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Me, too And I&039;h so that it didn&039;t feel like it was going break through his sternuht side by side with you That&039;s like expecting a surgeon to operate on his wife But I&039; to stand in your way - and no one else is either You were right in the first place - you&039;ve been fighting for longer than you&039;ve been with me, and you should be able to do what you want I can&039;t actually be there, though - I mean, look, if it happens, it happens, but I&039;d like to avoid that if we can

As her lids dropped a little, he had the sense that she was scanning him in the ways of her other side, and he squared his shoulders under the scrutiny: He kneas in hisbut love for her

He wanted her back

He had nothing to hide

And those terms he&039;d just spilled out were ones that not only he had thought long and hard about, but knew he could live with This was not the off-the-cuff of a newlyto be a breeze just because he had the girl of his dreaht he had to wear shades

Now, as he spoke, it was as a male who had lived for e death valley that ca the one you loved was on the planet but not in your life; who had e of himself and her

He was ready to meet real life head-to-head and compromise

He just prayed he wasn&039;t the only one

As Xhex stared up at John, she found herself blinking like an idiot Shit on a shingle, she hadn&039;t expected any of this: the personal call from Wrath, the opportunity presented to her and definitely not what John was saying to her now

He was utterly sincere, though This was not a calculated ploy to get her back into his life - although she knew that without reading his grid Not his way

He meant every word

And he was still bonded to her, thank God

The problem was she had been to this corner with hiood stretch of happy normal Instead? The most important relationship she had had crashed and burned

"You sure you&039;re going to be okay withdirectly with the happens to you, I&039;ht up One hundred But fear of that is not going to get me to try to keep you at home

"You were pretty adamant that where Tohr is is not a place where you want to be"

He shrugged But see, I&039;ether After you were injured, I think I think I had this idea that if I could just get you not to fight, then I&039;d be safe froh - that I wouldn&039;t be exposed to that shit because you wouldn&039;t get stabbed or yeah, worse But come on, don Caldwell is not the safest place on the planet, and it&039;s not like you&039;re working around children with that job at Trez&039;s More to the point, I&039;e, the nu happens to you and I&039;m fucked

Xhex narrowed her eyes She could read his grid, but not every part of his brain, and before she opened up to hiot her hopes up, it was critical to know that he&039;d thought this shit through "What about afterward? Say I get the rifle and bring it back here and it turns out to be the weapon that was used - what if I want to go after theuy, and the idea that someone tried to snuff him makes me cranky"

John&039;s stare didn&039;t waver, leading her to believe he had in fact considered that outco as I&039;m not on rotation with you, I&039;ll be okay If I have to come in as backup - well, that&039;s just what it is, and we&039;ll deal with it - I&039;ll deal with it, he corrected I just don&039;t want to be in the same territory as you if we can avoid it

"What if I want to keep my job with Trez? Permanently"

That&039;s your business

"What if I wanted to keep staying at ht to de at this point

It was, of course, everything that she had wanted to hear: no limits on her, free to choose, free to be equal

And, God, she wanted to fall into it all Being apart from him had been the shittiest stretch of darkness she&039;d ever been through But the thing was, she was used to the chronic suffering The only thing worse than it would be having to accliain She didn&039;t think she could go through that -

I&039; this to "make up" with you, Xhex I want that - fuck, yeah, I really want that But this is how I expect things to be from now on And like I said, words don&039;t et to work and see what happens Let me prove to you by actions what I&039;ve spoken to you now

"You realize that I can&039;t go through another freak-out from you I can&039;t - it&039;s too hard"

I&039;ned, he alsointo her chest So sorry - I wasn&039;t prepared for how I&039;d react because I&039;d never considered the ramifications until I was knee-deep in theive me the chance to handle it better But on your tiht back a iven her her revenge, had allowed her to be the one to kill her own personal ene that had no doubt made hiht, she thought Good intentions didn&039;t alork out, but he could prove how things were going to be over tiive it a go Come with me to Wrath&039;s?"

When John nodded once, she stepped in beside hi&039;s study

Each step they took seeh the h the earthquake that had been tossing her life around in a blender had suddenly stopped, and she didn&039;t trust her balance or the steadiness of as below her feet

Before they knocked on the closed doors, she turned toward the n vital to Wrath and the Brotherhood But its implications to her own life, and John&039;s, see into him, she put her arms around his body and held on As he returned the elove

Goddamn, she hoped this worked out

Oh, and yeah, nailing Xcor and his band of freaks?

Nice bonus