Whispers of a Broken Halo by Abbi Glines

“PLEASE STOP! RIO!” Bryn was pleading.

Decker started to hook his arm around my neck, and I moved then, using that opportunity to grab him and throw him back. He hit the railing, and it knocked him on his ass.

“Go. Bryn’s upset. This shit is over,” I said, turning to walk back to her.

Her face was streaked with tears, and I hadn’t realized she was crying. I felt guilty for upsetting her, but I couldn’t stand there and let him talk about her like that.

When I reached her, the anger in her gaze confused me.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

She shook her head and held up both hands, as if to keep me back.

“If he is mine, I now see how dangerous it is for him to have someone with your temper and violence around him. I’ll make sure that ends,” Decker said.

I glared back at him. “Get the fuck out of here,” I warned him.

He wiped the blood trickling from his busted lip on the sleeve of his shirt and nodded. “See you soon, Bryn,” he drawled, then finally headed for the stairs.

I looked back down at Bryn. “I’m sorry, but he was saying shit about you. I couldn’t stand there and let him talk about you like that,” I told her.

Her tears had turned to anger as she reached for the door handle. “I think you need to leave, Rio,” she said before opening it to walk inside.

I reached for her arm, and she stopped but didn’t look back at me.

“Bryn, don’t be like this,” I pleaded.

“Be like what? Worried about my nephew’s future? Worried that some man he doesn’t even know could fight me for custody?” she asked, then glanced back at me over her shoulder. “Cullen is what is important. What Decker says about me means nothing. Just … go. I’ll call you later. I need to be alone before I go get Cullen from camp,” she said, then pulled her arm free of me and closed the door in my face.

“I’m sorry, Bryn,” I said loud enough that I knew she could hear me through the door.

She didn’t open it. I stood there for several minutes, hoping she’d change her mind about me leaving.

When it was clear she wasn’t coming back, I turned and headed for my Jeep. I had known losing my temper and hitting him was a bad idea, but I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t do it again. Controlling myself with his arrogant grin as he’d said things about Bryn felt impossible. She didn’t see it that way though.

One thing we agreed on: Cullen was what was most important right now. That asshole was not going to take him.





Chapter Forty-Seven

Bryn

Taking Cullen to camp was difficult. I wanted to keep him with me and hold him. I couldn’t sleep at night from the fears running through my head.

Decker’s lawyer had contacted mine, and the DNA test was set to take place tomorrow. If Decker was Cullen’s father, I would still have a fighting chance at winning custody. Decker was not a man who wanted to be saddled with a kid. I knew this, and he knew it, yet he was still going through with everything.

The what-ifs were haunting me though. That, and the fact that I had barely spoken to Rio in two days. Cullen had asked where he was the past two nights, and I’d just told him Rio was busy. At work, I didn’t have to stay in the office all day. I went in the mornings and went over the things I needed to handle, then came home to do the paperwork, ordering, and pay the bills. Rio had tried several times to talk to me, and I only spoke to him if it was work-related.

I wasn’t still mad at him, I’d realized as I lay awake in my bed, looking at the ceiling most of the night.

My anger over the fight had faded, and today, when he tried to talk to me, I would be ready. I missed him. While I’d cried in my pillow last night, I had wished he were there to hold me and reassure me. Left to my own thoughts, I was tormented with the different outcomes.

Heading into the back door of the farmers market, I almost didn’t see Rio and wouldn’t have if the female he was with hadn’t laughed. I turned my head and saw his back. He was facing a woman I didn’t know. She wasn’t an employee. Rio must have said something funny. Her sheer cover-up did nothing to hide her bikini. There wasn’t much of it. I watched them for a moment, trying to decide if she was a customer, but then she put her hand on his arm and tilted her head as she leaned in to whisper something to him. There was a familiarity there. She wasn’t a stranger.

I walked away then, toward the office, not wanting to see any more. Rio was obviously not suffering from our being apart. There was already another female vying for his attention. It wasn’t surprising. I was sure there would always be someone waiting for him to be single.

Maybe he thought he was now. I set my bag down on the desk and stood there, staring at the table and piled-up files that I needed to handle. I would get through this day. I wouldn’t let Rio flirting with some sexy, tall, thin redhead bother me. If that was what he wanted, then fine.

Even as I told myself that, I looked back at the open door and glared as if it were offensive. It had been two days. He couldn’t give me two freaking days?

After everything we had been through, he was going to enjoy some other female laughing at his jokes and touching his arm and whispering in his ear?

No. The hell he was. My life was in a current state of turmoil, and I wasn’t going to just let him mess us up. I was allowed to need space to deal with things.