“Ye of little faith.”
“Your mother should have drowned you in the horse trough she gave birth in.”
I look up, smirking at Crawford, who’s standing menacingly in front of the fireplace, light from the flames flickering over the planes of his face. A demon hunter here for vengeance.
“Salinger needs to stop letting you watch so many cartoons.”
“Um, it’s anime, and it made me the man that I am today. Billions of dollars of discretionary income and all.”
“He said you’re breaking into her house.”
“She enjoys my notes. And it’s not breaking and entering. I’m not taking anything except her trash. Seattle doesn’t do trash pickups on holidays, and Winnie always seems to forget.”
“You’re using the same excuses Dad did.”
“Leaving someone a sampler of imported French beauty products isn’t the same as tricking some poor girl into moving to a compound with no running water and spotty electricity in the middle of the desert and birthing eight kids. And you can’t use preaching as a stand-in for a real brotherly relationship.” I pull out my wallet and fan my collection of credit cards. “Let’s go bond over spending money.”
My older half brother slaps the cards out of my hands, sending them scattering onto the hardwood floor. “Don’t think you can bribe me.”
“Yeah, you’re too dedicated to your job for that.”
His gray eyes, like mine, narrow. I can’t pull anything past Crawford.
He grabs my jaw, twisting my head this way and that. “You’re slipping. You’re paranoid and bored and need, dare I say, a woman in your life.” He throws me back onto the couch.
“Winnie has a friend. I’ll suffer through a double date with you. Honestly, that would work in your favor.” I crane my head back to shoot him a grin. “Someone has to keep the conversation light and flowing. Contrary to popular belief, girls only like brooding guys in their fan fiction and romance novels.”
“Salinger says you’re escalating.”
I jump up. “I cleaned her bathroom. It’s not like I’m licking her underwear.”
“You? Clean something? By yourself?”
“I am a good person. I built an entire museum and stocked it—”
“With art youimpulse bought.”
“And I set up an endowed fund to pay all my workers a livable wage. My stadiums provide good jobs. I’m the darling of Seattle. My team won the Super Bowl last year.”
“Yeah, because your quarterback was fucking with the football.” Crawford makes a disgusted noise.
“Hey, it’s not my fault Boston just didn’t have it in them.”
“Stay away from her.”
“Calm down.” I turn away from him. “She doesn’t want anything to do with me anyway.”
“Good,” he warns. “Because if she gets involved with you, you’re going to ruin her life.”
7
WINNIE
“There are two more boxes in my car,” Carolina calls as she navigates around Fidget into my living room.
“We’re just going to a cocktail party. Why do we need all this?” I protest.
“Girl.” Carolina thumps the box down on my hardwood floor, freshly cleaned even though I literally just cleaned them last week. Thanks, Mom.
