Better When He's Brave

I shook my head slowly. “I’m going to love him and take care of him like he has always done for you, Shane. He needs someone to care for him and I promise that I won’t ever compromise him. I told Nassir that when I agreed to stay on at the club. Everything is aboveboard and legal, and it stays that way or I walk. Maybe it’s not the most morally pristine job for a cop’s lady to have, but it pays well and I like being able to take care of the girls. Strippers are mostly good women just doing what they have to in order to survive out here. I understand that better than Nassir or Race ever will. It’s not like you can judge anyway. I know what all those cars sitting on your lot are for. Out of the two of us, you’re the one that tests his resolve to be who he is, not me.” I got to my feet and put my hands on the edge of the desk. I leaned forward a little so Bax could feel my own heavy and deep gaze as it landed on him. “And he wasn’t always a cop. He was a kid stuck just like you were. He is a man that has had to make the hard choices just like you. Don’t force him to make another one, Shane. Find a way to make peace with the fact I’m here and I’m here to stay.”

I wouldn’t beg him. I had too much pride for that, but I would fight him if he made me. Titus needed both of us in his life and I wouldn’t let Bax reopen the gap that had separated them for so long. I pushed up off the desk and turned to head back out the door. Bax’s gravelly voice stopped me just as I was pushing the lever to open it.

“When you say ‘here to stay,’ are you talking babies and a ring? Traditional shit that makes no sense in this place?” He sounded baffled by the concept.

I just shrugged my shoulder. What happened next hadn’t exactly come up in conversation with the cop, but he didn’t seem at all concerned that birth control had gone out the window. Well, once the feds had officially cleared out and there was no longer the threat of possible jail time hanging over my head, birth control had fallen by the wayside. Babies and the Point didn’t really mix, but when the mother was willing to do anything, and I do mean anything, to keep them safe and happy, I think Titus and I realized bringing a life into this messed-up world was a risk we were both willing to take. And as traditional and serious as the man was about family, I had no doubt that at some point in the future he would want to make all the more between us official.

“I’m here for all of it. Whatever it is.”

He swung the bulky contraption holding his ankle off the desk and got to his feet. He crossed his arms over his chest and we had a stare-down. When I didn’t look away he gave that tiny little nod again and let his mouth twist up into a smirk.

“We’re fine for now, Reeve, but if you ever hurt anyone I care about again, there won’t be a place far enough away that you can hide to get away from me.”

“We care about the same people, Shane. I won’t make those kinds of mistakes again.”

I walked out before he could say anything else. It was a shaky truce at best, but it would do for now. Bax was never going to be my biggest fan, but as long as he tolerated me and understood I would never let anything hurt Titus, I was a happy girl.

I had one more quick stop to make before going back home to my cranky cop. As nice and modern as the loft was, it didn’t feel like a home. I didn’t want to be locked up in a fortress and I didn’t want to be lifted high above the streets that were my home. I liked Titus’s messy little Craftsman. I liked that once it was cleaned up and actually had some things inside of it to make it feel lived in and homey, it automatically felt like a home we had built together. He hadn’t even asked me to move in. I just did it as soon as he came home from the hospital. I knew he was going to need help since he could barely walk and still had more reconstructive surgery to look forward to, but he didn’t say anything about all my stuff overrunning the closet and overtaking the bathroom counter. I assumed he was happy with the situation since he never complained or batted an eye even if I did harp on him to pick up after himself. I never knew any one person could leave such a tornado of mess behind them wherever they went. He was lucky I loved him because the man was a straight-up slob.

I found the room I was looking for when I got to the hospital with minimal effort. I had wanted to come by sooner, but between the cops questioning him and the feds wanting a piece of him, Booker was a busy guy. Not to mention he had required three separate operations to keep him alive and to dig the bullet out of his chest, and was just now awake and lucid enough for visitors.

When I pushed the door open I wasn’t surprised at all to see that he wasn’t alone. Big brown eyes looked up at me guiltily as Karsen took a startled step back from the bed. The teenager flushed and bit down on her lip.

“Hi, Reeve.”

“Hi, sweetie. Does your sister or Race know you’re here?” The teenager flushed even hotter red and I knew the answer was no. I sighed. “You better go, then. You don’t need to get the brute in any more trouble with Race.”

She nodded and whispered good-bye to Booker before scurrying out the door. I shut it behind her and went over to take up the spot she had just vacated by the bed. Booker was looking up at me with weary blue-gray eyes and he had all kinds of tubes and wires coming out of him.

“You really do have a death wish if you think Race is gonna let you get your hands on that girl, my friend.”

He wheezed out something that sounded like a laugh. “You still pissed at me too?”

At first, when Titus explained why Booker had betrayed us all, I had been so burned, felt so violated, that I was sure I never wanted to see the man again. But I was a master of knowing all about drastic choices made in the vortex of desperation and frustration, so when I calmed down I knew I couldn’t stay mad at him. Booker was playing the only hand he had been dealt just like we all did. We all gambled with fate and chance every single day, so we were bound to lose every now and then.