Page 136 of Lucky Laces
“Out,” I tell the room at large.“Now.”
Stephanie and Toni are talking shop so they don’t mind taking it into the hall.Jean-Michel, on the other hand, doesn’t look happy to be kicked out.
Or maybe it’s because I basically threatened him—my boss’s boss.
Jesus, talk about living dangerously.
But I don’t stop.
“Don’t expect an apology,” I mutter.“I won’t tolerate any disrespect toward my woman.”
His mouth hitches up.“You know there will be guys on other rosters who’ll use that,” he points out, and not wrongly.
“If you just let me—” Dee begins.
“No,” Jean-Michel and I say together.
“She’s one of us,” I say—to him and toher.“We’ll have her back against whoever seeks to hurt her.”I fix him in place with a glare.“No matter what it takes.”
He studies me.
Then nods, and I don’t miss the approval in the gesture.He tilts his head in Dee’s direction.“Make sure she gets weallfeel that way.”
“All except Pat,” she mutters.
“After his scene the other day, I’ve already decided that Pat’s getting traded at the first opportunity, and Duncan and Kane are right behind him if they don’t get their shit together,” Jean-Michel proclaims before striding from the room.
“Honey,” she begins, shaking her head.“I don’t think?—”
“I say this with complete and total love, but baby, you need to shut the fuck up.”
Her brows drag together, anger in the deep green depths.“Didn’t you just get on Jean-Michel’s case—not smart by the way—about respect?”
“Why?”I ask shortly.
She frowns.“Why what?”
“Why won’t you fight for us?”
Her mouth is open, the fury in her eyes flaring.
Then she seems to process exactly what I said because the fury fades and tears fill her eyes.“Huddy,” she whispers.
“You know I didn’t have much growing up,” I say softly.“You know precisely how little thatmuchwas.So you have to know how much you being in my life means to me, and how much it means that you love me.”
Her exhale is shaky.“I?—”
“But you also have to know that I would never do anything to hurt you—and that extends to what you’re building here, the dream you’re living.”I cup her cheek.“You’re not leaving,” I command.“So stop fucking offering.”
“Hudson!”
“No,” I say.“NoHudson.No arguments.No bending to the will of some asshole who threw away the most precious gift the universe could give him.”
Tears slide over her lashes, drip down her cheeks.
I wipe them away.“And I meant what I said before.If there ever comes a time when both us being on the same team is too much thenI’llbe the one to go.”
“I can’t ask you?—”
