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He’s looking at me, waiting. And I’m about to tell him the whole truth, because the flare in his dark blue eyes isn’t anger, or disappointment.
It’s hope.
Chapter Fifteen
STORM
“This is complicated,” she says, her voice quiet, “because… because I lied to you, Storm.”
“See?” Rook says triumphantly.
“Shut the fuck up, Rook. And get out.” I don’t even glance his way. “I’m talking to my girl.”
Quiet spreads. Seconds tick by. A grunt, then footsteps moving away, and he’s gone.
Fucking Rook.
I have an itch between my shoulder blades. We need to get out of here, but first I need to hear what she has to say—before she changes her mind. Breaking through her shell is damn hard.
She looks up, those same wide eyes I remember from the first time I saw her, at the beach, boring into mine. “This was all a dream. I knew it the minute you told me who you are. This sort of thing doesn’t happen to people, you know? This fairytale stuff. I don’t believe in that shit. I knew sooner or later the bubble would burst, and I’d drop all the way to the ground.” She breaths a soft laugh. “And it’s pretty high up here.”
“I won’t let you fall, Ray.”
My girl. I said it, didn’t I? And I don’t want to take it back. Wouldn’t if I could, because she’s about to trust me all the way. I know it. I see it on her pretty face, in her wide gaze.
From the start I knew she wasn’t telling me everything. I can read her like an open book. Which is why I trust her more than my own life, and what’s more… I like her. More than like her.
“I lied to you,” she whispers.
I nod. Yeah, you did, baby. But that’s okay, as long as you tell me the truth now. “What about?”
She sits down on the bed where not even an hour ago I held her and pleasured her, where I buried myself in her before life kicked me in the nuts again. “About myself.”
The girl can’t hide from me, not for a second. She may think she’s kept secrets, but I know her. I can see right to her soul, and it’s bright like a star.
“Talk.”
She winces, and I want to start again, to take her hand and ask more gently, but I’m not sure I can. I need her to tell me and not run and hide anymore.
Not from me.
“Look, Storm. You don’t know me, okay?”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Ray. I do know you.”
“Stop. You don’t…” Her voice cracks. She shakes her head. “When I said I wasn’t part of the cons my dad and brother organized? That wasn’t true.” Her small hands clench on the covers. “I was involved. I was the decoy, and the lookout. After Mom died... ” Her voice cracks. “After that, Dad brought me into the loop. And for a while, I thought it was cool. I felt like I was part of the family. Until Dad screwed up.”
“Screwed up?”
Raylin’s soft mouth tightens, and there’s nothing I want to do more than rub my thumb over it and erase the pain.
“It was okay for a while, you know?” she says. “Petty cons, small things. But Dad was spiraling. He started drinking, gambling. Didn’t tell us about it until one day, a bunch of people came around to the bar where we were sitting, demanding money. He’d borrowed from the triad to cover his debts, and they’d come to collect.” She frowns. “He told them off, said he’d have the money for them soon.”
I ball my hands into fists to stop myself from going to her and pulling her on my lap. I need her to finish this. I kinda knew she was more involved than she was letting on, but the fear on her face is new.
“What happened, Ray?”
“My brother… He fired at them. They pulled their guns. Dad got between them. I…” She gulps and damn if those sparkling eyes aren’t filling with tears again. “I took a shot. Hit one of them. And then I ran.”
