“I can agree with that. And he is serious about you. Anyone can see that.”
Once they were both done with their coffee and Elle had demolished the biscotti, they headed for the exit, passing bookshelves, the bestseller wall, racks of novelty gifts, and customers browsing or reading. The sight of the kid’s corner made a smile tug at Bree’s mouth, but that smile faltered when she saw Moira heading her way.
“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” said Elle, moving to Bree’s side.
“I so don’t have the patience for her today.”
Moments later, Moira stopped in front of them, glaring hard at Bree. “Are you still so sure my brother’s dead? Paxton saved you in the woods, Bree. You know it was him. And how do you repay that? By shacking up with someone else. Hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m glad you’re with Alex. Paxton can do better than a little whore like you.”
“It’s strange but I’m starting to get the feeling that you don’t like me.”
Moira folded her arms. “Admit it, you’re scared that he’s back.”
“Terrified. Truly. My knees are shaking and everything.”
“They should be. He’ll punish both you and Alex for betraying him.” She lifted her shoulders. “I don’t blame you for being scared. I would be too, in your shoes.”
“You know something?” Bree took a step forward. “I hope it is him, Moira. And I hope he comes out into the open and confronts me. Then I can do the very thing I always knew I might have to do one day if he was alive. I can kill him.”
Moira’s eyes blazed. And then her fist came flying at Bree.
Bree whipped up her arm, blocked the blow, and then rammed her forehead into Moira’s nose. Bone cracked. The bitch staggered back a step, gaping in shock, her fingers probing her bloody nose. Bree’s cat peeled back her upper lip in a feral grin.
“You broke my goddamn nose!”
“Don’t,” Bree said when Moira tensed to spring. “I can take you, and we both know it.” Her warning might have been ignored if two enforcers hadn’t then slipped between them, stopping what would have been an ugly fight before it had the chance to start.
One enforcer began leading Moira away, saying he’d take her to Helena, but the dumb female dug in her heels and pointed hard at Bree. “You’ll pay for this, just as you’ll pay for hurting my brother.”
“You don’t care for your brother as much as you like to act,” Bree told her, speaking calmly. “I mean, who wouldn’t resent him? He was the golden boy—he couldn’t do any wrong. There’s you and Calvin, being ‘good’ children, and yet that twisted fuck is somehow your parents’ favorite kid. He’s all your mom ever talks about.
“It must have made you feel like you and Calvin were afterthoughts to her, really. Hell, she paid more attention to me when we were kids than she did to you and Calvin. And I think that’s why you hate me so much. I didn’t just ‘get all the light,’ as you insist on stating. I got the motherly devotion from Bernadette that should have been yours.”
Moira’s eyes flickered. She stared at Bree, looking pissed and … lost. She didn’t say anything more as the enforcers led her away.
“That woman is such a bitch,” said Elle. “I tell ya, Alex is not gonna like this. Good luck keeping him calm when he finds out what just happened.”
It was a mere minute later, as she and Elle were walking back to the apartment building, that Bree’s phone began to chime. She pulled it out of her purse. “It’s Alex. I’m thinking someone already gave him a heads-up about the Moira incident.” Sighing, she swept her thumb across the screen of her cell and answered, “Hello?”
“Tell me I heard wrong and you didn’t just get confronted by Moira,” he growled.
Bree twisted her mouth. “If it makes you feel better about it, I broke her nose.”
It didn’t make him feel better.
Sitting opposite Bree at the kitchen table later that day, Alex squeezed her foot—a foot he’d rested on his thigh when they first settled down to eat dinner. “You’re not giving me money for groceries—end of,” he said.
Bree lifted her brow, a slice of pizza in hand. “Oh, but you were fine with paying for my groceries.” And she wasn’t a fan of hypocrisy. She tried snatching her foot back, but he held it tight.
“That was different.”
“How?”
“It just was.”
“It just was? That’s the best you’ve got?” She bit into her pizza. The wolverine was sent to test her, she was sure of it.
“I was eating more of your food than you were,” Alex reminded her. “You barely make a dent in my supplies, so there’s absolutely no reason for you to pay for groceries.”
“On a side note, it is surprising how well-stocked your cupboards are. Mila once told me they’re always empty.”
“They’re never empty. I just tell her they are to stop her nagging when I raid her pack’s kitchen. Now can we talk about something that doesn’t piss me off? Because I was already pissed when Vinnie’s tip came to nothing. My mood turned even shittier when I realized you were confronted by Moira—that mood isn’t improving.”
“Not my problem, big guy.” She dropped her pizza back in the box and took a swig of her soda … mostly because it was far too tempting to fling the half-eaten slice at his face.
Really, it wasn’t Alex who had her so wound up. It was the sheer knowledge that there was a real good chance Bernadette and Ruben would show their faces to indulge in a “how dare you break our daughter’s nose” rant. She wasn’t looking forward to it, and Alex didn’t deserve to have them dump a metaphorical bag of dog shit on his doorstep.
She half-wished she hadn’t moved out of her house—then at least Alex wouldn’t have his home tainted with their crap. “I’ll bet you’re looking forward to having the apartment to yourself again, huh?”
He blinked. “Where did that come from?”
“You said you wanted to talk about something else.”
“Not something dumb.”
“How is that dumb? Sharing such a small place with someone can be hard.”
He shrugged, taking another bite of his pizza. “We can live in your house, if you’d prefer that. We just need to wait until the threats to you have been neutralized.”
Ah, so Elle was right—he didn’t consider him and Bree living together to be a temporary thing. Hell, the redhead had even been right that he’d offer to move to Bree’s house. “I wasn’t sure if you were ready for us to live together yet.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“Sometimes I worry that you felt pushed into this relationship.”
“Then you’re stupid.”
She bristled. “Um, hello, you didn’t want a relationship until you found out I was planning to leave the pride.”
“I’d already decided you were going to be mine; I made it happen—it was the best decision I ever made,” he said, matter-of-factly. “I’ll be moving in with you because it’s what I want. Waking up and seeing you right there sets me up for the day. Why wouldn’t I want more of it?” He shook his head, as if she was dumb for thinking differently, and then went back to his pizza … completely oblivious to the fact that he’d just melted her bones.