Page 64 of A Touch of Frost
“You’re my brother’s girl.” Paul finally spoke.
Hearing myself being referred to as Jesse’s girl did something magical to my inside. We hadn’t spoken out loud about it—aside from that one conversation and no decisions had been made.
But I felt like Jesse’s girl.
“I guess so.”
“You guess so?” Paul asked then chuckled. “Interesting.”
Silence again, the sound of waves crashing into sand and horns from cars and trucks around us filled the air.
“I wish I could say something like, you’re my brother’s type.” Paul hung his head a moment then looked at me. “But I wouldn’t know. I know nothing about him. Shit, he doesn’t even like me. And with all that’s happened, I can’t even say this was the eye-opening experience I’ve been looking for because when this is over, he’ll walk away again.”
“He walked away the first time because he was in pain.”
“He’s still in pain.” Paul groaned. “And there’s nothing I can do about it. Every time he looks at me, he’ll remember the asshole who never protected him. He’ll remember me as the person who took away his name. He’ll always see me as the man who hurt him more than anyone else could.”
I sighed. “You know what, Paul. Jesse has grown into a man who does for himself. He doesn’t want anything from you but to mend what you’ve broken. He was your baby brother and no matter what, you should have known, that if he says someone is hurting him, you believe him.”
“Frost.”
“No.” I snapped. “Even if he didn’t say the words out loud, you should have seen the signs because a kid doesn’t start acting out for no reason. Did you once asked him what was going on?”
“No.”
“So, let me ask you this. How much does he mean to you?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“Someone has to ask the hard questions.” I frowned and stared out over the water. “He won’t ask you. All he knows right now, is that he’s angry because his big brother turned out to be Thanos and not the Cap’n.”
It was obvious my words hurt him, but I didn’t care.
“You really think that little of me?”
“I don’t think about you—at all.” I snapped. “I will not allow Jesse to get hurt in this again.”’
“And how do you propose to stop that?” Paul wanted to know. “You can’t save him from everything.”
“But I can save him from you.” I snapped.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means whatever-the-fuck you want it to mean.” I shoved his shoulder.
He shifted to the side to face me.
“He’s been through hell.” I continued. “And even with all of that, he still dropped everything and put his life on the line to find you. At this point I have no idea if you fucking deserve it. But you’re going to earn that loyalty, and you’re going to fix this. You understand me?”
Before he could answer, I stormed back up the steps, almost knocking Jesse over.
“Widow found something.” Jesse told me.
I didn’t stop moving until I fell into one of the chairs feeling like the world was sitting on my head.
“I could be wrong,” Black Widow said. “Striker is in this area.”
“All right.” I nodded while reaching into one of the bags for my gun. I checked it then shoved it into my holster. “We have to split up—Lizard, get the other two in here.”
