Shit.
He’d really said that.
Your tendencies to go with whatever’s easiest or most convenient, ‘cause you’re terrified to be an imposition? They’re not going to fly around here.
Double shit.
He’d said that, too.
I don’t want polite. I want real.
Triple shit.
I was so totally screwed.
“Imogen.” Cade called me back to reality.
My eyes flew to his. “W-what? Sorry, did you say something?”
“Where did you just go?”
“I’m right here.”
“You’re sitting two inches away from me but your thoughts are in another universe.”
Christ, he was perceptive.
I took a sip of my beer and averted my gaze. “Why does it matter?”
“Not sure what it’s going to take for you to realize that everything you do matters to me.” His hand found my chin and he turned my head so I was no longer able to avoid his stare. “That includes putting yourself in harm’s way, storming into a bar owned by men you know are dangerous.”
“But Gigi?—”
“I know. Your friend was in trouble. You were only trying to help. Instead, you could’ve gotten yourself seriously hurt. I warned you once before, the O’Banion boys have rap sheets longer than your arm and are all too happy to add a few more lines. More than a few of those charges are for violence against the women in their lives. Not just assault. Rape of every variety — attempted, date, statutory. The list goes on.”
My eyes went wide.
His jaw clenched. “I wasn’t a big fan when you put yourself on Donny’s radar. Can’t say I’m any more of a fan that you’re now on his brothers’ radar, as well.”
“I wasn’t trying to get myself on their radar,” I protested softly. “I just thought about Georgia walking in there alone, no backup?—”
“The police could’ve been her backup. Not you, Gwendolyn, Florence, and two eighty-year-olds with arthritis and expired licenses.”
“Sally’s license is expired?”
“For about six years now, yeah.”
“Huh. I guess that explains the state of her minivan.”
His lips twitched, but the humor quickly vanished as he got back to the matter at hand. “I don’t need to be worrying about you and your friends going off the rails, getting calls that you’re engaged in an altercation at The Banshee. Not when I have a lot of other shit I should be worrying about.”
“I never asked you to worry about me.”
“You don’t need to ask. You’re in my life. I care about you. That means I’m going to worry about you. I’m going to show up when you need me. I’m going to do it even when I’m pissed off. I’m going to do it even whenyou’repissed off. That’s how a relationship works.”
I blinked, struggling to process that concept.
A relationship.