AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“About you and Cain? Yes.”
I was too young to have known them as kids, but I’d picked up pieces here and there. People had been a little afraid of them even then. They drank too much, got into fights, broke hearts. Beautiful, fucked-up boys.
He grimaced. “We were assholes.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Back when you were a teenager, did you want to leave?”
“No. Well, maybe I would’ve, but my mom—” He shook his head. “Cain, though—he was on his way out of here. He’d already moved out of his uncle’s house and was staying with me and my mom. Then Prima Lenore offered us a better deal. We were in the island jail at the time, by the way.”
My jaw loosened. “Seriously? Why didn’t I know that?”
The deal Talon and Cain had made with Brien’s mother had become part of island lore. The year they’d turned twenty, she’d offered to turn them into vampires and bring them into the syndicate. In return, they’d be Brien’s personal bodyguards. They’d sworn a blood oath to protect Brien.
However, this was the first I’d heard they’d been in jail at the time.
“We don’t like to advertise it.” A wry smile. “But we deserved it—we were out of control. Out all night, picking fights for no reason except to prove what hard-asses we were. A little breaking-and-entering, like people wouldn’t guess it was us. The chief of police finally locked us up for a month to scare some sense into us. Made us share the same cell, too, the prick. A few nights before we were supposed to be released, the cell door opened and there was Prima Lenore. Turned out she was looking for a couple of guys with our skillset.”
“That’s why you’re helping Rio, isn’t it?” I said slowly. “Because he’s a kid without enough options, like you were. Maybe you hired him to ensure my good behavior, but you didn’t have to hand that money over to him.”
True to his word, Talon had transferred the entire hundred grand I’d received from Eugene into Rio’s account.
“I didn’t need the fucking money,” was his growly reply. “You know that.”
But I was on to him now. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I leaned across the console and squeezed his hand. “He likes you, too.”
Rio’s original prickly wariness of Talon had morphed into respect. The money had helped, but he clearly looked up to Talon, saw him as something of a mentor.
Talon shrugged that off to consider me. “Tell me something, Eden. When you left, why did you leave behind all your jewelry? I thought you liked it.”
I retreated to my side of the SUV. “I did. I loved it. All of it.”
He’d given me earrings, a necklace, a couple of bracelets—gorgeous, one-of-a-kind gold pieces studded with gemstones. Emeralds, sapphires, chalcedony, blue topaz... He’d said he liked me in blues and greens because they brought out my eyes.
“Then why not take them? You could’ve pawned them, taken the cash.”
I rolled my lips into my mouth. “It didn’t feel right.”
“Why not? Those were gifts, no strings attached. You took Smith’s money, and I assume you had plans to access the money you earned as a thrall.”
“That’s why it didn’t feel right. Those were gifts—I hadn’t earned them. And I didn’t want your gifts.”
“I see.” He turned back to the ocean. With the moon lighting only his right cheek and the edge of his jaw, I couldn’t read his expression, but his mouth was turned down, his body language stiff.
He was upset, but it didn’t feel like anger. It felt like hurt.
Strangely, that encouraged me. Up until now, I hadn’t believed I could hurt him.
“No,” I said, “you don’t see.”
A soft, frustrated exhale. “Then explain it to me.”
I toyed with my mittens. He didn’t understand, and he wouldn’t unless I told him what I’d overheard. My instinct was to bury it, pretend it hadn’t happened. To “keep the peace.” That was how my parents dealt with painful truths. Hell, burying the body—literally or figuratively—was a Lilith Island tradition.
“I—” I shifted in my seat.
“You’re not comfortable.” Talon reached for the gear shaft. “I’ll take you back.”
“I heard you and Cain,” I said lowly. “When we were in Quebec City this summer.”
