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That’s Piper. Down goes another vodka.
“That can’t be good.”
Kendra takes over ignoring the death glares from Avery. “You’re telling me. He’s just laying low and trying not to get dead.”
I look between them and Kendra waves Avery off. “Don’t pay attention to her. She’s just overprotective about Ares because he bought her off the auction block and brought her here so she could stop giving blow jobs on command.”
I suck back a harsh breath through my teeth. Damn. Burn much. I feel anger radiate off Avery and my hand itches to smack the smug look off Kendra’s face. Her faux red hair is piled atop her head giving off an apt devilish appearance.
A twitch of pain seers my insides for Avery though we just met. That felt incredibly unfair and uncalled for.
“Kendra, babe, try not to be such a bitch.” Piper throws Avery a look before standing.
“What she means is there’s a contract out on his head. His brother is offering ten million dollars to anyone who brings him in dead or alive. Real gun-slinger shit, if you ask me. You should know all this before you decide to bunk up with Dragon. He doesn’t talk much.”
“Not since Devil died. He took that personally. And the lies from Ares.”
No shit. I take Avery’s abandoned vodka and throw it back, shaking the empty tumbler for seconds. I’m not left waiting.
“Now your turn. What’s with the macabre wedding dress and calling Dragon Hark?”
And there it is. I knew it wouldn’t take long. I eye him from across the room. He swings his head around as if knowing his name is being used. The look is so raw and primal that I inhale sharply, feeling the punch of heat square in the chest.
“An unwanted groom and that’s the name I knew him by when he took my virginity.” Let them chew on that for a while.
I leave it at that, move my glass across the table and take the refill and I hit back the vodka.
“Is the white-haired chick with Ares?”
“Nova Masters. Yeah. Her sister works for the dudes in the suits. Genesis men. Stoic, mysterious bastards who come and go like fucking ghosts. The raven-haired lady with them is Sapphire. A cousin, I think. She’s learning the ropes I think.”
That’s all I get, but it’s enough to know where I am standing. Not only do I have my own shit going on, but I’ve brought another layer to add to these people’s problems. Which makes me feel like a real ass.
Beside me, Avery’s eyes are back on Riot’s as she answers my question.
And then the music dies.
* * *
Dragon
On any other day, I don’t bat an eye at all the women walking through the compound naked and wanting a good time. It’s how Devil lived and it’s how he’ll want to go out.
But I can’t shake my irritation.
Maybe it’s my painkillers wearing off. Maybe I’ve just lost my patience for all the in-your-face shit.
Seeing them throws me back to my twelve-year-old self. Someone I think is named Trini struts by on the arm of Blaze. One second I’m sipping on ice water, the next I’m falling into the headspace of dead memories.
“Look at them, boy. Which one do you want to take upstairs?”
Paper-thin walls stained with cigarette smoke and years of neglect encase me on all four sides. Soft cries and grunts filter into the main room of the whore house. At the head of the stairs is a man with slicked hair and beady eyes.
“I don’t want to be here, Dad.”
Smack. Bare knuckles across my cheek sting. Tens of eyes turn toward me. It’s nothing new.
“No boy of mine is going into manhood a fucking virgin. Pick a whore or I’ll pick for you.” The thin string of trust I had for a man who took on the obligation of protecting me the day I made him a father finally snaps. In its wake I feel a new bond forming. One where the killer in him wants to mold the one he hopes is inside me. My mother has said as much. In the dead of night, she would come into my room, sit on my bed and warn me of the dangers lurking past my twelfth birthday. Now that it is here and she is not, I fear the man gripping the back of my head.
