Clearly, I didn’t have an argument against that. Adam seemed to concur with Georgia’s assessment of the situation. “What will you do now?” he asked softly.
I shot him a glare. Why wasn’t he encouraging Georgia to stay and fight for her woman? Surrender was never an option.
“I’m going back to New Orleans, of course,” she said. “That’s my home. Always will be.”
“You could have a home here, too,” I said.
Georgia shook her head sadly. “Not if Mac’s here. I couldn’t stand seeing her and her new mate everywhere. It would kill me.”
I was starting to feel a little desperate. I’m sure a therapist would have plenty to say about how the urgency I felt about saving Mac and Georgia’s relationship was connected to my own guilt and issues in my relationship with Adam. But frankly, I didn’t care why. I just needed to do something, anything. “I’ll go talk to Michael!” I blurted out before I realized it was coming.
Adam stilled and looked at me with his mouth hanging to his clavicles. Georgia’s head snapped up. “I thought you said you didn’t want to get in the middle.”
“I know what I said. But I was wrong. We’re involved because you’re both our friends. If talking to Michael can help, then I’ll do it.”
“Thanks, Sabina. It means a lot that you’d be willing to do that.” Georgia’s shoulders drooped. “But it’s too late. I let Mac go. I need to go home and come to terms with that so I can move on.”
My blood rushed. How could she just give up? “Maybe I’m not doing it for you. Maybe I’m doing it so Mac isn’t doomed to be mated to someone she didn’t choose.”
Georgia’s cheeks colored with some emotion—shame? Anger? “Do what you want. It’s not really my business anymore.” She slapped her hands on her thighs and rose. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to finish packing.”
Adam and I looked at each other. Obviously the conversation was finished. I stood to go, but I had one more thing to say. “Georgia, I know you’re hurting right now. But I hope you won’t give up on Mac.”
“I didn’t give up on Mac, Sabina.” For the first time that night, tears sprang to the vampire’s eyes. “She gave up on us.”
Adam and I left Georgia to finish packing and reconvened in the living room for a postmortem. He turned on me the minute we reached the couch. “How could you defend Mac like that?”
I stilled, surprised by the anger in his tone. “Adam, I wasn’t defending her. I just think Georgia isn’t being sensitive to the position Michael put Mac in tonight.”
“Georgia’s not being sensitive?” he repeated, his voice rising. “Seems to me Mac wasn’t being very sensitive when she lied. Maybe Michael did Georgia a favor tonight.”
I flinched. “Regardless, Georgia’s not the only victim in this scenario. And I meant what I said. I’m going to talk to Michael. Despite her poor choices, Mac shouldn’t be forced to mate anyone she didn’t choose.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” he said. “You ask me, Mac’s getting what’s coming to her.”
My mouth fell open. Where was this coming from? “How can you say that?”
He crossed his arms. “Mac had her chance to make things right with Georgia. She knew what was at stake and she chose the coward’s way out.”
My conscience was sparking like a Roman candle. “Sometimes lies are more about protection than deception, Adam.”
Just then, the front door burst open and Giguhl and Pussy Willow marched in. They were laughing about something, but when they saw Adam and me facing off they fell silent.
“What the hell does that even mean?” He started pacing in front of me like a jungle cat. “Jesus, Red, what would you do if you found out I’d lied to you?”
I forced a casual shrug. “It would depend on the situation.”
He stopped and laughed, a harsh, cold sound. “Bullshit. You’d castrate me and then force me to wear my balls like a necklace. Love can’t survive lies.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Giguhl freeze.
“Not necessarily,” I said. “Not if I thought you had a good reason for doing it.” The look he shot me was heavy with irony. “I mean, yes, sure I’d be hurt at first, but I like to think that our relationship is strong enough that you—I mean I—would eventually get over it.”
“Oh, shit!” Giguhl rushed forward. Adam swung around to look at him. “I told you not to mention the Slade thing!”
I froze as my gut clenched and cold acid shot through my veins. With wide eyes, I turned on the demon and tried to shoot him cease-and-desist semaphore.
But my efforts were in vain because Adam rounded on me. His face as hard as one of those Easter Island statues. “What Slade thing?”
I recovered a fraction of a second too late. “What? Nothing.”
“Fuck me,” Giguhl whispered, realizing his mistake. “Sorry, Red.”
Adam stiffened but kept his eyes on me. “Sabina?” His voice was unnervingly quiet.
I blew out a breath. The kind that signals surrender to the inevitable. “Remember when I told you Slade and I hadn’t been together since that time we worked together in Los Angeles?”
Adam’s eyes narrowed to sharp slits. He didn’t say anything, didn’t move.
My stomach sunk like it was tied to a cinder block tossed into a freezing river. “Back in October—before you and I were together, mind you—I… Slade and I—”
I looked around frantically for help. For someone to finish the sentence so I didn’t have to say it out loud. PW’s eyes darted from side to side like she wanted to run but was worried about drawing any impending wrath in her direction. And Giguhl, the traitor, slinked away guiltily and dropped into a chair with his head in his claws, as if giving himself the time-out he deserved.
“I’m waiting,” Adam said in that same deadened voice. His eyes told me he’d already figured it out, but he wasn’t about to let me off easy. Part of my punishment was having to admit the betrayal out loud.
I licked my lips. Then words just tumbled out of me. “We slept together.”
Adam’s fists tightened into boulders. A vein pulsed in his neck.
“Adam, I—”
He slashed a hand through the air as if he couldn’t stomach the sound of my voice. “Save it. I can’t even stand to look at you right now.”