“Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting that.”
“And Bobby knew what club Jocelyn liked to go to,” Ethan said.
“She’d come back and tell him about all the hot girl-on-girl action she got, and then when they were both turned on, they’d fuck,” Nicky said.
“That isn’t how Bobby told the story,” Ethan said.
“It’s what he meant,” Nicky said.
“Guys, why are you headed my way?” I asked.
“We’ve got some protein bars and sports drinks for you to keep with you so you won’t miss any more meals,” Ethan said.
“I just ate lunch.”
“That would have been dinner, Anita,” Nicky said.
“Did you guys have lunch?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“Look, I’m sorry I was too busy crime busting to eat.”
“Anita, it’s not just the ardeur rising early. You risk the lives of everyone that is tied to you metaphysically. You start by draining Nathaniel and Damian. I’m not close enough to Damian to really care, but Nathaniel is like my brother. I know how much you love him, because I can feel it. I didn’t know anyone could love as much as you love him, so how can you keep risking his life like this?”
I couldn’t even argue with Nicky, and God, I wanted to, but . . . “Jean-Claude and Micah both promised to contact me if I started to drain anybody. Besides, Nathaniel is getting better at managing the energy among the three of us.”
“You’re just making excuses, Anita.” Nicky sounded genuinely angry. He never got mad at me.
“You’re my Bride, Nicky. I thought it caused you pain if I was unhappy.”
“Sometimes it does, but if Nathaniel dies because you were careless, you’d never forgive yourself, and neither would I. Neither would Micah or Sin or Dev or—”
“I get it, Nicky.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah, I do.” I was angry now, which was better than feeling guilty.
“Good. Then you’ll let us shadow you while you keep crime busting.”
“No, you heard Leduc. None of you can be part of the investigation.”
“We’ll stay out of the way, but you need us with you, Anita.”
“What do you mean, shadowing me?”
“We’ll follow you in our car. We’ll be nearby in case you lose control again.”
“Leduc can’t see you following us. He’ll lose his shit, and he has enough clout around here to kick the Coalition out of the area. Hell, he’s got so many friends in the good-ol’-boy network, he might be able to keep the Coalition out of most of Michigan.”
“Anita, you almost fed the ardeur on a woman you’d just met. What if you’d lost control in the strip club?” Ethan said.
I paced around the empty parking spaces at the edge of the lot. My pulse was too fast; the anger had gone onto the edge of fear. “I handled it,” I said finally.
“Anita, do you really want to risk the ardeur rising when you’re surrounded by cops without any of us nearby?” Nicky asked.
“No, of course I don’t. That would be a nightmare, and you know it.”