Chapter 14 #2
Liar, liar, pants on fucking fire.
Turns out it was nothing more than another sick loyalty test to see if we’d hesitate to pull the trigger.
The men we executed tonight were strangers, random bottom feeders who’d pissed off the wrong person.
We should be relieved, but relief doesn’t come.
It never does. The silence afterward is too loud, and whatever part of me they wanted to test feels a little more hollowed now.
Engines rev and rumble, filling the air with the smell of gasoline and burnt rubber, while smoke from earlier burnouts drifts through the air like low-hanging fog.
I’m oblivious to it all because of this damn woman. Maybe if I stare at the screen a bit longer, Jessica might answer my text messages.
Sure, and pigs fly.
Why is she so fucking stubborn, anyway? Why isn’t she reading my texts?
I’m at my wit’s end. What do I need to do to get her attention?
Send her flowers? A message in the sky? Now that’s a thought.
I wonder if Mr. Dundee is back from his vacation in Europe yet.
He’s got a private jet and could maybe do it tomorrow if I call him now.
Father is out of the question. He’ll get suspicious if I ask him to have our pilot fuel our jet to fly over the Falls with a “pick up your fucking phone” message.
“You’ll melt the screen with your laser vision if you’re not careful,” Cash says. He leans back against the hood and glances down at the phone in my hand. “Trouble in paradise?”
That’s one way to put it.
“Why are women so hard to read?” I ask.
It’s like I’ve waited all fucking year to complain to someone, and the words pour from my mouth. “I’m going insane. One minute, we’re screwing around, and everything is great, and I think she’s finally into me. Then the next, she’s not responding to my messages.”
“When did you last hear from her?”
“Three hours.”
Cash tries not to laugh but fails miserably. “Fuck, man, give her some space to breathe.”
I scoff, not liking the sound of that at all. Last time I let her out of my sight, a guy tried his luck and kissed her.
Ah, fuck. Now I want to punch something.
Or someone.
The only reason he’s not six feet under already is that Jessica wouldn’t appreciate it if I made him disappear.
I shake my head as tires squeal, hard enough to skip, smoke curling low across the asphalt.
Why did no one tell me that a girl from the Falls, of all places, would waltz into my life, hook her claws into me, and shake me up like a snow globe?
“I don’t know what the fuck to do.”
Cash watches the sleek cars slide through the dense crowd to take their positions at the starting line, the ground trembling with each rev. “You’re in love with her.”
In love? That’s a bit of a stretch. I like her. We have fun together. But love?
“Don’t give me that look,” Cash says, chuckling. “Anyone can see it, even if you’re not ready to admit it yet.”
“I’m not in love with her,” I mutter, adjusting the Rolex on my wrist for something to do. The scent of warm exhaust, spilled alcohol, and burnt clutch hangs heavy in the air.
“I’m not making fun.” He jerks his chin toward someone in greeting, then adds, “I think she’s good for you.”
My brows knit. “Why?”
I can’t see why he’d think that. Our father would never accept us. He has his own plan for my future, one that doesn’t include a feisty blonde from the wrong side of the tracks.
A muscle twitches in Cash’s cheek before he shrugs. “You know why.”
We sit in contemplative silence. An engine backfires like a gunshot after a few growly revs.
“You’re smiling again,” he adds after a while. “Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I saw you smile. Sure, you’re a grumpy dick anyway, but she makes you happy.”
I say nothing.
Because there’s nothing to add.
He’s right.
“Our world is dangerous, Kane.”
A small pulse flickers at the hinge of his jaw again as he watches a leggy woman in a miniskirt and fishnets walk between the cars, her hand raised.
“If our father finds out—”
“He already knows about her,” I admit.
The hand drops, and tires scream against the pavement.
“Shit.” Cash exhales, long and slow. “Then you have to make him think it’s not serious.”
My knuckles crack as I curl my hand into a fist. This would be the time to tell him I’ve already threatened our father and that the old man already knows she means something to me. He just doesn’t know how far she’s sunk her claws.
“I’m serious, Kane.” My twin pushes off the hood and lights a cigarette, smoke curling into the air. “You have to make him think you’re using her and that she’s nothing more than a warm hole. It wouldn’t be the first time someone from the Heights used Falls chicks for easy sex.”
“Can you not talk about her like that?” I grit out. “I don’t want to have to fucking punch you for running your mouth.”
He’s in enough trouble as it is after he pretended to be me.
“Sorry,” he says around the filter and then takes a drag and blows it out through his nostrils.
Since when did he start smoking this much? Or have I been blind to how far he’s spiraled recently?
“All I’m saying is that you need to be careful.” He flicks the ash off the tip, and it sails through the air. “Dad won’t hesitate to use her against you, and he won’t blink an eye at making her disappear if you don’t cooperate. The last thing you want is to let on how much you care about her.”
I hate that he’s right, but it’s a small town. How the hell am I going to keep her a secret? There are eyes and ears everywhere.
It was all just fun at first, but the stakes are higher now. I care about her. More than I should. And I need to keep her safe from my world. But am I ready to let her go, even if it turns out to be the only way to protect her?
Hell no.
She’s mine.
“You have to be smart about this,” Cash says, bringing the filter to his lips. “Father can’t know.”
Oh, he’s gonna know. I might be able to downplay what she means to me, but he’ll still have to hear her squeal my name through the walls when I’m showing her who she belongs to.
No one can keep me from claiming what’s mine.
The only thing that gives my mind any solace right now is knowing she’s still tender from my cock.
I’ll ensure she can always feel me when she moves. That way, she’s always reminded of me and of what I do to her.
The things I make her feel.
Cash snaps his fingers in my face. “Are you fucking listening to me?”
I jolt back to reality. To the underglow that washes the pavement in electric blues and toxic greens.
“I’m listening.”
The words have barely left my mouth when a group of women in skimpy clothes and tits that almost touch their chins decide to join us.
Maverick has his arms around two of them, drunk by the looks of it, his hair a mussed mess from one too many fingers raking through the strands.
Noah peels a brunette off him, but she returns like a boomerang.
Behind them, the crowd parts to reveal my sister and her friends.
What the hell are they doing here? I straighten and call her over with a sharp whistle.
This fucking girl is on a mission to piss me off, and I swear, I’m gonna lock her in a tower and throw away the key until she’s a senior.
Dark Lanes is no place for her and her friends.
The men here are pigs, and if any of them so much as look at my little sister, they’ll have the wrath of her brothers to contend with.
She saunters over with enough attitude to remind me she’s been a menace since birth.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I bark as she glances at the stage-three clinger attached to my side.
I haven’t looked at the newcomer yet because my brat of a sister is currently taking up whatever little self-control I have.
But a cloud of sweetness surrounds me, so heavy it borders on nauseating.
“He’s got a girlfriend,” she says to the clinger, raising a brow.
“I don’t see one,” comes the snarky response.
My sister sneers, and I swear I’m two seconds away from a full-blown migraine. “You know you’re not allowed at Dark Lanes. We’ve had this conversation a million times already.”
Instead of answering, she blows a big bubble with her gum.
The sweet scent of strawberry mixes with the cake factory at my side.
I thin my lips while we glare at each other.
Maybe I can convince Dad to put one of his men on her.
Lily won’t listen to a word I say, or Cash, for that matter.
But I bet she wouldn’t be too eager to turn up at Dark Lanes with a big, burly bodyguard who won’t leave her side. That’s not a good look for anyone.
I’m deep in thought when the bubble pops. She smiles like an angel, but it fools no one. My sister is a firecracker despite her sweet face, and she’ll have you for dinner if you’re not careful.
A strip of neon streaks across her black hair as she folds her arms across her chest. She’s about to give me grief, but before she can open her mouth to rebuke me, a harsh voice barks my name. I look over to see Jessica’s brother storming toward me with murder in his eyes.
“Oh shit!” Noah laughs behind me. “You’re in trouble now, Ravencourt.”