I grinned at that. "No. No, I'm not."
"If you actually trust her enough to share anything about yourself, then she's worth it. Your instincts are never off."
"Yeah, but what if they are this time? We have a lot at stake"
"You think we all don't worry about that? We do. But sometimes a woman comes along and, no matter what your mind tells you about what's good for you, you can't stay the fuck away."
"Isn’t that the truth."
"In that case I'm happy for you. Couldn't have happened to a better bloke. And now you'll spend your life trying to protect her. Good luck with that. She's Interpol. She's forever going to dive headfirst into danger. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it."
My stomach cramped at that idea. Fuck.
"Fantastic. Bloody fantastic."
Bridge laughed. He moved around to the seven ball and sank it easily, then he stood. "Well, there's the eight. Corner pocket."
I groaned. "Of course. You know if you're going to invite me to play pool, then at least have the decency to let me play."
Bridge grinned. "What fun would that be?"
"Next time it's my turn."
He chuckled. "Okay, I hear you.”
And then I asked him the question that I knew he wouldn't want asked, but if we were poking at my inner workings, I was going to poke at his. "So, are we going to talk about Emma?"
His smile fell, and he flattened his lips, forming tight lines around his mouth. His brow furrowed. "What about Emma?"
"Well, the thing about Emma is that every time she's around or anyone asks you anything about her, you make that face."
"She's a pain in the ass, and she's trying to get herself killed. I mean, I understand her vendetta for Toby. I get it. But she should leave it to us."
I watched him, forcing myself to suppress a smile. He had no idea he wanted her. This was going to be entertaining. "Sure, if you say so."
"What? You don't agree?"
"I believe that Emma is extremely capable. I also agree that we should look out for her. And Toby's death, that's on us to avenge. I don't want her hurt. But she's his sister, so I think she has a say. I think we probably need to bring her in on the team, but I know you don't want to." I put up my hand before he could start shouting at me. "Bridge, she's his sister. Without her, we wouldn't have gotten the video of Van Linsted, Jameson, and Middleton and what they did that night. We wouldn't know who to go after. We wouldn't have any proof."
"I know. I appreciate it and I'm grateful she did that, but she needs to stay the fuck away from this. We lost Toby. Can you imagine if something happened to her? Do you understand what that would do to me, to you, to all of us?"
I watched him. "Bridge. She's not yours to protect."
I'd never seen him look more murderous. The furrow in his forehead deepened, and he looked like he was baring his teeth at me. "What?"
"You're acting like Emma's yours to control. That she's yours to protect. And yes, we owe it to Toby to take care of her. But she's not yours." The way I said it must have finally gotten through to him, because he took a step back and sucked in a short breath.
"I know that."
"Do you? Because you're acting like she is."
"I'm not. I just get angry every time I think about her putting herself in danger. I remember that we weren't able to protect Toby, and we won't be able to protect her if we don't keep her out of this."
"Uh-huh."
And there went the brows again. "The fuck is that supposed to mean?"
I put my hands up and slid my cue stick back into its holder. "What that's supposed to mean is your level of anger right now, this whole macho, me-Tarzan-she-Jane situation you’ve got going on for Emma, you know, not your fiancée, tells me a lot about your feelings for Emma."
He coughed a harsh chuckle. "I don't have feelings for Emma."
"Okay. But you might want to figure out what the hell this is before you get married."
"East, I love Mina. You know that."
"I know. I've always known. Which is why I allow her to stay."
Bridge lifted a brow. "You couldn't do anything about it even if you didn't want her to stay."
I smiled. He and I both knew different. If I wanted to vanish her, I could. Mina Tomlinson would no longer exist. But I wouldn't do that because he loved her. At least that's what he said. But now I could see Emma lingering on the edges of his consciousness. Maybe she was a better choice for him.
It's not for you to decide.
No it wasn't. Bridge was going to have to do that all on his own. "I hear you. You love Mina. So we'll drop it."
"Good. Also, you lost.”
I glanced down at the table. No more balls. I sighed. "Fuck you."
And then he was back. My Bridge. But I had already seen it. He had feelings for Emma Varma, and he had no idea.
18 Nyla
My hands were sweating. My mouth was dry. The last place I wanted to be was inside the tidy row house in Richmond upon Thames. Was this where Denning had moved?
The house looked like everything that he would want. Crisp and clean, pristine garden. Nothing out of place. Nothing too wild or too bright. Staid.
"Wow, this is boring."
East's voice was low and rumbly and made me smile. "It is isn't it? So, this is where the twat that broke into your house lives?"
"Please, East, can you behave?" I still couldn’t believe he’d agreed to come as things between us were so new. I wasn’t even sure what the hell this was. I just knew I couldn’t turn up at dinner alone. Even I didn’t have that much self-confidence.
He put his hand
