Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Broderick

Ithought taking the time to go get coffee would be the break I needed to get my head on straight. It didn’t work. Sitting here on this bed with two of the most beautiful women I’ve ever encountered, having a conversation that doesn’t involve arguing for once…

It’s enough to make me want things I’m not sure are meant for me.

Monroe stretches. The sheet is bunched at her waist, leaving her breasts bare, and combined with the cute way Shiloh has the covers nearly tucked to her chin, my heart gives an uncomfortable lurch.

I care about Shiloh. Fuck, I love her. I have for a very long time.

I didn’t expect to care about Monroe, too.

It’s not love. That would be ludicrous. Not simply because she’s the enemy, but because just a few days ago, we were at each other’s throats. I can admire her strength and cunning and beauty without being in love with her. I can enjoy how seamlessly we work together when we’re focused on accomplishing the same thing without my emotions getting involved. No matter how much I enjoy her in my bed, ultimately sex changes nothing.

At least in theory.

I clear my throat. “I don’t know if it will be enough to fuck and frolic or whatever the hell you just said.”

“As long as we’re moving in the right direction, neither your brother nor my mother will jump the gun.” Monroe shrugs. “War is bad for everyone, and they’re not going to dive headfirst into it if there’s another option. We need to be convincing enough to prove there’s another option.”

Shiloh pulls her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them. “What if you’re wrong?”

“I’m not.”

“You say that so confidently, I almost believe you.”

“You should.” I clear my throat. “She’s not wrong.” I know Abel. He might give the impression of being a barbarian brute, but there’s a reason we’d all follow him to hell and back without complaint. He’s too savvy to do something he can’t take back just for the sake of doing it. “Depending on how we play things, it should negate the current danger.”

Shiloh curses. “Fine. What’s the plan, then?”

Monroe drains the last of her coffee and slides out of the bed. “Since we have an off day, let’s have some fun.”

Shiloh shakes her head. “Fun isn’t going to get both of you out of the crosshairs.”

“Silly girl, I’m not talking about fucking.” Monroe grins suddenly. “Though we can do more of that later, if you like. I want to visit Old Town.”

Now it’s my turn to narrow my eyes. “There’s a reason we haven’t let you run rampant all over the faction, Monroe.” Though if there’s a mole—or several moles—in the compound itself, it removes some of those reasons. And with her going to Amazon territory every weekday, it’s not as if she can’t slip information to her people whenever she feels like it. Still… “It’s not safe.”

No matter how formidable she is, she’s still an Amazon in Raider territory. A single woman. There are plenty of people in our faction—especially in Old Town—who hate both Amazons and Mystics and won’t hesitate to take that hate out on Monroe, deserved or not.

“Are you worried about me?” For once, the question doesn’t have a mocking lilt to it. Monroe stares at me like she’s never seen me before. Before I can come up with a response, her expression clears. “Oh, of course not. If I die, it puts you right back into the fire with war.”

I honestly hadn’t considered the war when I objected. “The world would be a dimmer place without you in it.” I’m kicking myself before I finish the sentence, but there’s no taking it back now.

She blinks those big green eyes at me. “Um, okay.”

Shiloh takes pity on me and cuts in. “Broderick’s not wrong. With how crowded it can get in Old Town during peak hours, it would be simple to slip a knife between your ribs and be gone before we had a chance to react. It’s what I would do in their position.”

“How murderous of you.” Monroe waves that away. “I’ll be with you and Broderick. Between the three of us, I’m safe enough.”

Shiloh and I exchange a look. She smiles a little. “I’ll ask Cohen for a few people to tag along. I’m sure Iris could use some shopping after dealing with that Mystic so much lately.”

That Mysticbeing Matteo, the son of the ruler of the Mystics. I haven’t interacted with him much, but Finnegan seems to like him just fine as a Bride. Or at least the sounds coming from their room the other night seem to indicate he does. I wonder what Iris thinks about that. She’s always been something of a closed book. She and Shiloh are close enough, but if she’s bothered by her boyfriend fucking his Bride, she hasn’t shown any indication of it. She’s been sleeping in Finnegan’s room, after all.

“Good. Since we’re on the same page for the time being, we might as well prove to the public that I’m a docile little Bride.”

I snort. “No one would ever use the word docile’ to describe you.”

“You’re right.” She snaps her fingers. “Guess we’ll have to convince them you gave me such a good dicking down that I’ve temporarily lost my mind.”

Heat flashes through my body, and I have to concentrate not to respond physically at the memories that surge forth. “No one is going to believe that, either.”

“Give me a little credit.” She grins. “They’ll believe it enough to get our respective leaders off our backs. That’s all that matters—negating the current threat.”

Shiloh gets a strange look on her face but nods. “That’s the wisest course of action.”

“It is.” Monroe gives a little wiggle, and I lose my battle to keep my attention on her eyes. She’s not even flaunting her nakedness right now; she’s just that comfortable in her own skin. She laughs. “Also, we’re going to have some fun.”

“Fun.” I raise my brows. “I don’t know how much more fun I can take from you two.”

“Lies.” She turns and starts for the bathroom. “I’m sure you’ll rise to the occasion should we find the opportunity.” She disappears through the door and, a few moments later, the shower starts.

I look at Shiloh. “Are you okay?”

“Of course. I’m always okay.” She shoves the coffee mug onto the nightstand and stands.

I don’t mean to react. My body just does it on its own, my hand snapping out and closing around her wrist as she goes to move past me. “Shiloh.” I tow her closer slowly, keeping my grip light enough that she could break free easily. Since I’m sitting on the bed, our positions put her breasts right at eye level, but I hold her gaze intentionally. “Talk to me. Is this about what happened last night?”

For a moment, I think she’ll push me away, both physically and emotionally, but she sighs. “I know the overprotective thing is part of who you are, and I am making my peace with the fact that it’s Monroe as well, but I could really do without you egging each other on to go to battle over something that happened a very long time ago.” Her gaze goes shuttered.

It takes me a beat to understand. She’s not upset about the sex. She’s feeling off because her past was brought up and how we reacted. Relief makes me a little light-headed. I don’t know what the fuck I would do if she regretted things.

I tug on her wrist again, and she slides down to straddle me as if we’ve been this comfortable with each other for years instead of a single night. My cock gives a twinge, but I ignore it. “I thought you wanted us to get along.”

“I do, but I didn’t intend have you gang up on me.”

I carefully coast my hands up her arms and across her shoulders, stopping just short of cupping her jaw the way I want to. She might be focusing on one part of things, but I have to know the truth. “Do you regret what happened last night?”

Shiloh hesitates but finally sighs. “No. I wouldn’t be sitting here naked in your lap if I regretted it.”

“I could do without the reminder.” I give her a look when she laughs. Some of the heaviness she seemed to be carrying dissipates with that happy sound. “This conversation is too important to get distracted in the middle.”

“Every conversation is important with you.”

I don’t know if I can look into that comment even a little, so I ignore it. “You have been my friend since we met. You are important to me. I don’t regret anything that’s happened between us, but you are my friend first, and I don’t want to do anything to endanger that. I can’t stand the thought of losing you.” Now it’s my turn to hesitate. “But last night was pretty damn perfect. If you’re on the same page, if you’re willing to try for more, I would really like to.”

“Oh, Broderick.” She feathers her fingers through my hair. “What about Monroe?”

“What about Monroe?” The question feels wrong, as if I’m doing her a disservice. Monroe and I have been working together beautifully since we decided to seduce Shiloh together, but that’s only a small percentage of the time she’s been my Bride. We haven’t talked about the future, haven’t talked about anything but Shiloh, and plans to keep Monroe alive.

“I don’t know if we work without her.”

I open my mouth to argue but have to stop. I don’t want to lie to Shiloh, and I’m not certain it would be the truth to say we definitively do work without Monroe in the picture, egging us on. “There’s only one way to find out.”

“I suppose.” She shifts against me a little, but her expression is contemplative, not seductive. “What if Monroe stayed?”

“Shiloh.” I take her face in my hands. “She’s an Amazon. She’s not for either of us. Not permanently.”

She wraps her hands around my wrists and lowers my hands from her face. “Her being an Amazon makes her not for you.”

I don’t miss the way she puts distance between us with both words and actions. “Not just an Amazon, Shiloh. She’s the Amazon heir. She’s going to be queen. Even if this were some fairy tale where we all fall happily in love, she won’t stay.”

“And you won’t go.”

Again, she’s excluding herself from this theoretical future. I don’t want to ask the question, but I need to know the answer. “Would you? If she asked you to, would you go with her?”

“I don’t know.”

It’s not the clear rejection of the idea that I want, and fuck, that hurts. “You really care about her that much?” More than me?

“I don’t know,” she repeats. Shiloh eases off my lap and turns for the bathroom. “Being in Sabine Valley has been more challenging than I expected. I just… I don’t know, Broderick. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.”

“I won’t ask you for anything but the truth,” I manage.

She gives me a bittersweet smile. “Liar. You want everything.”

“Of course I want everything. I love you.” The words are out before I can call them back, but suddenly I don’t want to call them back. We’ve danced around each other for so fucking long. Maybe it’s time to just clear the air properly. It’s not like we can do more damage to our friendship after having sex last night. “I’ve loved you for years, Shiloh. I respected our friendship too much to endanger it, and you never indicated that you were interested in more than friendship, so I kept my feelings to myself.”

“Maybe I’m not interested in more than friendship.”

I snort. “You were coming all over my cock, my mouth, my hands. That’s not what friends do.”

“You’re right.” Shiloh picks up her mug and finishes off her coffee. “But I’m still not sure where that leaves us. Just…give me some time to process.”

A lot has changed in a very short time. As much as I want concrete answers—concrete assurances—now, this is something I can’t rush. It has to happen naturally, or I run the risk of fucking things up permanently. “Okay.”

She heads into the bathroom, leaving me staring after her and wondering what the hell we’re doing. I want a future with Shiloh. But what if she’s right? What if we don’t work without Monroe in the mix?

And Monroe…

I sigh. I like the little asshole. I didn’t expect to, but the past week has changed everything. She’s infuriating, but I like how protective of her people she is. I like how she can be playful and fierce by turns. I even like that cunning mind behind her pretty face, though she turns it against me more often than we’re aligned.

But what if we found something to be aligned over? I feel fucking unstoppable when she and I are striving for the same goal. If we could find a common ground beyond Shiloh, is this really a partnership I’m willing to throw away just because it’s not quite comfortable?

Especially if Shiloh and Monroe are a package deal?