Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
A s they left the restaurant, he couldn’t be more pleased with how the night was going.
Sage had relaxed her guard and was acting as carefree as when they had first arrived downtown.
Intuitively, he had known what she had been thinking when she caught herself flirting with him.
It was as if she had suddenly drawn a curtain closed over her expression.
Shrewdly, he knew the best way to get her to lower her guard was to lower his, or appear to be willing to do so.
The calculated maneuver had worked, and as they ate, her personality had come out.
He had discovered Sage had a wry sense of humor, she wasn’t afraid to give her opinion on any subject he brought up, and had a well-rounded love for music.
More than once during their meal, they could hear a song being played by the DJ at the festival.
The country songs, he pretended to gag on, while she would sing along just to irritate him.
There wasn’t a song she didn’t know. He had prepared to be bored out of his mind, so the unexpectedness of enjoying himself could derail his plans if he wasn’t careful.
Sage wasn’t the first woman he’d had to use to further his ends. It had never made him feel good when he did, so he only used them as a last resort, but it didn’t overly bother him, either. Much as he hated to use Sage, it was too late to turn back. Time was running out as it was.
Outside, he was quick to notice the crowd had doubled in size. He placed his arm lightly around Sage’s waist as they strolled through the crowd. Surveying the crush of people, he also noticed the crowd had become rougher, more belligerent, many eyeing the milling crowd as prey.
Fuck, the seedier elements of Kansas City had left their domains and were on the prowl for easy victims who were too intoxicated to notice the danger they were in until it was too late.
“We should be leaving,” he suggested, bringing Sage to a stop by his side.
“Not yet. I have a couple more stalls whose craft beer I want to sample.”
Seeing that the one she was pointing at wasn’t far, he gave in to the plea in her eyes. “Okay.”
They got in the long line. As he looked around, his eyes were caught by a familiar set of shoulders. As if alerted he was being stared at, Wraith turned around. His brother’s eyes dropped to Sage, the quirk of his lips letting him know Wraith had spotted the protective arm he had around her.
Fuck . The front of the stall Sage was determined to go to was next to where Wraith was standing alongside other Phantom members.
The line started moving before he could talk Sage into leaving again. Silently, he shook his head at Wraith not to talk to him. Stepping to the side, Kent was able to use his body to block Sage from seeing the obscene gesture Wraith gave him.
Sage was practically jumping up and down when they stepped forward. Going onto her tippy-toes, she tried to look over the shoulder of the two men in front of them. “I’ve been looking forward to this one,” she told him enthusiastically. “I …”
A booming voice from behind the counter of the stall drowned out what she had been about to say.
“Is that you, little Chopin?”
Recognizing the voice, Kent immediately lowered his head.
“Twister!” Sage screeched, tearing away from him to fling herself through the crowd toward the man who came from behind the stall to meet her halfway.
Jerking his head up, for a stunned moment, he was unable to react at seeing the look of pure joy transform Sage’s features.
There wasn’t anything special about Sage’s facial features.
She was attractive, but there was nothing to make her stand out.
In fact, if he didn’t need her, Kent didn’t think he would have given her a second glance until he had seen her body at Matthias’ house.
The woman he was looking at now bore no resemblance to the woman he had become used to.
Watching her fling herself into the arms of the burly ex-president of the Phantoms shook him to his core at how much she had been holding back.
He managed to weave through the crowd to stand next to her and saw he wasn’t the only one shocked at the show of emotion between Twister and Sage.
“My girl is almost grown up!” Catching Sage mid-air, he pulled her into a hug, his massive arms bulging as he held her tightly off the ground. Everyone around stared with open mouths as Sage laid her head on his shoulder, burying her face into his neck.
Twister’s reaction was just as emotional. Kent would have sworn the man he had grown up knowing would kill anyone who looked at him the wrong way was holding his date as if she was the most precious thing on earth.
“I went by your house when I moved back. The woman living there said your house had been sold at auction.” Raising her head from his shoulder, she stared, as if memorizing his face. “I thought you had died.”
Laughing hard, Sage bobbed up and down in Twister’s arm.
“I was locked up. My shit attorney took my house when I couldn’t pay my legal bills.”
“I’m so sorry. I know how much you loved that house.”
“It’s okay. The best part of living there was gone after your dad passed away and you moved.”
Was that a fucking tear escaping Twister’s eye as he gently placed Sage back on her feet?
Sage gave Twister a smile that was like a rocket punch to his gut. She had never looked at him that way.
Gruffly, Twister placed a hand on her chin, lifting her face so he could get a better look. “You look just like Judith. I told your dad I don’t know how he ever managed to catch her.”
Sage leaned into Twister’s side, placing an arm around his waist to maintain the contact between them. “Mom was on the track team in high school. Dad joined so he could sit with her on the bus when they went to track meets. He also said it prepared him to keep up with her.”
“Son of a bitch told me she chased after him.”
Sage’s face filled with amusement. “He lied. Dad wasn’t about to tell you the truth, not when you always had women chasing after you.”
Kent barely prevented his mouth from dropping open when Twister’s face turned ruddy in embarrassment.
“Yeah … well …” Twister cleared his throat, threatened by the snorts of laughter coming from the Phantoms standing beside Sage.
“Those days are long gone.” Patting his belly straining the threads of his T-shirt, he gave a self-deprecating grimace, which no one fucking believed, aware that Twister still had a string of women at his disposal.
“I haven’t seen you since your mom’s funeral.
What have you been doing since you graduated Julliard?
Are you playing around here … I’ll have to come to a—”
When Sage started shaking her head, Twister broke off.
“I didn’t graduate,” she said quietly, stepping away from Twister’s side. “I don’t play the piano anymore.”
Twister’s flummoxed expression made Sage glance away, becoming aware others were watching and listening. Her face turned guarded. This was the Sage he was more familiar with. A pang in his chest made him wish the other Sage he had caught a glimpse of had stayed longer.
“Life doesn’t always turn out the way we want it to.”
“It sure as shit doesn’t,” Twister agreed, sadness filling his eyes. “I missed you, little Chopin.”
Sage’s lips tightened. Kent could tell she was having a hard time holding back her feelings at what Twister had said.
“I’ve missed you, too.” her voice trembled. “The happiest parts of my childhood were spent in my basement with you and Dad making your concoctions.” Nodding to the stall behind them, she gave him a questioning glance. “Is this your business?”
Twister’s chest swelled with pride. “Sure is. You want to try a sample?”
“Of course.”
As Twister swung around to move back behind the stall, he saw him standing with Sage, and the realization clinked that they were together.
“What in the fuck are …?” Twister growled.
Fuck . How in the hell was he going to get his ass out of the mess he had found himself in?
Sage’s eyes widened at Twister’s reaction.
“My girlfriend”—quickly, Kent reached out to pull Sage back to his side—“loves beer, so I brought her to the festival.” Taking his eyes off Twister, he stared down at Sage.
“He used to go to the same bar I did before I went to law school. He was the bouncer …” Raising his eyes back to Twister, he dared him to tell the truth, knowing it would delude the woman whom neither of them wanted to make aware of their pasts.
“I got in a fight with one of the regulars, and Twister threw me out. I haven’t been back since.”
Twister’s jaw clenched at the half-truths he told. Instead of outing him for lying, Twister yanked Sage back to his side and ushered her toward the front of the stall.
Fisting his hands, Kent could only follow along as Twister went behind the counter with Sage in tow, leaving him standing there alone. Before he had a chance to go after her, though, Wraith and his men blocked his access.
“Move,” Kent snarled.
“Not a chance.”
Baring a knock-down, drawn-out fight with Wraith in front of Sage, he would have to back off.
When he moved to the front of the counter, a customer who had been waiting in the long line started to say something.
“Try me, please,” he growled.
The customer backed up a couple of steps. “I’m cool.”
Kent didn’t give a fuck if he was cool or not.
Observing Twister and Sage was an eye-opening experience. The mean motherfucker was acting as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He glanced toward the Phantoms; they seemed just as shell-shocked as he was.
Watching Sage sample Twister’s beers became a trial of torture. Each time she took a sip, the tip of her tongue would come out to lick her bottom lip with a sensuality that had his cock stirring. Side-eyeing the Phantoms, he wasn’t happy to find they were watching Sage as closely as he was.
Tired of being ignored, Twister’s customers started demanding their own samples.
Twister motioned to a couple of younger Phantom recruits and yelled at them to start handing out more samples. The crowd was blocking the sidewalk, so he had to pour out more samples to ease the congestion.
“I don’t get one?” he asked Twister when he came near him.
He handed him one of the sample cups but didn’t immediately release it when Kent reached out to take it. “Me and you are going to have a long talk.”
“We have nothing to talk about,” Kent replied coldly.
Both men looked toward Sage, who had moved to the back of the tent and was talking to one of Phantom’s recruits, not paying attention to them.
“Really?” Twister drawled out snidely, leaning closer to him. “Then it’s all right if I mention that high-class girlfriend you have in Queen City or the two other women you fuck in Kansas City? And those are the only ones I know about.”
“You don’t want to be talking about my business to anyone.” Leaning his hands on the counter, Kent dipped his head to be eye level with Twister. “I just might return the favor and have a chat with your parole officer about the company you’re keeping.”
Unfazed at the threat, Twister laid a heavy hand on top of Kent’s on the counter. He put all his considerable weight onto the hand under his, but Kent remained unmoved, taking the pain.
“You hurt one hair on that woman’s head, and I will fuck you up so bad your brother won’t be able to fucking identify your remains,” Twister threatened.
“You fuck with me, and you’ll be pissing in a foley bag and sipping that beer you’re so proud of through a G-tube, old man. Stay out of my business. I don’t have to take the shit you dish out anymore.”
An unreadable expression crossed Twister’s face. Straightening, he removed his hand. “I almost feel sorry for you.”
Kent frowned at him. “What in the fuck does that mean?”
Twister looked at him pityingly. “I’m going to let you find that out for yourself.
You’re supposed to be smarter than any of us.
Some lessons you have to learn for yourself.
I was an arrogant son of a bitch once, too.
” Pain filled his eyes. “I love you, son. I did everything I could do to make sure you didn’t end up like me and your brother.
Walk away from Sage before it’s too late.
I don’t know what you’re doing with her, but knowing you, there’s some benefit in it for you. ”
“You don’t know shit about me.”
“She isn’t your type,” Twister stated with certainty. “I hope you prove me wrong, but I don’t think you will. Leave her be, Creed, while you still can.”
He had never wanted or asked his father for advice. The one time he wanted to take it, he couldn’t. His advice had come too late.
From the way Twister’s burly shoulders slumped, he had deduced his advice was going to be ignored.
“You love rolling the dice.” Twister gave him a sad smile. “Son, you’re going to lose this one.”