Page 76 of Cognac Secrets

“We all need a drink,” LaCroix said.

“For Louie,” Collier cleared his throat.

“For Louie,” we all echoed after a moment of silence.

“Kid got so fuckin’faronly to die like that,” Hex said and he made a face I couldn’t put a name to and shook his head… but that look said it all. Regret and anguish.

Regret and anguish.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

Sandrine…

“Oh, my God!” the words rushed out of me on a whoosh of air that tasted like relief.

I slid off my stool and rounded the counter as Bennie set the grease stained paper back and the cup holder with two coffees on the cash wrap of the shop to catch me as I threw my arms around him and buried my face in his shoulder.

“Where have youbeen?” I demanded, leaning back to take him in. “Are youokay?”

“I’m okay,” he said from behind his dark aviators. “Better now.”

I hugged him again and muttered into his shoulder, “You smell like a bender under clean man and cologne.”

He chuckled and said, “Yeah, we all tied one on pretty hair in the wee hours last night.”

“How about you? How are you? How’s True?”

I let out an explosive breath stepping back from him and said, “I’m fine. True’s traumatized. We didn’t fight, but I was worried we were gonna. That she was going to be like,break up with you,but she surprised me and didn’t.”

He looked down, his eyes still hidden by his sunglasses, a flash of expression I had no word for, but that wasn’t good, flickering across his face and made unreadable at all by the dark lenses.

“Are you?” he asked. “I would understand if you wanted to, baby. This life is a lot and you got a real ugly first-hand look at just how ugly it can be last night. I wouldn’t blame you at all if?—”

“Shut the fuck up,” I demanded. “I’m not goinganywhere. Is it the most reckless thing I’ve probablyeverdone?” I stopped and thought about that a minute and said, “Probably not. I’ve done some real sketchy shit in the past to get where I am today, but you know what?” I leaned my arms on his shoulders, loving how his hands palmed my waist. I smoothed my hand down the back of his head and rubbed his neck some and told him the truth.

“I love you. You’ve been amazing to me – hell,you bought a whole ass housejust so you could make sure we had a place to spend time together and be intimate and what have you. You’ve already kind of fucked yourself – that’s way better than flowers.”

He laughed at me, pulled off his sunglasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose and he lookeddreadfully tired.

“Shit, baby, have you slept at all?” I asked softly.

“That’s what coffee is for,” he said.

“Well get it in your face,” I told him and I asked, “These both the same?”

“Café au lait and beignets from First Call,” he affirmed and I smiled at him shook my head vaguely, and said, “You reallydolove me.” I made to pull away and go back around the counter to take up my coffee but he stopped me and the look on his face was grave.

“No secrets between us,” he said. “I don’t believe people deserve second chances a lot of the time, and I don’t know what I did to deserve one like you, but I promise you – as long as I’m alive,nothingis going to happen to you… and if something does, I’m coming for you and I’m going to hurt them. I’m going to hurt them badly.”

I felt my breath still in my chest as he stole it away with his words.

“That being said, baby – I can’t protect you if I don’t know what or where the big bad is coming from, so you need to tell me; why did you say what you did to me last night? Before you got in the truck?”

“Got any hair of the dog for that coffee?” I asked meekly.

“I’d really rather not,” he groaned and I smiled at him sympathetically.

“Put your sunglasses back on and buckle the fuck up,” I told him. “This is going to be a long story and a bit of a Hell ride.”

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