Page 55 of Jensen
He shakes his head. “That’s something different. You just need to pull back and recalibrate.”
There’s an awkward silence.
“Sorry, I gave you too much information,” I say.
“No, you really can tell me anything,” he says, voice gentle. “What do you mean by weird shit?”
I shrug, neck heating. “Hitting, biting. Saying all kinds of real mean shit. Choking her out. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”
The lines on his face soften.
“That’s alright,” he says. “Lots of people like that. It’s normal, you know, as long as you’re both fine with it.”
“That’s the thing,” I say earnestly. “I don’t think I’m fine with it.”
His brows rise. “She’s forcing you?”
“No, no, everything we did, I could have stopped. I just didn’t get what I was doing. I don’t know… I think I need some time to have regular, boring sex with someone who isn’t beating the shit out of me.”
Ashleigh appears, a plate in each hand. Brothers and I stare at each other as she sets them down.
“Y’all need ketchup?” she asks.
“No, we’re just fine as is,” Brothers says, snapping into his usual charm. “Thanks so much.”
She tops off our coffee and leaves. I poke at my charred bacon with my fork. Brothers lets out a long breath and leans on his elbows, rubbing his fingers together.
“I think you should break it off with Holly,” he says.
“No shit,” I mumble.
He gives me a paternal look. Sometimes, I forget he’s only ten years my senior. There’s an ageless quality to him that makes him feel like he’s in his forties or fifties.
“I’m gonna tell you something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while,” he says. “But it’s not good, and you might be angry with me. But I want you to know I never meant to hurt you. Alright?”
My stomach sinks. “Okay.”
He clears his throat. His eyes shut for a second, then snap open.
“Miss Holly is a honeypot,” he says.
“A what?”
“I have to be able to trust the people who work for me. It’s sensitive materials we’re distributing,” he says, voice low. “Hollybrings in the men for me, and I set them up and provide them work. She gets a cut per person she brings to me.”
In the distance, I hear the slow whine of destruction.
We’re both quiet.
“You had her seduce me?” I ask finally.
He shrugs. “I mean, I didn’t know who you were until that day we worked on your truck. She called me, said she had somebody who was an excellent worker. I met you, and you were...really something, Jen. You’ve got grit, drive. You’re like a cat, always landing on your feet.”
Now I’m going over every second of the night Cherry threw me out. That low whine doesn’t stop as the pieces fall into place.
“Holly told Cherry about us,” I say.
He sighs.
