Page 92 of Carnal Wagers

Flames whooshed and rushed from back to front. They licked the doors and tested for a way through the rain to Liam, before finally retreating to the havoc inside. They gleamed over his frame and the road in golden, dancing light that was as mesmerizing as the joy on my brother’s face.

I rubbed at the sudden suffocating squeeze in my chest through my soaked coat. A sharp tang of bitterness hit the back of my throat. I glared down at the rippling puddles along the asphalt and the rain plopping into them so it never went smooth.

Moments of happiness always found Liam easily. Where the darkness cocooned me and dragged me down, he coasted over its sticky touch without letting it faze him. He joked at times when laughter shouldn’t exist. He took pleasure in whatever he could find. I should have been happy for him, but it didn’t stop this burning, tugging pull in my belly, or the sickening taste over my tongue, or the desire to rip that grin off his face. I turned away and slid into the car before my bitterness swallowed me whole.

The car sputtered to life, and the heating kicked on. It wrapped around me in a suffocating shroud, while my chilled, wet skin prickled with protest. I leaned my head back and slipped a cigarette between my lips. Not to smoke, just to feel the comfort of its familiarity and its dry, leafy taste.

My head twisted to watch Liam. He was still at it, laughing like a loon under the glow of the blaze and jubilant despite how the rain tried to best his efforts. He basked as if in the glory of a triumph, completely enraptured.

Something cracked along my rib cage, and shards spiked through my organs. I struck my fist against my sternum, right over the aching tension below. Because I understood what he was feeling.

It twisted my insides to see exactly what Alice could give me so easily visible on my brother’s face. It reminded me of her obstinate smile, which turned soft the longer I stared, of her unflappable nerves that were a front for vulnerabilities she rarely let loose, and of her graceful body that melted in my arms and her bewitching voice that broke me out of the humdrum.

I flipped through my phone contacts on the linked car computer screen and rang Paulie. Deafening music pierced my eardrums, bass thumping and vibrating. A cacophony of voices screamed lyrics over each other as Paulie yelled through the line. A door banged shut, and the music considerably dampened.

“Yeah, boss?”

“You better not be mucking about.”

“Never. You know me. Never do.”

I grunted, wishing Liam would hurry up. “How is she?”

“Active.”

I huffed through my annoyance and chewed along the edge of my cigarette butt.

“Details, Paulie. Give me bloody details.”

Paulie sent me photos and clips once or twice a day of her jaunt to New York. I stared at those, loathing whatever reason took her from Boston, where I held her attention and she pursued me relentlessly. Where she lassoed me around the ankle and hauled me out of the chasm I nosedived into every day, with sass and determination.

So far, she meandered through the streets, did some light shopping, ate out with suits, and entered or exited skyscrapers either alone or accompanied by more suits. She greeted one or two with a hug. A few others got cheek-touching air kisses. I almost chucked my phone at the wall because of those.

“She met up with more suits today. Some of the same. Some new. They took her to lunch at some fancy-as-shit place. Dinner too.”

“Any of them get handsy?”

“All kept to themselves.”

“Good. That’s good.”

The fact that she ran off to New York hours after she left my apartment still set me on edge.

“But boss”—Paulie cleared his throat—“she hasn’t gone back to the hotel yet tonight.”

“Where?”

“A rooftop lounge club.”

“You keeping her safe?”

“Not an easy feat. The lady gets more attention than a dancer at The Pearl.”

My teeth gritted, hands tightening around the steering wheel, because those two didn’t mix. Alice stripping on the stage of The Pearl while the crowd cheered on was as probable as me snitching to the boys in blue. The idea churned my insides. Her body was mine. No one would set eyes on it. Ever again.

“Paulie…” I growled.

“She told a few guys off. I cut off a guy who invited her to dance, but I got a little distracted by this scumbag who bought her a drink and slipped something into it.”