He took his eyes from Elise, really not wanting to engage in this years-old dead-horse discussion, but it had to be done.

“You and I are square. I accept what you are. But I’m not going to let you hurt Elise. You f**k with her and I’ll step in. Don’t make me do that. She means something to me. A lot. Fuck. Pretty much everything, so don’t make me choose.”

Raven physically jerked back, pausing before speaking. “You’ve changed since she came around. Like a domesticated animal or something. You used to be free. And now? Not. You look to her every time you answer a question, like you can’t speak for yourself.”

“I am different, yes, in a good way. And f**k you on the lookingat-her-before-speaking thing. You’ve barely been around us as a couple, how the hell would you know?”

“I guess I don’t think I want to like her. I don’t want to be jealous of the way you look at her. Because you looked at me like that and I never appreciated it.”

His anger wisped away at the sadness in her tone. Raven was a lost soul. He’d never be her lover again, but he still cared about her. Despite her flaws, she’d helped him when he’d needed it most. He’d never forget that. He smiled, wishing deep down that she’d get her shit together and let herself be loved. She’d been wrong on one thing, though it wasn’t necessary to point it out. He’d never looked at her the way he looked at Elise. He knew Elise was different from anyone else in his life. Special in a way no woman had ever been before.

“There’s no reason not to like her. She’s pretty awesome, actually. But you’re still my friend, and that’s not going to change unless you change it.”

He looked back up and saw a man in a suit approach Elise, hand her an envelope and walk away. Alarmed at the drastic change of body language and the look on her face as she opened the envelope, Brody began walking toward her, but it seemed to take forever as people kept stopping him for something or other.

Her face paled and she crumpled the sheaf of papers to her chest. Concerned, he moved toward Elise, now ignoring anyone who tried to stop him.

Her mother approached, but Elise shook her head, instead calling Rennie’s name. Rennie, caught up in some game with her friends, didn’t want to leave. Elise sharpened her voice in a way he’d never heard her use with her daughter. Apparently she didn’t very often, because Rennie came over immediately.

Elise hugged Rennie tight, fighting the panic and the tears. Not again! She’d gotten complacent. They would not take her baby, damn it. She scanned the crowd, looking for Brody, needing the reassurance of his presence, and discovered him standing right next to her. Comfort and safety rushed through her, allowing her to swim past the panic and get hold of herself.

“What’s going on?” he asked her quietly when he bussed her cheek.

“Mom, can I please go back and play? I’m winning!”

She couldn’t seem to stop her hands shaking, so she held tight to those damnable papers and took a deep breath. “Don’t leave my sight. Don’t leave with anyone but me, Pops or Gran. Understand? If anyone you don’t know approaches you, I want you to get away from them and tell me immediately.”

Rennie’s eyes widened. “Are you all right, Momma?”

Christ, what a horrible mother she was, scaring her child this way. She forced the tears away and brushed some potato chips from the front of Rennie’s hoodie, the touch reassuring them both. “I’m fine, Noodle. I’m sorry I scared you. Go on and play.”

“I’ll go over near her, to keep an eye. You will tell Daddy what is going on. Right this instant.” Her mother gave her the glare of immediate compliance and headed over to cheer the kids on and keep an eye on Rennie.

She couldn’t help it, she grabbed Brody’s arm and squeezed. Needing to feel him there.

“Tell me what the hell has you looking like you’re about to freak the f**k out,” he ordered in a low but commanding voice, his gaze roving over her face.

“I can’t right now.”

She knew she looked bad, but she couldn’t seem to stop shaking. Her teeth had begun to chatter, so she clenched her jaws. She didn’t want to run to him with her problems. He was her friend, they had sex, but she didn’t want to be a burden or a responsibility to this man who’d shouldered more responsibility by the time he was thirty than most had. She couldn’t bear the thought of him seeing her as yet another thing he had to fix or deal with.

He took her arm and guided her, gently but firmly, toward her front porch. She wasn’t getting away from him when he was that intent, and it began to push her buttons. “You’ll tell me what has you looking like you’re about to pass out.”

“Let. Go.” She dug her heels in, starting to sweat, her heart racing.

He turned to look at her and his face fell from angry to sorrowful in the span of seconds. “Holy crap. What did he do to you? I’m sorry. I just wanted to take you away from the crowd so I could hear you and talk to you. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I know you didn’t. You just pushed some buttons.” She swallowed hard and groaned aloud when her father came stalking over, looking like midnight and doom.

Of course Brody, seeing his fellow caveman in her father, smiled somewhat grimly and the two exchanged a look of understanding. Crap, they were going to double-team her.

“I’m fine. Both of you, I’m all right, and this is already catching attention, so can we just drop it?”