“I’m nervous,” Riley confessed just as Dylan exited his apartment, wearing a dark blue suit. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
Jasper slung his arm around her, almost knocking her off her heels.
“Jas,” I said warningly.
He winked at me. “I’m just comforting her.” He turned to face Riley. “Don’t stress that pretty little head about this. It’s all standard … or so we’ve heard. Prelims for the vote. They want to make sure everyone is on the same page.”
Riley didn’t look convinced, but before she said anything about that, the door to my old apartment slammed open and a giggling Eddy stumbled out, Dante’s arms around her, keeping her steady.
Jasper’s face was awash with anger as he stepped forward. “What the fuck?”
This development didn’t surprise me. I knew Eddy had visited Dante in prison. I knew she was fucking hung up on him. And I knew she would take none of our warnings about not trusting him.
“Edith,” Jasper snarled. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”
She swung around, eyes wide as she realized we were all standing in the hall between our apartments. “Shit. You fucking s-scared me.”
She pressed a hand to her chest, but didn’t move away from Dante. Who still had his arms around her, only this time it was protective.
“You know he was accused of hurting a woman before Katelyn, right?” Jasper continued, pushing forward, concern for his sister clouding his normal judgement. “What the fuck was her name, Riles?”
“Hailey,” she whispered.
Jasper nodded. “Right. Do you want to be his next victim?”
Dante was looking at Riley now, and even I could see the fucking hurt on his face. “You believe I could do something like that, Riles?” he asked softly, and I was about half a second from stepping in between them so he stopped staring at her like that.
Riley shook her head. “Why do you think I never bothered to ask you about her? I know you’d never hurt any woman, and especially not one you loved.”
My Butterfly was way too fucking trusting. Dante had deceived her for most of their lives. Sure, he’d done so to protect his family, but it showed that he wasn’t above looking out for himself and his interests over Riley’s. Or Eddy’s.
“What happened?” Eddy asked, turning toward Dante.
He lowered his gaze to meet hers, and I liked the fact that there was definitely something there between them. Made it less likely I would have to kill Riley’s friend because he couldn’t keep his fucking hands off her.
“Catherine got to her,” he said simply. “She didn’t want me distracted, and she knew Hailey meant something to me, so she paid her off. It was a not very subtle warning to me that she owned me. My life. Every single part of it, and if I ever strayed, she would destroy my world.”
I knew this game. Delta played it a lot. “Catherine made the charges go away too?”
Dante snorted cynically. “Yeah, because I fell back in line.”
We were all just good fucking soldiers. Well, no more.
Jasper looked slightly placated, the red fading from his cheeks. “If you so much as break her nail. Or fucking cause her to cry, I will come for you, asshole,” he said, pointing a finger at Dante. “I can kill you and get rid of your body before anyone even notices you’re missing.”
Eddy glared, but surprisingly, Riley didn’t. She was fast acclimatizing to our life.
Glancing at my watch, I schooled my face. “We’ve got to go. The car is here.”
“Where are you going?” Dante called after us.
Nosy fucker.
“Delta business,” I said, and then I wrapped Riley in under my arm, keeping her close. I pressed my lips to her head, and breathed her in, calming myself down. It worked in one way, but in the other—the light floral scent of her skin cream had my dick hard and ready to fuck her right here.
If only we were alone.
“Delta faces on, boys,” Jasper said, already having forgotten about his sister. “We’re about to walk right into the lion’s den.”
