Page 10 of Tell Me

The question was, why? Was he running some sort of con on his own? Doing someone else’s dirty work? I didn’t think anyone else knew I was in town, and even if they did, they’d have to be insane to go onto a Landry property and grab me. Maybe there was a new family in town? Or a lone shark? Someone who wanted power enough to pull off a heist too risky for anyone else?

But again...

Why?

I might throw my father’s status in Daniel’s face, but that didn’t change the fact that I was hardly the jewel in the Landry crown. Camille might be, and my brother Beau, but me? My father might pay a ransom for my life.

More likely, though, he’d leave me to save myself the way he’d done so many times before.

Instead of answering me, Daniel lifted his chin to whoever had my hands, and Camille and I were forced roughly toward the moth of the tunnel, where I could see more light. I shot another look at my cousin to see that she was starting to panic now that we were being moved again, and gulped. Shit. Camille had always had a quick trigger. Sloane liked to call on her ‘I’m too cute to take care of myself’ looks to get other people to let down their guards, but Camille didn’t have that trick.

I had to get her out of here before she lost her shit.

Actually, scratch that. I had to get out of here because I had things to do. I’d come to New Orleans with a mission, and that hadn’t included being kidnapped and held for ransom, or whatever Daniel thought he was doing. I didn’t have time to be down here hanging out in the catacombs. I needed to be on the surface, running for Boudreaux House while figuring out how I was going to get Gemini to loan me some men and help me get them to New York. For all I knew, the war was already starting up there while I was down here lounging around in?—

We got into the next room, which was more like a crypt than anything else, and I blinked against the light flooding the area. Gray stone walls, the blocks rough and pitted the way they always were. Marble on the floors and lamps lining every corner. It was bright and almost cheery in here, though that didn’t eliminate the feel that we were trespassing on something supernatural. I’d never liked the catacombs. There were too many hidden graves down here. Too many people who had been buried against their will or in secret. I’d always assumed that meant spirits who didn’t want to be disturbed, and though I’d used the catacombs to get from one end of the city to the other on occasion, it had never been my preferred mode of getting anywhere. To start with, they always connected to a graveyard up top, and getting into them had required some very sketchy lock breaking and creeping.

Then you got in here and felt like you were covered with the residue of spirits.

But none of that mattered at the moment, because I had something a whole lot bigger to worry about than the spirits who might not want us down here. I’d known when I realized we were in the tunnels that we were in trouble. The catacombs had always belonged to the Boudreaux family and the whole city knew it. I’d never understood why, but that hadn’t been important. We hadn’t come down here unless we had no other choice, because the chances were too good of running into a Boudreaux you didn’t want to see.

Like the one standing in front of me right now.

A lazy, arrogant smile curved his lush lips, and I looked up into eyes that were too dark to be anything other than black.

“Brooks,” he murmured. “I heard you were in town. Though I have to admit I didn’t believe you’d come back. After last time.”

8

LUCIEN

I had forgotten how fucking beautiful she was.

Actually, that’s a lie. I hadn’t forgotten. I still dreamed about her most nights. But I’d never thought I’d see her in person again.

I stood for a moment longer, just to take her in—and keep her off her guard. Eyes so deep a blue they could have been purple in the right lighting. Lips that begged you to kiss them. Teeth sharp enough to scar you if you got too close. Wide cheekbones that were somehow offset by cheeks too full for a grown woman.

She could have been a model, except there was something too sharp about her. Too wicked, or maybe too intelligent. She’d always been beautiful, even as a kid, but if you looked long enough, you saw that there was more to it than just beauty.

Something dangerous that stopped you short.

I’d always been attracted to that danger. Entranced by what it might become—or what I could use it for.

And then she’d bitten me with those teeth and scarred me for life. I still hadn’t recovered.

I also hadn’t thought I’d ever get the chance to bite her back.

I sank my teeth into my lip to hide my grin at the thought and took another step toward her, watching her eyes widen in both surprise and desire.

“This is new,” I said, taking a red curl in my fingers and spreading the hair across my skin. “You used to be blond.”

“And now I’m not,” she spat. “What’s it to you?”

“Tsk, tsk. Now Brooks, is that any way to treat a friend?” I strolled in a circle around her, fighting the urge to take her in my arms. Turn her and slam her against the wall while I claimed her mouth as my own. I wanted to feel her under me, writhing as I ground my hips against her and reminded her that I was the one in charge here.

I wanted to remind her of what we’d once been to each other.

Instead, I took a step backward and watched as she tossed a heated look over her shoulder. “Since when have you been my friend, Lucien?”

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