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She took it better than I expected. Too good.
I watch her from beneath the tree that hovers over the pool in the backyard. She’s talking on the phone and walking back and forth in front of her window. I go between sipping my whiskey and sucking down the smoke from Kill’s rolled joint, but my eyes never leave her. She’s different. I thought she would have exploded from finding out that we had fucked with her memories as a kid and that she hadn’t known who we were like she thought. I thought she would have thrown a fucking fit. Maybe popped my other eye. Even as her reaction settles deep inside my gut, I know that something is wrong. Her reaction wasn’t real. It was almost a lie. I don’t need to know Cartier all of my life to know who she is. You can’t put time on a bond that burns endlessly.
She stops pacing and my fingers pause, just short of my lips. I push off the trunk of the tree slightly and watch as she slowly turns her head over her shoulder. She can’t see me from down here, but I sure as fuck know that she can feel me.
Flicking the joint to the ground, I step into it and make my way through the back doors and into the lounge room where King, Kill, Kyrin, and Kenan are. Eli is tucked in the corner, drinking whiskey straight from the bottle while resting an ice pack against his swollen eye with Lilith behind him.
“Something is wrong…” I slam the door closed behind me. “That wasn’t what I expected.”
“We don’t have time to figure out her reaction. We need retaliation and answers as to why Bam Bam has taken the one man I want to crush with my bare hands.” Kyrin’s voice is low and unfazed, but his eyes are wild and on mine. Ky has been my best friend all of my life. This is him on the edge of a mental breakdown, because not only did they mess with his little sister, but they fucked with Eli.
“You’re all fucked out of each other now with your reunion?” I tease, and Kyrin flips me off.
“You motherfuckers didn’t have to listen.”
“Um, was kind of hard not to…” Killian adds, winking at me.
“Anyway, that’s what I’m talking about.” I lower myself onto the sofa, kicking my leg out to steady myself from the whirl spinning inside my mind. I fucking hate alcohol, but after the past twelve hours, I need it. I need it to stop me from tearing through Cartier’s room and demanding why the fuck I feel as though she’s keeping something from me.
“Dominic is part of our world, Kill,” Eli murmurs softly from the corner. “I was there because of King business, and did the direct swap. I thought it was enough, I thought I was enough, but I wasn’t. He fucking wants Cartier, and I don’t know why.” Eli tosses the ice pack onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling blankly. “I fucking tried to find out anything about what he wanted from her and got nothing. Zilch.”
“It doesn’t add up,” King adds from his spot in front of the fireplace. “Bam Bam taking him, shooting her, and running. Why wouldn’t Bam Bam kill her?”
“He didn’t shoot her. He grazed her,” Eli says carefully. “He knew exactly where to shoot.”
“And was he alone?” Kenan asks, leaning his elbows on his thighs as he shifts forward on the couch.
“No, Dove was there. She’s been with him all along.”
I pause, the grip around my glass tensing. “What do you mean all along?”
“Dove and Dominic have had something—”
“—she’s a prisoner there, Keaton. Dove has never wanted to be under Dominic.” Lilith’s voice echoes out and my eyes land on King. I can’t have this conversation with Eli or Kyrin. They’re both blinded by their love for Lilith that they won’t see what I’m feeling.
What I’m pretty sure King is feeling.
King sighs, massaging his temples. “Fuck. What a headfuck.” Before he’s said anything else, Nate and Bishop walk through the entrance, stopping when they see us all deep in conversation.
“I take it we haven’t figured anything else out?” Nate asks, looking around the room.
“No.” I shoot back the rest of my drink and slam the glass onto the coffee table. “But I’m about to.” Standing from the sofa, I move around Nate and Bishop and take the stairs up to the master level. On any other day, Kyrin probably would have fought me on what I’m about to do, but he and I both know that road is over. There were two reasons why he wanted me to stay away from Cartier.
One was because of my extracurricular activities, but the other? Was because of her not knowing who I really was.
She does now, and either way, how I play this game going forward is up to me.
The patterns carved into the twin doors that open into her suite have been sliced with blades from our ancestors, the intricate curves of the Kiznitch star and the four families.
“She’s grumpy,” Jordan says from one side.
“More than usual,” Chris adds from the other.
“Yeah?” I say to both of them. “Good. She fucks better when she’s mad.” Shoving through the doors, she stops walking and her hands fall to the sides, where she quickly ends the call with whomever it is she’s talking. Her room is perfection. The four-post bed, the old open fireplace burning opposite, and the net curtains covering the open bay windows near the patio.
“Keaton, you can’t just walk in!” I watch as the grip around her phone intensifies.
I take another step. “What are you hiding?”
