“Boone—”
“Are you fucking shitting me?” he roared.
Whoa.
That was extreme.
“Was she there?” he bit out.
“Sorry?” I asked, still recovering from his explosion.
“Was she at the hospital?”
“She went to tell him she was done with him,” I shared.
“And then she called you. Washed her hands of a man she was all in to fuck, make babies with, take his house when she kicked him out, his money after she kicked him out, and the going gets really rough, she’s done with the father of her goddamned children, phones you and you gotta phone your mother, deal with your brother, and she goes home to eat chips in front of the TV.”
Sadly, with Angelica, that was probably the gist of it.
“Boone, it’s—”
“What it is, is fucked up, Ryn.” He lifted his hand and jabbed a finger at me. “And you are done eating that woman’s shit.”
I decided to give him a second to get a lock on it.
Boone didn’t feel like taking that second.
“That bitch needs to clue the fuck in. But I know one thing she’s gonna clue in to is that you aren’t her fucking doormat.”
“Okay, treading cautiously here, but I’m not sure I’m getting why Angelica being Angelica has tripped your trigger.”
“Because we all got no choice but to grow up, Ryn. Yeah, I’d like to spend my days playing basketball and videogames and drinking brewskis with my homeboys.”
I was suddenly struggling not to laugh at Boone saying “brewskis with my homeboys.”
“But I can’t do that,” he kept going. “I got a mortgage to pay and a future to plan for and responsibilities to see to. She can’t pop out two kids and bitch and moan she can’t be a club girl and expect everyone to step up for her. Especially not fuckin’ you. You’ve stepped up enough. And you are goddamned done getting shit on.”
And there it was.
The part he didn’t mention was that he was there to save the day, and if Angelica kept fucking with me, it would mean continual hits to his hero street cred.
I again fell silent to give him time to get a lock on it.
When this time he appeared to be taking it, to help him out, I said, “I love how you look out for me.”
“Get that, Ryn,” he stated tersely. “I love that you love it but that’s part of who I am to you. That’s part of what I give to you. And it’s your life, your family, you gotta make the decisions, but I’m steppin’ in if they start shitting on you, like this latest Angelica has pulled, and we’ll be having a discussion, like we’re having right now.”
Yup.
My hero.
“I can live with that.”
He drew in a deep breath, his wide chest expanding with the intake, and let it out.
Once he did that, I carefully lowered the boom.
“I need to make some peace with her. I’m not okay with not seeing Portia and Jethro.”
“I get that,” he replied. “But you aren’t gonna eat shit to find it.”
I pressed my lips together.
“Kathryn,” he said warningly, eyes on my mouth.
“They’re worth eating shit over and I miss them, Boone,” I said quietly.
It took a beat before he hissed, “Fuck.”
I moved the three steps between us and put my hand to his abs.
“She isn’t going about it right, but her life did get derailed. She participated in that,” I said the last quickly when he looked ready to interject…heatedly. “But I can see her pining for what her friends have, and she doesn’t. I can see getting depressed about it and having trouble facing the enormity of her responsibilities. She’s acting spoiled, yes. And selfish, yes. And childish, yes. And I don’t know if she’s ever going to grow up. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I have to give it some time, get out from under this cloud with Brett and those cops, and then find a way to build a bridge I can walk over so I can see the kids.”
“Okay, but there has to be a line you’ll draw, Ryn,” he advised. “Breaking your back, putting your dreams on hold, getting so strung out you’re passing out…” He shook his head.
I nodded mine. “I’m with you. And I promise, I’ll listen if you think I’m at a place that line needs to be drawn, and I’ll be aware of what’s happening, so if the time comes, I’ll do it myself.”
He studied me as if assessing my veracity.
Then he murmured, “I’ll accept that promise, baby,” bent and touched his mouth to mine.
God, I loved it when he did that.
I pressed into his abs with my hand as I leaned into him with the rest of me.
“And I’ll repeat, I love how you look out for me,” I said.
“Good,” he replied.
“And Mom loves it too.”
Something flickered in his eyes, showing me he was pleased with that, and his mouth relaxed as he said, “I’m glad.”