Page 93 of Carnal Wagers

“What?” The leather creaked between my white-knuckled grasp, the stitching digging into my fingers.

“Don’t worry, boss. She refused it, and I took care of it before he could—”

“I want the fucker. You bring him back to me. Tonight. Just you.”

“Right, sure. I’ll do that. What about the two men she was dancin’ with?”

“Show me.”

Frustration bubbled in the pit of my stomach.

The bass picked back up under a cracking, aggressive beat and the buzz of a synth. It vibrated through the speaker, matching the pounding of my pulse trying to excise itself out of my body. It had only been three days. Three days since she smiled at me. Since she disappeared as quickly as she barged into my life, bright like the sun and tossing the stability of my life into a passionate whirlwind of emotions. Three days since a void opened up over my heart that I already thought was empty. Even Brody noticed me zoning out more often at our family meetings this week.

The passenger car door clicked and swung open. Liam popped his head inside like an overeager bunny. The flames crackled and sparked outside, glowing an orange spread over our car interior. Glass popped. It wouldn’t be long until the fire licked at the gas lines and over the engines. My brother was cutting it a little too close.

“Switch with me,” I barked at him and jumped out under the toasty rain.

“Seriously? You want me driving? You sure?”

“Get your arse over here.” Checking on Alice beat any high from outracing a pending explosion.

The camera switched on as the passenger door clacked shut after me. Liam kicked the car in full gear, and it swerved under the rising steam behind the back tires. The eejit cheered, and I clutched the grab handle. Fucking maniac. Just a drive with him was enough to raise my blood pressure.

A blur of strobe lights flashed across my phone screen. Packed bodies swerved and bounced in time with the beat. Then there she was, a shadowed figure of sensuality caught between one man at her back and another at her side. She swayed, her hips gyrating from side to side. She rolled her wrists above her head and tilted it back. It put on display the long expanse of her neck and the V of her sleeveless jumpsuit, which somehow tantalized the senses despite the minimal display of skin. The man behind her placed his hands on her hips, and a red haze filtered over my vision. A crack tolled through my jaw.

“Paulie, have Big Charlie teach that one a lesson.”

She slapped at the stranger’s hands and moved out of reach. Didn’t matter. He’d touched what didn’t belong to him.

“How serious a lesson we talkin’ ’bout?”

“Focus on the hands and a facelift.”

The other asshole tried to make her twirl. She evaded him. Lucky him, he got to keep mobility. Both bastards then trailed after her as she shuffled off the dance floor. Irritation curled her pouty lips and knitted her brow. Aye, sweetheart, that’s right. Only I got her smirks and bedroom eyes.

“Put her on the line.”

Liam whistled next to me, tossing me side looks. “You sure you should be doing that?”

“Stop questioning me.”

“Stop acting out of character.”

Twenty seconds later, Paulie tapped her shoulder, camera framing her portrait, and she jerked around, fist raised, her yelling smothered by the thrashing music.

“I told you I’m not interested. Get it—Oh, sorry.” Her hand lowered, confusion blinking across her face, and her eyes narrowed. “Wait, I know you.” She snapped her fingers. “Skipper, one of Cillian’s people, yes? What are you doing here?”

How the hell did she recognize Paulie so easily? He’d been nicknamed Skipper because of how often he chauffeured me.

“He wants to talk to you,” his muffled voice droned.

“Who?”

A bang brightened the sky in a flash in the distant rearview, there and gone. Liam whooped and hooted, and I rolled my eyes. I barely glanced at the mushroom of smoke puffing into the sky behind us and deflating under the weight of raindrops. Alice’s face took all of my focus.

“Cillian?”

Shadows swept over the curves and angles of her features with varying flashing colors. Her confusion melted into a fiery anger that lit up her eyes. Her mouth twisted. Her face bounced in and out of the screen as she stomped through the club, through a squeaky door, and down a few stairs, her heels clanking.