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“For Ares?”
She nods and arranges the butter closer to the toast.
“Do you see him with any of the girls here?” I ask, holding my breath.
Wide eyes meet mine and her tongue swishes that piercing over the middle of her bottom lip from side to side. “You mean the club candy?”
I guess that’s what you call them? “Yeah?” I know I have no right to be asking, but I have to know.
She stares at me for a second like I’ve lost my mind. Crazy thing is, I kinda feel I have.
She sweeps her eyes over the kitchen and then leans her elbows on the countertop. Those pretty eyes filled with curiosity. “I have a better question. Have you? Because I haven’t. I mean, besides you.” Her voice grows quiet.
I stow away my fake smile and pull on something a bit more genuine. I can see her and my sister becoming best friends. Something about Avery makes me feel relaxed and right now, that’s a gift I hold close to the chest. Her eyes pin over the kitchen island and I follow her line of sight.
Ohhh...and suddenly I realize the blushing pink on her cheeks isn’t for her puppy crush for the club’s president but for another man entirely.
“Riot.” I raise my mug of steamy coffee and he throws me a playful wink. He strolls through the wide arched entryway and then locks eyes with Avery. He looks wild and unchained.Like he just went through a brawl that could have ended his life, Nova.
I catch a hint of blood he missed on the underside of his chin in an obvious rush cleanup job. Seeing me watching he heads straight for the coffee pot, but not before I see him notice that lip piercing.
“Avery.”
He uses the same tone on her that Ares uses on me. But I keep my lips sealed and stand back, coffee raised.
Instead of answering Avery dips her head and rearranges the tray of food like it all moved on its own in the last ten seconds. Well, isn’t this interesting? The quiet, shy act is Riot’s kryptonite. Only one other man on this planet can go from cool and calm to ravenous faster than Ares and he is not in the room. Avery better be careful. Her lion looks hungry.
Riot’s shoulders rise and fall with a deep breath. Shadowed creases around his eyes and scruff covering his jaw tell me his night didn’t go as smoothly as mine. Guilt fills me. Though he’s cleaned up and changed his shirt, the scent of smoke and gunpowder cling to him.
I dig deep for some courage and step up to him. I give Avery a quick smile of reassurance and lower my voice. “Very few people have ever stood up for me. Protected me. Thank you.”
I’m standing beside him and holding my mug out for a refill. He obliges.
Eyes the color of crushed citrine swing my way. “You’re the prez’s girl. What he protects, we protect. You take one; you get us all, sweetheart.” He moves off and Avery’s gaze follows his large hulking form until he’s out of the kitchen.
“What was that about?” Avery scoots in, eyes on Riot’s retreating back.
“I did something stupid last night and the crew stepped in and rescued my ass.”
“I doubt you did anything stupid.”
“I don’t think Ares would agree. You know my sister is still there. I found the men who pointed the Volkovs at us. But I didn’t know that until I stepped into the lion’s den.”
I didn’t think Avery had an angry bone in her body but at the mention of the Russian brothers, her eyes turn a shade of murder that makes her look lethal.
I place a hand over hers where she grips the side of the counter. I guess I found a trigger. “If you need to talk, you know you can come to find me, right?” I offer. She turns pale and I can feel her fingers tremble beneath mine. “What happened to them? I mean the people who sold you.”
She won’t meet my eyes, but keeps them pinned to the last place Riot stood. I don’t want to answer the question, but maybe knowing there is one less person out there hurting others will help her find some form of inner peace. “Ares took care of him. He won’t be hurting anyone.”
I see her shoulders visibly relax. I take the tray she prepared. “This is for Ares?”
“Yeah.”
“Tell you what. I’ve got this. Why don’t you follow Riot and see if he needs anything? He’s had a rough night. We all have.” I don’t know how much club business Ares and his crew share with the others living in the compound so I limit the amount of information I offer up to the bare minimum.
Her shocked eyes tell me she’d not meant to reveal her attraction to one of Ares’ crewmembers.
“Yeah, no thank you.”
