Page 21 of A Brother At My Back

I took a deep breath and let it out harshly, looking at my friend pointedly. She frowned at me and it was her turn to ask, “What?”

“I can do something about this,” I said evenly. “And I did.”

She scowled at me and said, “And I still think it’s a big mistake. You didn’t grow up around here, Tiff. You don’t know what kind of men they are.”

“Sometimes you just have to make a leap of faith,” I said with a shrug. “Trust your instincts.”

“Like you did when you got involved with Silas in the first place?” she asked me flatly.

Ouch. Low blow. Real low blow.

“I don’t want to fight about this,” I said and she sighed. She knew she’d fucked up. It was written all over her face.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized immediately. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, you shouldn’t have.” I picked up the remote and turned on my little TV, picked up the other and switched on the DVD player. “Just watch your movie,” I said and tried not to let my anger get the best of me.

It was a tense showing of The Christmas Wish, and I couldn’t say the mood improved much after.

“I’m really worried about you,” she said as her parting shot when she left that night.

“Me, too,” was all I could say to the scarred wood of my apartment door as I threw all the bolts and chains along its edge behind her.

We would be okay. Her heart was in the right place. I just needed to be mad for a while until I sorted out some more of the ugly inside my head.

So far neither Dragon nor Zeb had asked anything from me, but that didn’t mean I didn’t owe them. I was just hoping that when it came time to pay my dues, it wouldn’t hurt as much, if not more, than whatever Silas would do to me.

Rock, hi, I’m Tiff. Nice to meet you, too, Hard Place.

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