Page 86 of Dance for Me
Guilt tugged at him. He had no business sticking his nose into Bodie’s family, especially when she had no idea what was going on and didn’t have a voice to add her input, but he had sisters of his own. It would kill him to know one of them was in trouble and no one offered help. “Who takes care of people in this situation, when they’re incapacitated? Will they try and find another family member to take care of her?”
“You can’t take this on, Braun. Bodie will consume all your time, every last drop of energy you can muster, for the next six months.” Connie piped up. “Alicia may well be adept at caring for herself with the right surroundings.”
“Doesn’t feel right, letting Bodie’s sister drift alone through all this. Do you think Bodie would want us to abandon her, even with the bad blood that’s been sitting between them for however many years?”
Connie sighed. “No. I think Bodie loves her. Or at least, she loved the irritating little sister she knew back then. Goddamn it, Braun.”
His mouth twitched. “Pretty please, Mistress?”
“You’re an asshole, you know that? A big, soft-hearted, idiotic asshole.” She thumped her fist on the back of his headrest. “Fine. But you owe me big-time. I mean, I ask for something, you don’t say no. Yes, Mistress is the only answer I get from you from now on, and there better be a fucking cherry and whipped cream with it.”
Loki leaned forward. “Am I missing something here?”
“Go back to sleep, sloth,” Jasper said on a sigh, shoving him back. “I swear, the universe revolves faster than the brain cells in your head sometimes.”
Braun grinned, feeling lighter. It might be the wrong thing, one of those choices that led him in the wrong direction on his path, but in this moment, it felt as though he was doing something right in the middle of a nuclear fallout of bad shit. “Just to clarify: that’s a yes?”
Now her head thunked heavily against the headrest. “I just know I’m going to regret this, but yes. Atticus, when you speak to your detective friend again, let him know that a friend of the family is willing to assist Alicia with a place to live and her personal care if she requires it.”
“Thank you, Mistress. I love you.”
“Shut up, you ginormous Irish lummox. I’m not talking to you.”
“I think she loves you too, boss,” Loki chuckled, then yelped as the sharp sound of flesh striking jeans-clad flesh echoed in the truck. “Vicious, vicious woman. You treat all the men in your life this way?”
“Yes. Now zip it.”
Jasper almost crawled into the front. “If we’re done with the revenge part of tonight’s entertainment, can we please get moving? I find tossing recalcitrant children from a vehicle much more satisfying when said vehicle is in motion.”
Atticus started the engine. “We can lock them in the trunk, let them fight it out in there on the way back to the hospital. We’ll still be able to hear them, but they won’t be quite as loud. The radio will cover the noise.”
Braun eased back in his seat, frowning as Atticus three-pointed the truck in the opposite direction. He was conflicted as he watched the house shrink in the side mirror. He’d come here to do a job, to get justice for Bodie, and he felt just a little jilted someone had gotten there before him.
On the same token, if he’d done that job, gotten his hands bloody for the second time that night, would he be going back to her the same man he’d been? Taking a life carried a huge penalty, one he was sure he could bear. But it wasn’t only his soul he’d have tarred with blood, was it?
There were four other people in this truck. Four people he trusted his life and his secrets to, and while he knew they’d have his back, he’d been selfish to drag them out here, to let them shoulder the burden of murder.
Alicia was a blessing in disguise.
He might not have dealt it himself, but Bodie’s parents had gotten their comeuppance. They’d paid the price for their crimes. Maybe justice was sweeter coming from Alicia’s hand. A betrayal of sorts, their own blood ending their pathetic existences and bringing their sins to an end.
At least tomorrow, when he sat at Bodie’s bedside and waited for her to come back to him, he could be with her with a clear conscience. She’d run away from the criminal lifestyle, turned her back to it. Why would she want to be with a man who willingly become a killer?
He hadn’t considered that before setting off on this journey.
They had enough to deal with. Recovery was never easy, and for one as active as Bodie, there were rough times ahead. Physiotherapy was not only strenuous; it was painful and exhausting. Took a toll on the brain as well as an already overtaxed body.
Add in the news that she probably wouldn’t ever dance again, and he was going to have an angry wildcat on his hands.
It didn’t matter. They would get through it, like they’d done with every challenge so far. This was a fresh start, uncluttered by the threat of her parents, and he was determined to make the most of it.
She wasn’t alone in this.
She never had to be alone again.
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