“I’ll talk to him in a minute,” I tell Sabre, unable to look at him. I’m mad at him. I shouldn’t be. It’s a sad fucker who can’t be glad his brother is happy.
And I should be happy. Sabre has found his match in the innocent spitfire named Annie. Though admittedly, after Sabre and Latch have gotten to her, innocence probably has nothing to do with the games they play. Sabre never struck me as the kind of guy to share his woman full-time, yet that seems to be what the three have settled into. You would think that would leave the odd man out, but so far it hasn’t. Latch seems just as fucking happy. One woman is taming two men I never thought would be tamed.
Women can make or break a man. Too bad I wasn’t as lucky in the draw as they were. “I will be out in a minute. I want to see my daughter and take her to Beth.”
“Are you going to let her have access to Gabby?” Sabre asks, sounding shocked.
“I never planned otherwise.”
“That wasn’t what it sounded like yesterday.”
“I was mad. I wanted Beth’s fear.” I shrug, knowing it goes deeper than that, but not planning on explaining myself. My reasons are mine and mine alone.
“I’m glad. A child should have its mother,” Sabre says, turning away.
I let him go without responding. He’s right. My daughter will have Beth in her life, I’m the one who won’t. I need to accept that and move on. The thought makes me want to scream and… kill.
I won’t be letting go of her… at least not today.
“Mo-om!”
Gabby’s voice fills the room and instantly the emptiness in my heart is lifted. I look up to see Skull standing there, his face impassive. I can’t read one thing that flickers in his cold dark eyes. Gabby pulls away from him and reaches for me.
I stand, wiping my damp palms on my jeans and reach for my baby. I’m surprised by the fact that Skull is here with Gabby, and maybe even more surprised when he passes her to me so easily. After his words last night, I expected him to keep Gabby away from me forever. Or at least try. I would have killed him or anyone who stood in my way before I would have let Gabby go. Well, that is, if I was able. If he gave me back to Colin and Matthew, I didn’t figure I would live long enough to worry about any of that.
“Should I thank you for letting me see my daughter?” I ask, and it would probably be wise to keep the bitchy tone out of my voice, but I can’t seem to.
Skull sighs, and I can see the circles under his eyes. I don’t want to feel pity for him; I just can’t seem to help it. I bite my lip before I blurt out something stupid. Skull doesn’t need me to care about him. By his own admission, he has someone to do that already. The knowledge of that is still burning inside of me like a poison. I expected it, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.
“I will be going out of town for a couple of days. I’ve asked Dragon to send some men over to help watch the compound, so you should be fine.”
“Don’t you have your own men?” I ask, confused and not knowing who Dragon is or if I should worry. I don’t like letting outsiders close to my daughter.
“I do. I want to make sure mi hija is protected.”
“If you would let me go, I’d make sure she was far away from Colin and anyone that might wish her harm.”
“That is not happening, but then you know that. I am dealing with Colin.”
His short, straight-to-the-point cold sentences annoy me. The look he wears on his stony face annoys me too. I want to scream at him, demand he acknowledge that there are things left between us that need to be dealt with, but I don’t.
Skull turns to leave, and the stupid woman in me can’t stop my mouth when I say, “Be careful.”
Skull freezes and turns just enough so that I can see the side of his face. “Why would you care?”
“I don’t know, but I do,” I tell him, swearing that that will be the last bit of honesty he gets from me.
“Follow me out to the main area. I want to introduce you to Dragon.”
I frown. The last thing I want to do is meet anyone. Still, it’s a chance to get out of this room, and honestly, I thought I would be a prisoner here until Skull turned me over to Colin. So I give in, if for no reason other than needing to see something besides the four walls of this room.
I follow cautiously behind him. I have learned that around every corner, you can find a monster. Right now, I’m not completely convinced that Skull’s not one of them. He’s so different from what I remember. That’s probably a good thing. I must focus on who he is now and give up the memories of the man I once loved. That’s the only way I’m going to survive this.