RYKER
“As I live and breathe, I cannot believe Axel Pierce has settled down with a woman.” Blake shuffled the deck in the mansion’s living room.
I snorted, tossing back my whiskey.
“The apocalypse must be approaching,” Jace agreed.
Axel’s trademark smirk surfaced. “We need to find Ryker a woman.”
I reached for my drink. “I’m focused on getting Knox out of prison. And building my new firm.”
Knox’s absence sat at our table like a tangible weight, the empty chair sitting where we always left it for him.
“It’s not your fault he’s been denied parole,” Blake said quietly.
I squeezed my cards until the edges bit into my palm. Years of law school with a near-perfect record, and I couldn’t get my friend out. But I would. So help me, this was the year I would. “Let’s just talk about something else.”
“How’s your new firm?” Jace asked, graciously changing subjects.
“Good. We only defend the innocent—that’s our entire brand.” I set down my cards. “Turn down anyone who’s guilty, no matter what they pay. My entire career now depends on that principle.”
We settled into familiar betting and bluffing until Axel leaned back with an unusual genuine smile. One that warned me he was about to stir the pot.
“So, how long have you been interested in Faith?”
Blake’s eyes snapped to me, suddenly dangerous. “What?”
I couldn’t help my smile. Blake’s sister, Faith, had started coming around recently, and she was … devastating. Not just beautiful either. It was the way she listened, like words actually mattered. It was the mysterious sadness in her eyes that made me want to know every story she’d never told.
For the first time in my life, I found myself actually wanting someone. Not just for a night. I wanted to know her. All of her.
I found myself looking for excuses to be wherever she was. Lying awake, wondering what made her feel safe, what her story really was beneath that carefully constructed surface. She was the first woman who’d ever made me reconsider my stance on relationships.
“Dude, that’s my sister,” Blake snarled.
“You’re married to mine,” I reminded him. “You don’t have the moral high ground here.”
“Go find someone else,” Blake growled. “Faith’s been through enough.”
The little I’d learned about her—how she’d been brutally assaulted by a foster father and Blake had saved her life by killing him—made me grow only more intoxicatingly curious to know her. Every story, every scar, every truth she kept buried.How could a woman who’d been through so much be so effervescently full of light?
But that light had dimmed the last time I’d seen her. She’d seemed distracted. Almost afraid. I’d asked if she was okay, and she’d smiled, but it hadn’t reached her eyes. I should have pushed harder.
I would push harder, the next time I saw her.
“The guy who fell for my sister against my explicit wishes has no right to complain,” I said.
“She’s still healing. The last thing she needs is someone breaking her heart.”
“Who says I’d break it?”
Blake glared. “Stay away from her.”
If he only knew.
Faith and I already had our secrets. Stolen moments, quiet confessions, a tension I pretended not to feel. Things Blake didn’t know about. Not yet.
I wasn’t sure how to even begin to tell him. Would I start with what happened in the elevator that day we caught Axel and Dakota in a compromising position? Or what really happened at his wedding, before Dakota had gone missing?
