Jessup nodded. “That’s what I thought.” He gave Ryan a look Violet couldn’t decipher. “We’d better show her what we found.”
They turned and walked back the way they’d just come, mock grave expressions on their faces. Mock because they were enjoying this. She followed, her curiosity winning out over her annoyance at their evasiveness. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good.
When she saw the lights up ahead, filtering through the pines and cypress, her footsteps faltered. Disco music poured from the speakers planted all around the grounds. “Don’t tell me you tied the coon to the wall of shame.”
They’d never done it to a critter. You couldn’t blame an animal for being what it was, that’s what Jessup said whenever one caused trouble. As they neared the barn, she recognized “The Hustle.” She turned to her brothers. “You’re playing Ma’s disco music? Now that’s just cruel.”
Jessup chuckled. “We started out with Barry Manilow.”
Now she stepped up her pace, passing the two. She was nearly running when she barreled around the corner and came to a heart-blistering stop.
It wasn’t a raccoon clamped to the wall; it was Kade. As was customary, he’d been stripped down to his black boxer briefs and blindfolded, arms out at his sides. He was breathing; that was good. His dagger tattoo shimmered, fairly pulsed, so she was pretty sure he was conscious. There was something…erotic about the sight of him like that, the light glistening off the sweat on his chest and washboard abs, and it twined down through her stomach.
Jessup waved a hand at Kade, as though presenting him as a prize. “So, I’m to understand you have no involvement with him?”
Her mouth opened but no words came out. Too many things cascaded into her mind at once. First, that Kade had come back to her house alone. Why, why would he have done that? That he’d gotten himself caught by her brothers. That they hadn’t killed him—yet. And mostly how totally inappropriate it was being turned on by the sight of him trussed up like that. What the heck was she supposed to say?
Ryan said, “Jessup and I were helping Patry find a stray hog when we saw a car hidden in the woods off the main road. We tracked him down to your workshop, where he was walking out like he owned the place. He claims he’s doing you.”
“I didn’t say I was doing her,” Kade spat out. “Have some respect.”
Jessup stepped into her line of vision. “The only reason we didn’t kill him was because he swore you two have a thing. I figured he was lying. Not my sister, dating a Vega.” He said it the same way other Crescents said “Fringers.” “Especially not this one. But I figured, what the hell, keep him here and find out for sure before we gut him.”
Violet leaned to the side, giving herself a moment to pull together a response. “If I Can’t Have You” was playing now.
Kade was pushing subtly against the cuffs that held his wrists, fingers flexing. It was no use. He wouldn’t be able to use his magick. “Sorry, babe, but I told them about us meeting in Naples, how we clicked, as crazy as that was.”
He was calling her babe again. Gods.
Jessup rubbed his hands together. “So can we kill him for trespassing and because he’s an asshole in general?”
They would kill Kade if she refuted his claim. He’d been in this tough position too, outnumbered with no other recourse than to tell them that story. And he hadn’t harmed them with his powerful magick. If Kade had been fighting in any other situation, he would have put a hurting on his attackers. Her brothers looked scraped and bruised, but she didn’t see any serious injuries. As much as she hated the idea of betraying her family this way, she had no choice.
“We’re…involved.”
“String her up with him,” Jessup said to Ryan, shaking his head in disgust.
Ryan made to grab her arm, but she shook him off. “No! You all may run my life, but you don’t get to tell me who I fall for. I don’t even have a say in that, apparently,” she muttered under her breath.
“Vee, the last time you fell for some guy, it was that idjit Bren, who was only using you to find out our trade secrets. I warned you, but you had stars in your eyes.” Jessup waggled his fingers in front of his eyes, his disdain clear.
“Stars for making peace between the families more than for him,” Ryan added. “Remember, Jessup, she was only fourteen when Dad died. It hit her hard.”
“And little Roddy died, too,” Violet said, the cousin who’d been killed during their retribution. “I didn’t want anyone else killed.”
“All I’m saying is, you don’t have the best judgment where men are concerned.” Jessup pointed at Kade. “Obviously. You should’a just gone for one of the Murphy boys.”
“Augh. Kade’s far different than the Murphys.”
“Like how? He’s our enemy, so are they. Maybe he’s better-looking.” Jessup wrinkled his nose. “I’ll give him that.”
“He’s got class. Prestige. Discipline.”
Jessup waved his finger in a circle. “Whoop-de-doo. He’s got his cause, we have ours. But his badge makes us a lot of trouble. What’s going on with you two exactly? He said the word love.”
She had to keep her eyebrows from shooting up. Oh, Kade. Really? Just bury me deeper. “In love. You know, a nudge past infatuation. Oh, you wouldn’t know, because you two never get to the in-love part. You wait. Wait ‘til you fall in love and see if you have any choice in the matter. See if it makes sense.”
Jessup looked at Ryan. “First she wants to go off and find fancy designers to buy our skins, then we let her start making jewelry, and now this.” He nodded toward Kade. “She’s gotten too full of herself.”
