Page 157 of Making Choices

Shaking my head, I blink fast as I gaze at him blankly.

How do I explain that I’ve been lying to him for eleven years?

How the fuck do I tell him that I’m responsible for it all?

How do I tell him that his choice to trust Cherub’s safety to me was the wrong one?

My brain doesn’t yield any answers to my questions.

Because there’s no pattern to discern.

No odds to calculate.

No way out of this…

Not when the probabilities are this badly stacked against us.

Right now, the light at the end of the tunnel is little more than a pinprick.

And a Shamrocks victory seems an impossible proposition.

34

LILY

Six weeks later

“Now, I’m usually on board with your rebellious plots, ’specially since it typically ends up with your tongue down my throat, but I’m not feelin’ good about this,” Nadia tells me as the line at the bank finally moves forward a couple of steps. At her proclamation, the guy in front of us peers over his shoulder. His grin widens with interest as his gaze flits over the pair of us. I bare my teeth at him, and he’s suddenly enamoured by the pattern in the carpet. “You should talk to Slash about it.”

“Pfft, pass.”

That man-bunned annoyance is completely unapproachable these days.

Hence the apartment I’m trying to buy without telling him.

“At least mention it to Toker, then.”

“Nope.” I cross my arms under my boobs and stare directly ahead. “He helped enforced my banishment from the compound… my cousin chose their side so he can take a long walk off a short jetty too.”

“The ban’s been lifted, dumbarse. Find a new excuse for this latest bout of self-sabotage.”

“Excuse me!” Nadia’s unfair characterisation of my behaviour sets off my temper. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” she mumbles.

“Bullshit, Nads.”

“Just drop it, Anna… forget about the apartment for now. Let’s go grab a drink while Sander flirts with his banker—you can call Toker to see what he thinks about your plan.” The glare she aims at me is full of disapproval. “You know, before you drop three-quarters of a mill on a place that you haven’t even had Cub look over for security issues—” She throws her hands in the air. “—I mean, you haven’t even seen it in real life.”

“It could have the toilet in the middle of the kitchen and still be better than living at Slash’s.”

“Oh, lord, please save me,” Nadia mutters. “My best friend is an idiot.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“Yep... which is how I know that you’re the biggest idiot of us all.”

There are too many people around us for me to really say what I really think, so I settle for rolling my eyes at her dramatics. “Mmmm hmmm.”

---