Page 45 of Silk and Sirens

Hook clicked his tongue, a lazy smirk pulling at his lips. “But what if I want to?” he chuckled but didn’t attempt to reach for me again.

“I’ve been told not to talk to anyone,” I said, keeping my voice steady even as Langdon shifted closer, his shoulder brushing mine in silent warning. For a man who couldn’t speak, his body language screamed loud enough.

Hook’s smirk deepened, lazy and filthy. “Love, if all you want is to take orders, I’m available.”

Before I could respond, Langdon stepped between us, his large frame cutting Hook off. His hands rose into the narrow space between their chests, fingers flexing like he was debating whether to shove or grab. But Hook was just a fraction taller, broader compared to Langdon’s athletic physique.

Why were all these men built like walls?

“Sorry, can’t hear you,” Hook said, his voice low and mocking, though his eyes stayed glued to Langdon’s hands, tracking every movement with obvious interest. “Have you tried just talking louder?”

Langdon stiffened, then quickly typed something on his phone.

Hook leaned in closer, their bodies nearly brushing. “So, you’re into the bossy, silent type?” he asked, and it took me a moment to realise the question was for me. “Or is he keeping you here against your will, pretty girl?”

Langdon stopped typing just long enough to flip him the middle finger.

Hook barked out a laugh, rich and dark.

“Does it matter?” I said.

“Probably not,” he said just as Langdon shoved the phone screen directly into Hook’s face.

His eyes flicked over the text, then darkened with warning. “You’ll do what to my sister?”

Langdon smirked, his hands moving quickly in what I could only guess were obscenities.

A prickle at the back of my neck, and I didn’t need to turn to know it was Caden. He stalked towards us with Sebastian at his side, his gaze locked on mine. Hostility rolled off him in icy waves, yet his expression remained perfectly cool. Composed.

“Is Sasha ready for us?” Caden asked, a muscle ticking sharply in his jaw.

“If he hasn’t destroyed my fucking restaurant, then yes,” Hook replied, the mocking lilt fading from his voice even as the smirk lingered. “Isn’t your birthday coming up, mate? I see the party invite was lost in the mail again, yeah?”

Caden pursed his lips but didn’t react as Hook chuckled. With a quick wink at me, he turned on his heel and headed towards the restaurant that had been built at the end of a short pier. Langdon and Sebastian fell in behind him, leaving me alone with Caden.

The salty wind whipped across the dock, tugging at my hair and sending a shiver racing down my spine.

“So, your birthday’s coming up?” I asked, trying to keep a somewhat civil relationship.

Caden’s eyes narrowed, but his expression remained eerily calm. He stepped closer, voice dropping into a low, throaty growl. “Do you remember what I said?”

“For me to behave.” My smile felt brittle. Behind me, the low chuckles of the Russian men drifted on the wind. “You better go,” I added quietly. “You don’t want to risk your alliance.”

His head dipped until his breath brushed my ear, dark and intimate. “Don’t talk to anyone. I can’t trust that poisonous tongue of yours.”

I swallowed, pulse hammering. “Don’t worry,” I whispered, forcing lightness into my tone. “Many men love what my tongue can do.”

Caden

This was a total clusterfuck.

I shouldn’t have been surprised that Aeris had a backup plan, but how the fuck had she managed to pull this off?

“Now, you boys are going to play nice,” Hook said, sweeping his ring-covered hand out across the heavy table. “No guns, knives, or other sharp, pointy items that could cause grievous bodily harm. We are gentlemen, not barbarians.”

“Gentlemen?” Sasha scoffed, his Russian accent thick. “We had an agreement, which Sebastian broke when he stole from me.” He sat on the opposite end of the table beside his son, Roman, and Ryder-fucking-Finn.

Ryder was a moral-less thief that Sebastian had hired once to retrieve something from his past, before the cunt went rogue and kidnapped Ara. The only reason Bas hadn’t stuck him six feet under was because he helped get his wife back, and then he disappeared like the coward he was.