Page 225 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

“Andi—”

“She’s doing this for you, John. No one is ever going to manipulate you again. No one is ever going to get to you after this. She won’t let them.”

“I still don’t fucking appreciate you using Siena as a means to further yourself in this city, Andino.”

His cousin stared hard at him for a long while before Andino dropped his arms to his sides, and pushed away from the kitchen doorway. He shook his head, and gave a little sigh.

“You know what, John, you don’t get it. That’s fine. There will be a hell of a lot of days ahead of us yet for me to get this through your thick skull. Today, though? Today I have other shit to handle—a new wife, and a dead cousin-in-law. A war to finish, and win. Either get with the fucking program, or shove off.”

Andino didn’t give John the chance to reply before he left the room. John heard the hotel room’s door slam shut a couple of seconds later.

So, that’s how it was going to be?

John wished he could be surprised, but he really wasn’t.

Instead of following after Andino to demand more answers, or tear his cousin a new one, John opted to take a seat at the small table, and fucking relax. The entire morning had been too much—from one damn thing to another.

He hadn’t got the chance to breathe.

He needed to think.

Too much stimulation was not a good thing for John, and he recognized that for what it meant when it came to himself. He did not need to be adding more shit to his already overactive emotional state and mind.

John was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t hear the hotel room open and close. He didn’t even realize he was no longer alone until Siena’s arms wrapped around him from behind. She hugged him tight—so fucking tight.

He needed that.

He needed her.

Siena’s lips pressed to the top of his head, she hugged his neck even tighter, and then she kissed his temple, too. A sweet, yet lingering kiss.

And all was right again.

“I have to go,” she told him.

John nodded.

He knew that, too.

Didn’t like it, though.

“Yeah, I know, babe.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Siena whispered against his skin. “Us, and the rest of this stuff. We will figure it out, John.”

He didn’t know when he was going to see her again, or how long that would be. He didn’t know how he was going to see her again, considering how controlled her life seemed to be under her brothers’ demands, now.

It was a mess.

John didn’t say any of that out loud, though.

Not while she was there.

Not while she hugged him.

Everything—for a moment, anyway—was perfect.

“John?”