“Morning, Henri.”
Staring out of the window, I wait as my father climbs in and sits opposite me, tugging his paper from his briefcase before he speaks. “Philip is coming for dinner on Friday. His mother will be accompanying him.”
His words are terse. He doesn’t ask for my agreement, or if I have any plans.
He never does.
We both know that I have no plans. No friends. No social life outside of the carefully curated activities my father has chosen over the years – no doubt with input from Philip, to ensure I’mwell trained for the moment he decides he’s ready to settle down. We’ve been dancing around this arrangement for years, and all of the polite hints I’ve tried to make have made no difference.
My throat tightens and I nod once, swallowing around the phantom hand wrapped around my neck, threatening to cut off my air.
It’s a familiar sensation. As though I’m slowly suffocating beneath the weight of my father’s influence.
Every day it feels as though I die a little more. There is a little less air. A little less ofme. The arguments are becoming fewer. The nodding is more frequent.
Briar Rose Everett – the girl who craved adventure, excitement, and love, just like the great stories she read every night before bed – that girl is fading. Buried under expectations, and agreements, and cool, polite civility when discussing something as life-changing as marriage.
She’s dying before she even had a chance to live.
Jenson
Ioffer a slow, curling smile to the woman sitting opposite me, ignoring the furious scowl of the man at her shoulder. “It’s always a pleasure doing business with you. My offer remains open, you know. Should you have anyvacancies.”
It’s safe to say that my words will be brushed off.
Alyss Lidell only smirks, tossing her short blond hair back and leaning against her second. Chess glowers at me, his hands clenching as if he’s imagining my neck beneath them. “Stop winding him up, Jenson. I won’t hold him back if he goes for your throat.”
“We have no vacancies.” The brown-eyed man on her other side – who is far too fucking pretty to be in our line of work – offers me a polite smile along with his words before he looks back to her. The dark-eyed one next to him nods, the twins on Chess’s other side echoing the movement with uncanny precision.
I scan her group with unrestrained curiosity. The six of them arealways together, Alyss building her empire around the men who fill her bed. It’s a very different approach to that of her father, who held the Hearts before her. Or her brother, who died before he ever had a chance to hold anything at all.
But it works. One woman, and five men. A strong, united front.
“Ask your question.” Alyss’s smile pulls at her lips. She’s completely relaxed here, settling into her role as leader of the Hearts with an ease that I find myself envying. And yet I know that one wrong move will have half a dozen guns pointed in my direction and her knife against my throat before I can do more than blink. “Or whatever thoughts lingering in your head that have you assessing our…arrangement. I think you’ve earned a question, Jenson.”
As I fucking should, given the concessions I’ve made this evening over the remainder of the Spades territory. Splitting it between the Hearts, the Diamonds, and the Clubs following Gryphon’s death two years ago has taken us over a year of careful negotiation that finally completes tonight.
I consider my words carefully, knowing the offer for the gift it is. Glancing around, I check for privacy, although our men have the small meeting room cleared for our discussions. At my shoulder, River has his arms down and relaxed at his side. His body poised to go for a weapon if he needs one, but the twist of his own mouth shows his curiosity. Kai glances down at me, his face expressionless. When I raise an eyebrow in silent question, he nods.
Turning back to Alyss, I slide my eyes up, to the hulking male behind her. Chess stiffens. “My question is for you, actually, Chess.”
“Then it’s his decision on whether to answer.” Alyss’s voice holds a thin layer of steel. A warning.
She doesn’t fuck around where these men are concerned.
With a nod, I focus on him again. “Does sharing have a negative impact on your own relationships within the group? Is Alyss your only connection, or are the bonds between you just as strong?”
Chess’s eyebrows raise in surprise, as do Alyss’s. The men behind me stay silent, but I can feel their attention sharpen.
He considers my question for several moments, glancing at the others around him. Buck winks at him, and Chess rolls his eyes before turning back.
“No,” he says gruffly. His eyes fall to Alyss, softening before returning to me. “No negative impact. I thought it would, at first. But then, we didn’t know each other. We had to work through that first. The friendships came later, and they are just as strong as the bonds we have with Alyss.”
“Iknewyou loved me really.”
Buck’s quip has Chess sighing. “Most of them, anyway.”
He scans us, taking in River and Kai behind me. “I imagine an arrangement like ours might be easier to navigate when a group already… exists. Our group is also larger, which adds more complexity.”
