Page 84 of Dirty Pool

“Yeah.”

“Were they following you to—”

“Lost them downtown,” he replied quickly.

Gabbie blinked. “They’re that close to you that you can see them?”

“Exactly.”

She quieted in the bed, and just as quickly, his weight was covering hers again. The blankets on the mattress were pulled over them, and the rest of the world disappeared. For a second, it was just Michel and Gabbie hidden under the blankets, naked and together. The way she always wanted it to be.

No one would understand, though.

It wasn’t this easy.

She couldn’t have him.

“Gabbie?”

“Yeah?”

Peering up in his embrace, she found Michel watching her in that way. Intense, and pensive. Like if he looked away, then she might not be there when he glanced back again. She knew that feeling too well.

“What?” she asked when he stayed quiet.

“I was thinking …”

“About?”

“Me and you.”

She tensed. Because he knew this was a dead end for them? Because it was likely this thing between them was going to end nowhere good, and the only thing she would be left with was a broken heart to show for it?

That’s how it felt sometimes.

His hand on her hip flexed almost painfully. “Don’t do that—don’t ever second guess what I feel about you, or what I want, okay?”

She swallowed hard. “It’s hard not to. Everything is bad right now and … it’s always on my mind. I can’t not think about it, Michel.”

“Except I want you. And I’d do anything to have you. Anything, Gabbie. I’ve had a month to think about the shit going on, and I tried to play by their rules. I thought stepping back might calm it down, and they would realize this war with the Irish is foolish, but it didn’t work. Because that’s not what they want. They want a war, and I’m starting to think it’s not about me and you at all. I just haven’t figured out why. But I plan on figuring it out, and soon.”

“You shouldn’t meddle, that’s dangerous.”

“So is not knowing their endgame, Gabbie.”

Fair point.

It still left her unsettled, though.

Michel let out a bitter laugh, and one of his hands left her hip so that he could scrub it down his face. “My father would tell me to get the hell out of this city, you know? If I called him today and told him what was happening, that would be the first thing out of his mouth. And he’s not wrong …”

She stilled again, fear slicing through her heart. A part of her wondered if he would leave, but just as quickly, it was quashed by the side of her that heard what he’d said not a minute before loud and clear.

He wants me.

He wouldn’t leave without her.

His next words confirmed it. “I’m here for you—do you hear me?”