goes, the others follow. They’re like a pack of hyenas. Vicious when one of them is threatened and they’ll circle around you until they know you’re sorted.”
That sounded scary.
But I didn’t tell Luke that.
“Okay.”
“I’m glad you had a talk with Gordy. Next up is your brothers.”
That sounded terrifying.
But I didn’t tell him that either.
“I know.”
“Proud of you, Shiloh.”
“What?”
“So fucking proud, baby. I know that took a lot out of you and you still did it. My girl’s tough as hell.”
I wanted to blink, but I didn’t want to miss a moment of the way Luke was staring at me. So I forced my eyes to stay open.
“You’re not mad that I was irrationally mad at you and blaming you in my head?”
“No.”
“I was really mad at you, Luke. I was thinking that you ruined me. That you vanquished Killer Frost and I needed her so damn bad to make Gordy shut up and go away. But she’s gone.”
Lord, what was wrong with me? Why was I trying to convince Luke he should be mad at me?
“I bet you were cursing my name. Pissed as shit you couldn’t find it in you to turn Gordy away. Told you I was gonna make that stop. Told you I was digging it out. This is a good start. We’ll build from here.”
Luke did tell me and I never doubted he would do just that.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“You’re welcome, Shiloh.”
After he said that I was no longer looking into his beautiful face.
But that was okay, I got his lips on mine and his tongue in my mouth and that was even better.
21
“He’s still in the wind?”
Carter’s question pulled my attention from the whiteboard to Ethan prowling into the conference room.
“Yup.” Ethan flung his big frame into the chair next to his brother.
The fact the chair didn’t buckle under the force of Ethan’s weight was a testament to its manufacturing. Ethan was madder than a motherfucker and I didn’t blame him.
The cops in Montgomery had paid Jeff Shepard a visit. Instead of escorting Shepard to the station, they’d asked him to come in and speak to them. Of course, Shepard agreed then he ran.
That was two weeks ago.
Fourteen days and now the guy was a ghost.
Also, fourteen days of Shiloh in my bed or me in hers.
Two weeks of spending as much time with her as I could, getting to know her. Though, I was finding the getting to know her part wasn’t all that necessary. What you see is what you get with Shiloh. I’m sure she’d disagree but she didn’t hide who she was. From the first argument we’d had she’d laid herself bare. She might not have done it on purpose, but she’d let me in that night, and each day since, she gave me more.
Now, she was opening herself up to her team with Gordy leading that situation. Shiloh thought Gordy was pushing too hard. I disagreed. The man should’ve stepped up years ago. So he was making up for lost time, fully pulling her into the fray, guiding her to understand the true meaning of friendship. Shiloh bitched about this, but she did it in a way that stated plainly she was loving every second.
A week ago, Liberty had done exactly what I’d warned Shiloh she was going to do and reached out asking Shiloh out for coffee. Shiloh went and was met by not only Liberty but the entire women’s brigade. That night, Shiloh was quiet and reflective through dinner. She’d asked me to take a bath with her and after we reenacted our first time in her tub—with a few variants that included me doing a whole lot more touching—Shiloh opened up and told me about her outing. This included Honor, Mercy, Tuesday, Delaney, Quinn, Hadley, and Addy all sharing their stories, and Liberty elaborating on what Shiloh already knew. Surprisingly, it was Addy who broke through. Shiloh didn’t explain why beyond saying Addy “got it” and she was stronger than anyone she’d ever met. I couldn’t deny Adalynn Walker’s strength. Trey was a lucky sonofabitch to have Addy in his corner. The woman would stand by him through thick and thin. I figured that had a lot to do with the Walker loyalty that was ingrained but also because Trey hadn’t faltered when the weight of most of her family came down on him. He stood strong and helped Addy heal from unthinkable hurt. So, maybe I wasn’t all that surprised it was the shy Addy with