Page 10 of Blood and Trouble

Her features froze, her gaze locked on mine, the glass of scotch dangling between her index finger and her thumb. She took a moment to recover before blinking and releasing a tight breath.

“Jesus Christ,” she said. “Cutting right to the heart of it, huh?”

“Is that something you’ve ever told anyone?”

“No,” she said. “No one’s ever asked me that before.”

“Perfect.” I picked up my liquor and took a long, deep sip, sighing as it warmed my blood. “Go on.”

She licked her lips and blinked. “I don’t know. I suppose when my mother died. Or maybe when I ended things with Scott.”

I winced at the mention of her mother. For a long time, the Vanderbilts blamed the Bastards for her mother’s death, and her father had retaliated by sending the Scorpions on our land during a full moon to kill whomever they found. It had been devastating for both families.

“It’s easier to keep people at arm’s length,” she said. “If they can’t get close, they can’t hurt me.”

I smirked. “Relatable.”

She laughed and waved her hand at me, dismissive. “Oh, c’mon. You’re…”

When she didn’t finish, I raised an eyebrow. “I’m what?”

“I mean, I’ve heard the stories.” She grabbed the deck to shuffle again. “You’re rather liberal with who you get close to.”

“So you’re saying I’m a slut?” I teased.

“No,” she immediately replied.

“You’re slut-shaming me.” I couldn’t hold back my chuckle.

“I would never,” she said. “By all means, be liberated. It’s just that I…I mean, I can’t…I wouldn’t…”

“What really happened between you and the Earl of Spineless Pricks?” I asked.

She dealt out a new hand and shrugged. “He wanted to get married right after graduation. He wanted a bride and an heir, and that isn’t me. I wanted to go to law school. I wanted to work for Vanderbilt Holdings, make a name for myself. He said I’d be stupid to throw him away, to discard our future for the sake of my selfish dreams.”

The beast inside me growled at the fucker’s idiocy. Ava was brilliant. He didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her, much less have a second of her time or energy. I’d rip his throat out the next time I saw him.

“He was probably right, in a way.” She placed the deck down between us and flipped over three cards. “No one wants to date the cold Vanderbilt bitch who’s married to her career, and here I am, all these years later, alone and drinking with a man who was forced to be here for the sake of his business.”

“No one forced me to be here,” I said. “And no one forced me to drink with you, either.”

She pursed her lips and lifted her shoulders, perhaps hardened by my response. Her scent shifted, now more ice and metal, like she didn’t believe me, like she’d guarded herself against her emotions because if she let herself think they were true, she’d let me in. I could hurt her if she did.

I wouldn’t.

“What about you?” she asked, flipping over the next card.

“What about me?”

“I imagine you have a long line of broken hearts behind you.”

I sensed where this was going, and I’d play along because it wasn’t a secret how much my relationship with Poe had affected me. Everyone in the pack knew we’d been together, and then suddenly, we weren’t.

“Who made you the way you are?” she asked. “Unless that’s a secret, and if it is, I’ll wait until I beat you this round, and then you can tell me.”

I laughed and finished my drink before picking up my cards to peek. The queen of hearts and the ten of spades. When the draw revealed the ace of hearts and king of hearts, I tried not to let my excitement show. How well had she shuffled that deck?

“Poe,” I said. “His name is Poe.”