Page 66 of Priceless
Trinity stares at me. “That’s it?”
“Should there be more?”
“Yeah, you should be fucking their brains out.”
I cleared my throat. “There’s a good reason we didn’t.” Then I told them what happened, even though it still felt strange to tell them and say it out loud. I’d been pushing down Frank and Laura’s cruelty for so long it still felt… illicit for it to be out in the open.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Isolde asked. “Your aunt better pray she never sees me again or I might smack her. More than smack her.”
I cracked into a smile. “I’d like to see that, but I also don’t want you to get arrested. Your pack needs you, and so do I.”
Trinity was typing furiously on her phone. “Rin?”
“I’ve got some people who work for me on cases. We’ll find something on your uncle and then I’ll take him down with an article.”
“I—” I stopped. “You would do that for me?”
“I am doing this for you.”
I reached out and grabbed her hand. “No, you’re not. I wish I could let you, but he’s still the only one who can sign over the trust. He’s never going to do that if he’s in jail.”
Her fingers looked like they were about to crack her phone, but she relented. “Fine. But after you get the trust, can I have him?”
“Be my guest.”
“Good. Now let’s spend some money.”
I didn’t even know where to start. There were so many choices. Textures. Colors. Shapes. Even as a person who regularly designed, there was almost too much to comprehend.
The sweet, tangy scent of lemons wrapped around me, along with that crisp edge of sugary baked pastry. My mouth watered as Cameron stepped up behind me. “Made any progress?”
“Not yet. It’s overwhelming.”
“Why?” It wasn’t an accusation or a veiled question about what was taking me so long. It was simple curiosity.
Micah had said that he wouldn’t lie, and I guessed the others would agree. So I decided to be honest. “It’s so permanent. If I make the choice, then I can’t make another one, you know? With flowers, it’s easy. They only live so long, so you have to make the choices so you can enjoy them before they’re gone.”
My friends didn’t even try to pretend they weren’t watching the two of us with utter glee. And I saw Isolde hide her smile with her hand when Cam slid his arm around my waist. “You’re not following the rules, sweetheart,” he whispered. “You’re not supposed to think about whether or not you need something.”
“It’s not that,” I insisted. “More like decision paralysis.”
“If you want to change it later, then we’ll change it later. Pick what you want right now.”
“But—”
“No.” He was speaking so quietly now that the others couldn’t hear him. And my whole body broke out into shivers when his lips touched the shell of my ear. “No buts. Make your nest exactly the way you want to make it. And if the day after tomorrow you wake up and hate everything about it? Then we’ll come back and get a whole different style.”
I swallowed. “Just like that?”
His purr rumbled against my back. “Just like that.”
No longer caring that Iz and Rin were watching, I turned around and hugged him. Tucked my face into his chest. It might be needy and clingy and desperate and a hundred other things I’d been told I was, but I didn’t care. I needed to feel him closer. “Thank you.”
“What for?”
“For being nice.”
One hand came up and cradled my head against his chest. I inhaled the zesty scent of lemon, both sweeter and sharper this close. “The fact that you think that’s something you need to thank us for makes me so fucking angry,” he said.
