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“Dominic…” King repeats out loud, a glass of whiskey between his fingers as he looks down at the street below from the window. His hair is a mess and there’s sweat soaked into his shirt. No doubt from trying to break up Kyrin and Keaton. “I wouldn’t have thought he was really into anything. Aside from his clubs.”
“I’ve done some research since then,” I say, catching Jordan’s eye and nodding at him.
Jordan smiles weakly before disappearing and returning with my laptop. He places it on the coffee table beside Lilith and I open it up, typing in my password.
“So he is alive?” Lilith whispers so low I almost miss it.
I rest my hand on her thigh. “He is. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. Please know that I’m trying to do what’s best for him.”
Her lip quivers a little, her eyes turning glassy. “I don’t care about that. I’m just glad he’s alive.” I look over her shoulder to where Kyrin stands in the kitchen, holding a glass of vodka and staring out the window, his back turned to us. What he says to come clean with her will be between them. It’s not my place to tell Lilith that he’s known all along.
The screen on my laptop opens up to a map, and my phone starts blaring on the coffee table. I swipe it unlocked, pressing speaker.
“Nial, you’re on speaker!”
“Owee, who’s all here?” His voice is like an old memory knocking on the withered door inside my brain where all of my secrets lie behind.
“Everyone. Can you pull up the map that you sent me last week, please?” Without even touching my laptop, things start changing and a new screen is up. There’s a cream-colored paper and black lines with signs and address posts with the words Prague over the top.
“We’re not here for a show…” Lilith declares softly, moving Keaton out of the way to sit directly beside me. Her attention is solely on my laptop.
“Yes and no,” I answer, looking around at everyone.
“How do you mean yes and no? And why didn’t you just fucking tell us this to begin with and stop all of the theatrics, Cartier? Fuck.” King has always been snappy with me, but I throw back twice as hard, so I don’t expect him to soften his edges as we’ve gotten older.
“Because I don’t trust everyone, King. I don’t trust everyone in Kiznitch.” I don’t bother looking at him as I speak, watching the map change on my laptop.
“And what the fuck’s that supposed to mean?” King bites, a little harsher than usual.
Keaton kicks out his leg, spreading his arm behind both Lilith and me. “Brother or not, watch your fucking tone with her.”
Kyrin finally turns, facing the couch that all three of us are sitting on. Before King can answer Keaton back, Kyrin points with his finger between Keaton and me.
“Not right now!” I snap, sick of the testosterone in this room.
Kyrin snickers, slamming the glass onto the counter so hard it smashes. “Yes, the fuck right now because I’m fucking sick of watching you both dance around each other like you think I’m fucking stupid.” He leans his body weight on each arm, spread wide and resting on the counter.
“Because you are fucking stupid.” Lilith launches to her feet. “You think this is a great time to press your sister, who by the way is not a fucking child anymore, Kyrin, about her sexual relationship with someone who, if I’m being honest, I would rather her be with than one hundred of the stupid fools you have assumed she has been with! Now shut up so we can save Eli and find out what the fuck is going on.” My fingers connect with hers as I tug her back down onto the sofa, squeezing her hand reassuringly. It bothers me that Kyrin is wanting to do this right now, knowing how hard Lilith took Eli’s death. He should be wanting to save him and see whatever is going on.
Kyrin’s anger dissipates, his otherwise tight features suddenly soft. My heart squeezes in my chest.
“Ky, I’m sorry, okay? But she’s right. We can’t do this right now.”
“Are you both fucking around? I just need to know.” His voice is low, his head hanging between his shoulders.
“Why the fuck does it matter!” I yell back at him as Lilith slides the laptop over onto her lap and swipes Nial off speaker, bringing my phone to her ear. Clearly, he is not wanting this to wait.
“Yes, it’s fucking happening.” Keaton doesn’t even sound bothered. “And has happened. Multiple times.”
“Anyone—” Kyrin slowly lifts his head. “It could have been anyone else.”
“Thank fuck it wasn’t…” Keaton adds, and I’m seriously wondering why he’s being so bold. I’ve always known that he wanted Kyrin to know, but not like this.
“You think he truly cares about you, Cartier? The way that I want someone to care about you?” Kyrin pushes off the kitchen counter and takes slow, calculated steps into the lounge where we’re all sitting. I can see in the corner of my eye that both Killian and King are hovering near Kyrin, knowing that he’s probably a hair away from snapping. “You really think that if he did care about you the way you deserve, that I would want you to be with him? That I wouldn’t be upset about this at all?” He’s directly in front of me now, leaning down until we’re at eye level.
Keaton’s thigh hardens against mine.
Kyrin’s dark eyes burn through my skull. The corner of his mouth curves upward. “I tried to stop you from making a mistake, Cartier, because you’re my sister and I’ve loved you from the second I laid eyes on you. I would kill and be killed for you, so do you not think I’d want you to be happy?”
