn’t the same when he came home. But we didn’t give up on him or tell him he should just get over what happened to him. We loved him, supported him. And he got through it. I’m not saying everything’s perfect for him, but he’s a husband and a dad. Damn good at being both, too.”
“He was lucky to have support,” Sienna said, her tone wooden. “Too many of our veterans don’t.”
She wasn’t getting it, but I had a feeling I knew whose story would resonate with her. It wasn’t an easy one to share, but she needed to understand that I didn’t view her as weak.
“My cousin, Maggie? That beautiful, talented violinist with the doting husband and the two darling kids?” I locked eyes with Sienna. “She spent years in an abusive relationship with an asshole who used her as a punching bag. I’m pretty sure he did other things to her, too.”
Horror spread across Sienna’s face. “She…”
“Understand me, Sienna.” I took the risk and grasped her free hand. “Absolutely nothing about your past or your present makes me pity or look down on you. I don’t rescue you. We rescue each other. That’s how this works.”
I saw it then—the longing in her eyes, how desperately she wanted to believe me.
“When I met everyone last week, in that house, and heard about all the things they’d done and who they were…” She set down the bag of frozen peas and took my other hand. “I couldn’t see a place for me there. I only saw how much we didn’t make sense.”
I brought our hands up to my mouth and kissed her knuckles. “I don’t care if we don’t make sense, and neither will my family. Trust me, all of them could list a hundred ways why they don’t make sense if people think too hard about it.”
“But people are going to think hard about it, Fury,” she insisted. “They’re going to wonder why someone like you is with someone like me. And if anyone finds out about my past…”
I shook my head. “I don’t care.”
“You say that now,” she replied, “but wait until someone looks at you the way those cops looked at me. Well, not exactly the same way, since a guy buying a whore never gets the same criticism that the whore does.”
“Stop,” I said firmly. “First of all, you’re not a prostitute anymore. And second, if anyone says anything about you like those cops, I guarantee I won’t be as polite to them as I was to the cops.”
“Fury…” she began.
“No.” I squeezed her hands. “Listen to me, Sienna. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point after you showed up at the airport, I realized how much you mean to me. More than that, I realized we belong together.”
Her eyes widened, as if she hadn’t expected such a declaration, and I didn’t blame her. I hadn’t expected to say it either. But since I had, I felt compelled to see it through.
“If you really don’t want me,” I said, “if you can look me in the eye and truly tell me you don’t care about me, don’t want me in your life, then I’ll let you go. I won’t force you to be with me. You’ll only ever see me when I come to the club, and it’ll only be in passing. We can be polite to each other and go on with our lives.” I leaned closer, not enough to invade her space, but enough to hear her sharp intake of breath. “But if you can’t say that, then I’m going to keep fighting for you.”
She swallowed hard, but didn’t pull away.
“Because you are worth fighting for, Sienna Marquez. Do you hear me? You are worth everything.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Sienna
