Shades of Love (Mad Jackals Brotherhood MC Book 3) Read Free Page B

you said ‘I love you’. I thought…I thought…” Eli doesn’t finish his sentence but he doesn’t have to.
     
    “You thought I was talking to Ray.” She straightens her back; it’s a small victory to be able to say his name without flinching.
     
    “I just don’t want you to fall for his act again. He doesn’t deserve you, Mia.” Eli takes a step towards her and Mia is grateful for the table between them.
     
    “Eli, I appreciate you looking out for me and for letting me stay here the past few days, but you need to take a step back.” She holds up her hand and Eli moves backwards obediently. Mia shakes her head. “I don’t mean literally. I mean…emotionally.” She gestures with her hands to vaguely encompass the two of them. Eli looks at her as if she were speaking Chinese and she takes a breath to explain what she means. “I’m lucky that you care about me. I really am lucky to have someone like you in my life.” She pushes on as she sees the spark of victory in his eyes. The last thing she wants is for him to get the wrong idea. “But you can’t control everything I do.”
     
    Eli’s expression darkens at her words. “That’s what you think I’m trying to do? Control you? I just want you to be safe, Mia. There’s a difference.” He looks hurt enough for Mia to wonder if she’s misinterpreted this whole thing. Her judgment hadn’t exactly been at its best recently, she admits to herself, dejectedly.
     
    “If I’m way off base then I apologize.” She holds her hand up and sees a look in Eli’s eyes again, as if he’d just scored a point. “But listening in on my calls, checking my phone to see who I’ve been in contact with – those things are not okay. You didn’t do this stuff when we were together, what makes you think you’re allowed to do it now?” The words are out of her mouth before she’s had a chance to edit them and Eli picks up on them just like she knew he would.
     
    “When we were together? So what are we now?” His look is challenging and Mia wishes that she’d just kept her mouth shut and let him look at the damn phone all that he wants. It’s not like she has anything to hide from him. Well, that might not strictly be true – Eli probably wouldn’t take kindly to the fact that she was still thinking about Ray, or, more accurately, that she found it hard to think of anything but him.
     
    She shrugs wearily, already feeling exhausted and the day had only barely begun. “Honestly, Eli, I don’t know. Things just aren’t as clear as they used to be.” It’s the only answer she can muster and it also just happens to be the truth. She watches as Eli starts to process her words and decides that she doesn’t want to be around for the fallout. “I have to get ready for work.”
     
    “Mia.” His plaintive voice stops her in her tracks. “I’m not trying to be a jerk. It’s just that I really…care about you.” It was obvious that he had been about to use a much stronger term of affection before thinking better of it.
     
    “I know, Eli. I know.” Mia can almost hear him holding his breath as he waits for her to say something else. “I really have to get ready for work.” She doesn’t give him another opportunity to stop her, hurrying into the bathroom, the only room in the house with a lock on it.
     
    She allows herself a small sigh of contentment as she steps out of the hot shower, her skin red from the scalding water. She dresses quickly, one of the benefits of only having access to a tiny proportion of her wardrobe. Her wardrobe, her brain darts back to the bag chock full of cash that Ray had stashed inside it, money that the Jackals had come looking for.
     
    She takes a look at herself in the mirror. The last few days have taken their toll on her. There are dark circles under her eyes that no amount of concealer will be able to hide. Under her caramel skin tone she’s pale like she’s seen a ghost, which probably wasn’t that strange.