Page 121

“What are you—” Orzo stomps into the room. “Cinnamon?” His mouth falls open as he takes in my appearance.

“Hey,” I offer up with a wave.

Reuben marches in behind him, grabbing his shoulders and attempting to drag Orzo away. Except it’s clear Orzo isn’t going to allow that to happen.

“You see me fuck her and then what? You track her down?” Orzo turns on him, bowing up.

And I realize it is time for me to get my shit together and attempt to understand whatever the fuck is going on.

Struggling to get up from the bed, I tangle in the sheets and manage to fall off the bed, my nose knocking onto the hardwood below.

In another twist it is Kale who comes to my rescue. Who helps me untangle and to my feet as Orzo and Reuben glare each other down.

“Why would you bring him here?” Reuben roars, straightening and raising his hands in rage.

Except it is clear even in my disoriented state that Reuben isn’t angry, he’s scared.

Guilty.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

Kale steadies me to my feet, unwrapping the sheets and then he ducks whispering into my ear. “Orzo and Reuben are cousins.”

I jolt at the realization.

My face heats.

My ears tinge pink.

“Does Orzo know Reuben sent me to—”

“No,” Kale squeezes me tighter.

A thousand misunderstandings and doses of insanity land onto this moment.

Orzo tenses and I recognize what he plans to do. Launching myself out of Kale’s arms I physically throw myself between the cousins before Orzo can act on the violence brewing just under the surface of his skin.

“Cinnamon,” He clips through his teeth staring me down with chaotic eyes. “Tell me one reason I shouldn’t kill him. Why you are here. How you went from a car crash to Reuben’s bed.”

I look over my shoulder at Reuben. See the genuine shock in his raised brows and wide eyes.

“We all need to talk.”

***

Sitting at the bar in Orzo’s apartment I have to physically shake the memory of the last time I was here out of my head. But he catches me in the act offering a knowing smirk.

Kale leans against the fridge his arms crossed while Reuben stands opposite him.

There is an unspoken animosity between the two.

Reuben sent me to kill Kale.

And Kale knows that.

Orzo takes up the spot between the men.

And with all three in the kitchen it is easy to tell how different they are.