Page 293 of A Vicious Love

“How many cars do you have?”

“I don’t know.”

“How do you not know?”

“Because I own garages full of them.”

She laughed, and I found myself watching her mouth again. “Why cars?”

“My father restored them.”

That changed the room more than I expected.

Her expression gentled. She did not pounce on the tenderness, which I appreciated. She only rested her cheek on her folded arms and waited.

“He built collections for each of us,” I said. “Marcel got the older black models. Heavy. Formal. Cars that look as if they should arrive at funerals and take over the will reading. Harrison got the fast pretty ones. Expensive, sharp, built to offend speed limits and women’s fathers. Mine were… mixed. Muscle cars. Old European sedans. A few prototypes. Things he said needed discipline.”

The memory sat in my chest.

“Did you work on them with him?”

“Marcel did. He had patience for taking engines apart and putting them back together. Harrison pretended to help until he got bored and charmed mechanics into doing his share. I watched sometimes. Learned enough to understand value. Never had the patience.”

“But you kept them.”

“Yes.”

“Do you drive them when you miss him?”

I looked at her.

She held my gaze, quiet and steady, and again I had the unpleasant feeling of being seen in places where my own hands could barely reach.

“Sometimes,” I said.

That answer seemed to matter to her. She gave a small nod, as if I had handed her something fragile and she would carry it carefully.

I cleared my throat. “I smoke. Drink. Fight. Drive. Play cards.”

She sighed. “I’m bad with gambling.”

“You own pieces of Harlan’s casinos by marriage. You can’t enter my life unable to play.”

Her nose wrinkled. “I don’t like taking someone’s money. What if they need it?”

I stared at her.

She stared back, sincere as sunlight.

“That is the worst gambling philosophy I have ever heard.”

“What if they have children?”

“Then they should make better decisions before sitting at my table.”

“Jamison.”

“No. I’m still teaching you baby.”