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Get your hands off him, lady. He’s mine.
The thought popped unbidden into Abbie’s head.
Looking down at her hands, she pushed the wayward thought out of her mind; ignoring the conversation going on around her.
She knew she was wrong for thinking this way. Crane had just been reunited with a partner he’d long thought dead and was understandably overcome with joy. Yet the smile that lit his face couldn’t melt the ice around her heart upon seeing Betsy Ross. Hearing about the seamstress was one thing, but seeing her in the flesh was an entirely different story. And Abbie wasn’t sure how she’d be able to handle it.
Logically, she knew Crane wasn’t hers. Beyond their role as Witnesses to the apocalypse, a partnership foretold in ancient texts and an intimate friendship that had blossomed into an unbreakable bond; they were bound together by fate and duty and prophecies and bloodlines.
Their bond was platonic. Nothing more.
Besides, she was with Danny. With him now on the team and on board with what she and Crane did, they were committed to making a go of it. Granted, things were still tentative and unsettled between them but having unburdened herself to him, there was nothing keeping them apart.
Except for Crane.
Always Crane.
If Betsy doesn’t remove her hand from his arm, she’ll pry her fingers off him herself.
Chill, Mills, she mentally chided herself. She was starting to sound like a crazy woman. Notwithstanding the mental conversation that was going on in her head.
It’s not as if Crane had ever shown any romantic interest in her. Nor she him. So why was she suddenly getting ahead of herself just because Betsy still hadn’t let go?
She was feeling threatened. That was all. Apprehensive about history repeating itself. Yes. Anxiety was a natural reaction to your biblical life partner reuniting with his no-longer-dead partner whom he once had a thing with.
She needed to get out of her head. That’s what she needed to do. They were here to regenerate Pandora’s box in order to stop her power-hungry boyfriend from achieving full omnipotence.
Yes, girl, focus on the task at hand.
Ugh, she couldn’t do it! Not with Betsy’s hand curled around Crane’s forearm, holding on to him as if her very life depended on it — and in all the ways that mattered, it did. Since he did find her.
Speaking of the flag woman, there was an odd look on her face, an expression she couldn’t quite place.
Wariness, maybe. Maybe even distrust.
Why would she dislike her? She didn’t even know her. Up until five minutes ago, they’d never met. No reason to be suspicious of her.
If she didn’t know any better, she’d say she looked almost jealous.
Was she jealous... of she and Crane?
It kind of reminded her of Crane’s dead wife looking daggers at her whenever the three of them had the misfortune of being in the same room together.
Abbie shuddered involuntarily at the memory of it.
Hopefully this exact same scenario wouldn’t play out for a second time or Abbie would definitely shoot something.
She and Crane were in a really good place and didn’t need a third wheel disrupting their established twosome. The old saying, two’s company, three’s a crowd, was never truer than with she, Crane and his exes. Bringing in wives and ex-girlfriends, in her experience, almost always ended badly. Usually with them wanting her dead.
Not that she thought that was happening here. But she needed to be prepared for all eventualities. She’d gone out of her mind after ten months in the Catacombs; Betsy was trapped in a single room for 200-odd years. She was long overdue a breakdown.
In her periphery, she saw Crane take a step away from Betsy. He turned to her, his face beaming with pride, as if remembering her presence.
“Lieutenant, this is Miss Elizabeth Ross.”
Betsy smiled sweetly as the introductions were made.
Turning, Abbie plastered a fake smile to her face. It wasn’t quite a pleasure but there was no need to be rude. Well, not just yet.
Not unless Betsy thought she still ran the show and that her partnership with Crane would continue.
That was her role. Fate. Destiny. And nothing or no one would undermine, jeopardise, or detract from their partnership in all things. Ever again.
She wouldn’t let it. Neither would Crane by the looks of it. And she’d do everything in her power to remain by his side.
He was hers. She was his. And she had every intention of keeping it that way.