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Leave it to me to take a bad situation and make it worse.

Fuck.

And it’s not like Avery was in the wrong. She had every reason to hate me.

I’d promised her that I’d stop hacking and go legit so that we could start a life together—start a family. Except that I wasn’t just hacking.

She didn’t have a clue that my family worked as fixers, constantly skirting the line of illegal activity, and explaining it to her would have been pointless, knowing full well that she would have no patience for that sort of thing, after losing her father in prison.

I was being pulled in two directions, wanting to make her happy and yet finding it damn hard to go legit when my family still needed my help. So what did I do instead? I lied to her and continued hacking, knowing that my family needed me to hold up my end of the business.

Of course, she got pissed off at me when she found out, and took off in a fit of anger. But instead of going after her like I should have, I ended up betraying her in the worst way possible, knowing that it would put an end to our relationship, since I couldn’t see an easy way to walk away from what my family needed from me.

I took another woman to my bed and didn’t bother hiding it, knowing full well that she’d eventually show up once she cooled down, and that would put an end to our relationship.

I was an asshole. Plain and simple. I deserved every bit of her wrath, even if I broke not just her heart, but mine. The truth was that she deserved someone a hell of a lot better than me.

Knowing she was already annoyed with me, I said little else as I drove us to Joe’s, still not quite sure what I was going to say to her or how I should approach this. I hadn’t expected to run into her, and of all the people in my life, Avery was probably the one who knew me best, despite our years apart.

That meant she would immediately pick up on any lies or manipulations. Yet how the hell was I supposed to tell her what I was up to, when I still had to complete the job or risk putting my family in danger? If I screwed this up, I had no doubt Stubbs wouldn’t just go after Emie this time around, and I refused to lose anyone else I loved to violence.

I pulled into the parking lot and jogged around to get her door. Not that she took my hand when I offered it. “I get it. You hate me. Not that I blame you, Avery. I was awful to you.”

All I could do was acknowledge that I’d been wrong, and that I hurt her. Making excuses would only make me more of an asshole, since there could be no excuse for hurting her the way I did.

“The last thing I had planned for my evening was to spend it with you. I just want this over with.” Avery kept her pace brisk, as if desperate to keep a good distance between us. And there was still something undeniable between us. Because she may know me better than anyone else, but I knew her just as well.

Once inside the diner, I gave the hostess my name, since we were arriving with the dinner rush and it’d be awhile before we were seated. We had a twenty-minute wait ahead of us. Twenty minutes to either start tearing down her walls or twenty minutes for her to reinforce them. At this point, it could go either way.

The waiting area was packed, which suited me just fine, since it meant she couldn’t avoid me, our bodies pressed together as we waited for a table. She may not want anything to do with me, but it didn’t mean I still didn’t have an effect on her, especially when we were this close. Even when I’d had her pressed up against the wall, my hand clasped over her mouth, I could tell that, despite the years apart, her body still knew me...still wanted me. Just like I still wanted her. Despite everything, my heart had never let her go.

She glared up at me, her brown eyes the color of milk chocolate, with flecks of gold and green. “What are you trying to do at GTC?”

I let out a ragged breath, wishing we didn’t have to get into it so soon. “What I’m trying to do is keep my brother’s wife from being murdered by a sadistic thug.”

It may not have been the answer she was looking for, but it was the truth—and she knew it as such. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Dane. That has to suck.”

“My family and I...we’ve been trying to keep our noses clean for a few years now. But one thing after another keeps dragging us back in. This isn’t the life I want, Avery.” It was yet another truth, especially when it meant putting our lives in jeopardy. But I wasn’t sure if she believed me, given the lengths I’d gone to to push her away when there seemed to have been no way out of that life.

“I heard about your father. I’m sorry. I know you were all close.” She looked up at me, genuinely upset, given that she, too, had lost her father. And though it appeared that her anger with me was thawing just a little, I knew I was a long way off from her ever forgiving me.

The loss of my father still felt really raw, and it had been a devastating loss for my whole family. “It never should have happened. We’d already left behind anything illegal and had been focused on running our whiskey distillery—and then out of the blue, he was attacked.”

With the waiting area crammed with people, someone bumped into her, sending her falling into my arms. And though I was hopeful that bit of physical contact would help lower her walls further—the exact opposite happened. She pulled away from me, as if suddenly realizing that she’d let down her guard. “Maybe we should just go. This is taking forever, and frankly, I have better things to do with my time.”

But for once, fate was on my side, and my name was called just a moment later. “See? Even Joe’s wants you to stick around a little longer. You’ve been missed.”

Ignoring the stormy glare she tossed me, I followed behind her as our waitress led the way to a booth. I slid into the seat across from Avery and handed her one of the menus, even though I was sure she still had the menu memorized. “Just in case.”

“You’re such a pain in the ass, Dane.” Her jaw was clenched tight as her hardened gaze took me in, the menu abandoned on the table. “You’ve yet to tell me what you’re looking for at GTC.”

“Avery...I can’t tell you. The last thing I want is to pull you into this mess and put you in danger. I won’t do it—not even if it means you’ll have my ass thrown in jail.”