This time, she crossed her arms over her chest.
Scratching the back of my head, I felt heat climb up my neck as every person in the room stared at me, waiting for my response.
“Look, the fact is that I’m trained for this, and you’re not. If I had told you what my plan was, you’d want to come along for some unknown reason, thinking you could help. And then I’d be forced to tell you that you being there would only put us all in more danger, which you’d get pissed at me for.”
Sinner sucked in a breath while Krista’s eyes flared in anger.
“So, yes, I decided to sneak out instead of having that very uncomfortable, but very true conversation because in the end, it doesn’t matter what you want. I’m doing this to protect you. And if I wanted to take your feelings into account, I would have asked you what you thought. But since you have no knowledge of what we’re about to do, I figured I’d skip the whole thing and do what was necessary.”
You could have heard a pin drop. Seriously, not even the guys said a single thing or even made a noise. But I told the truth, and when it came down to it, that was the only thing that mattered. I had a job to do, and I wouldn’t pussyfoot around a woman just to make her feel better.
I expected a knee to the groin. Maybe a hand gesture that would tell me where to shove it. Or maybe even a few choice words. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked back up the stairs.
She didn’t even stomp, which I felt made it ten times worse.
As soon as she was out of sight, Sinner clapped me on the shoulder. “Remind me to tell you sometime about how I once tried to sacrifice myself in the name of protecting Cara. It’s a good one,” he grinned, laughing as he walked past me to the door.
Frowning, I looked back up to where Krista had disappeared. “Should I go explain?”
Parker laughed, shaking his head. “I’m pretty sure you just did enough explaining to talk yourself out of marriage. But sure. Go after her and see what happens.”
He shoved past me and walked out the door.
“I was only telling her the truth,” I argued.
“That was your first mistake,” Derek sighed. “You have a lot to learn, Kemosabe.”
Liam walked over to me, the last of our crew to stay behind. “You don’t seem too bright, so I’m going to give you a hint. You should have stopped while you were ahead.” Clapping me on the shoulder, he squeezed tightly. “I would say that as her brother, I’m required to kick your ass, but I think she can handle that just fine on her own.”
When he left, it was just the jovial brother and me. “I suppose you have something to say as well.”
“Me?” He grinned widely at me. “Nope. I have no woman, no relationship advice, and know when to stay out of it. Good luck. Hope you don’t kill yourself before you can figure out how to salvage…whatever that was.”
Holdingthe manila envelope in my hand, I strode into the motel the guys had secured while I ran my errands. They were all lounging around, cleaning their weapons as if they didn’t have a care in the world, grinning like idiots the moment I walked through the door.
The Parker brothers had been shooting me looks and then laughing at me the whole drive, but I wasn’t an idiot.
Well, most of the time.
I still hadn’t figured out exactly what pissed Krista off so much. I was doing a job, and her interference would only make things worse. What was wrong with saying that?
Sinner walked out of the bathroom, giving me a single look before snickering at me.
“Enough, alright? Can we just focus on the job at hand?”
“Sure,” Derek said, hiding his laughter. “After all, you have to get home to your wife.”
“If you have a wife to go home to,” Sinner added.
“Are you telling me you actually bring your wives along and let them do whatever they want on a job? Because I know that doesn’t happen.”
“Not unless you’re Cap,” Derek said. “I let Claire come with me to get your ass. Of course, that was when I thought you had just made a minor fuckup.”
“Coming along would have put her in danger!”
“We’re not arguing that,” Liam chuckled.
“Then what the fuck is the problem?”