Convict flew up the steps, taking them two at a time. So that was who Mila had been messaging.
He grasped Mini Marchant-Smythe by his collar and twisted it to choke him. “Or what? I dare you to finish that sentence.”
The man whipped around on him, dislodging his grip. “Get the fuck off. Don’t test me unless you want to find out.”
Convict’s expression shifted into delight. “Enlighten me. I can’t wait. I owe you for calling the cops on me.”
Presley swung for him. In a heartbeat, Convict had his arms locked behind his back and was shoving him down the stairs. Presley hit the treads and tumbled. Convict chased him down.
Karla watched them go then pointed at Mila. Diamonds on her red-painted manicure sparkled in the light. “He’s Kane’s relative, if you’re his sister?”
Mila didn’t answer, but Karla arched an eyebrow then came back to me. She beckoned me in closer, speaking for me alone.
Her words were poison. “I would never stoop so low to compete over a man. They’re the ones who do the running, literally, in Kane’s case, but there’s a natural order to things you don’t seem to understand. Didn’t your mama ever teach you to make way for prettier girls? Like me, like Dixie who didn’t want to see you. Get back down the queue, honey.”
She trotted down the steps, following Presley out of the club as Convict evicted him.
Molly sprinted up. “I’m sorry! I was serving a group. I missed everything. Damn it, I wanted to pay you back for helping me.”
Mila stared after Karla. “What is wrong with people?” She cupped my elbow. “What did she say? Don’t listen to a word.”
I wanted to reply that I wouldn’t. I wanted to hear Molly’s stories about her ex. But one of Karla’s words had hit home. Like an arrow, it had pierced my chest and I was bleeding. An invisible wound reopened that I’d never recovered from.
I couldn’t staunch the flow. It hurt. So badly.
Mila took my arm and turned me, saying something I couldn’t hear. Then she stopped dead and stared at a booth right behind us. “Wallace?”
The single man I’d noticed on his own raised a hand and waved lazily from a few feet behind us. “Mother heard from yourbrother. I came to talk to him, but from all that drama, I see he isn’t up for hookers. I mean visitors.”
Wallace was Mila and Kane’s uncle, and he was here. The information filtered slowly into my mind.
It was too late, though. I couldn’t stop the rushing pain inside me. The emotions I’d tried so hard to control boiled and overspilled, hitting me again and again.
I’d intended to be locked away somewhere at midnight when the anniversary began, out of sight of others and safe to crumple, but I was out of luck. It was starting early, and I had no choice but to go with it.
With a muttered apology, I was down the steps and fleeing the warehouse, my sanity held by a thread.
Chapter 29
Kane
Fog crept over the North Sea in a slow roll, chilling me in my watch on a lonely beach and fucking over our chances of the evening going smoothly.
This was our second night, the first spent in much the same way. Waiting in the salt-stained air. Ready to go at any second but with nothing happening. We were about half a mile apart at staggered intervals, hiding in coves, and with Tyler making the occasional trip between us. He’d brought food and water, checking in that we were good to hold out.
No problem on my end, except I’d had to keep my hands off my phone so I didn’t call Lovelyn.
Something was bothering me. A worry for her that was bordering on obsessive. Her invitation to join her in my bed. Her request for a date. The way I’d wanted my weapons on her. In her. It should’ve sent me running, but instead I only wanted to hunt her down. Fucking lock her in the boot of my car and keep her.
Which was insane.
I was losing it, and keeping a lid on my emotions was vital. I couldn’t become the boyfriend she’d joked about training me to be. There was no way I could be that man.
Aggravated, I adjusted my position on the cold gravel, my holster a steady weight at my back, and knives concealed about my body. The white mist thickened, gliding closer so it buried the shoreline and the hushed breaking waves.
A slow assault of ghosts.
I really needed to focus.
