Page 14 of Diamond In The Rough

“Roscoe?” I look toward the doors, though the lights inside make seeing out into the night impossible. “How long ago did he arrive?”

“About five minutes.” He sets his hands on the bar and ignores the cries of thirsty patrons surrounding us. “But he didn’t want a drink, so I went off to serve someone else.”

“And now they’re all gone. She’s gone.” I drop my hands into my pockets and consider what to do about it.

I could find out where she lives, I suppose. If I really wanted to know. I could go there, make sure she makes it home safe. I could toss Roscoe on his ass. Check in on the binge TV, multiple cats situation.

Or I could leave it alone, and consider Tiia Hale a mere aberration in an otherwise controlled world.

“I’m sorry.” Gregory reaches across to clap my arm gently. “Really I am. I was watching them. I swear, I turned away for only a second.”

“Yeah.” I shake off his hand and stalk away from the bar. “If you see her again, you let me know right away.”

I don’t turn to make sure he heard, and I sure as fuck don’t spin back to wait for his acknowledgment. My request is simple. And a smart man knows what is expected of him.

Fortunately, Gregory is typically a smart, observant man.

A single failure in a long list of triumphs shouldn’t be punished. That’s the way Tim ran this family, but it’s not how Felix and I do things.

I traverse the packed room and head all the way to the doors, but I don’t catch a dark-haired beauty crossing the street. I don’t get a view of her trim back as she walks away. Or her long hair, swinging in the nonexistent breeze. She’s just… gone.

And if her expression once I introduced myself is any indication, I’m not sure she intends to ever return.

Smart move, really.

“Hey, Micah.” A friendly voice and a different beautiful smile draws my mind back to the here and now, and my eyes to a grinning Christabelle Cannon.

She walks alongside Jasper, coming to a stop only when our toes practically touch and her perfume wafts deep into my lungs. “It’s packed tonight, huh?”

“Yeah.” I look straight over the top of her head, to her guard. “All good?”

“Yes, sir.” He’s about six feet, two inches, and two hundred pounds of muscle and firepower. His job, pure and simple, is to make damn sure Christabelle lives through the day to return to Felix. “All is well at the Tribute office. Nothing to note.”

“Good.”

I look back down at the woman who is, without a doubt, the very best thing that’s ever happened to my brother. It’s unconventional in some ways—their relationship. And not without its complications. But she’s good for him. Good to him.

And fuck, but that’s all I care about, as far as my brothers’ relationships go.

“He’s on the second floor,” I tell her. “Back corner. He’s pissy because he’s quitting smoking.”

“So stupid,” she grumbles. “He can go days without touching one. He won’t even think about them.”

“Right. But now that quitting is official, he can’t stop. His brain is a little fucked up like that.” I grin and shoot her a wink, stepping to the side to allow her entry. “Go. Take his bad mood and toss it in the trash for the rest of our sakes. You heading back to the house now?”

“Yeah.” She walks, but turns and moves backward, knowing without looking that Jasper won’t let her stumble. “I’m done with my day. It’s time to go home. You too?”

“Uh…” Frowning, I look out at the street in one last desperate attempt to see something no longer here. But just as quickly as she came into my life, Tiia disappears once more. “Yeah,” I relent. “Yeah, I’m coming too.”

“You can ride with us.” Christabelle smiles again, wide and pretty and so sweet, I find it hard to remember a time she wasn’t part of the family. “We’ll share Felix’s bad mood between us.”

I’d suggest she spend the ride with him alone, sucking his cock and putting his mind somewhere else, but to say the words out loud would be disrespectful. And, as far as I’m concerned, there are certain women in this world a man would be wise not to disrespect.

Christabelle Cannon is one of them.

Minka Mayet, another.

“Come on,” she calls out, turning on her heels and stepping through the doors. “I want to get out of here as soon as possible. The music’s gonna give me a migraine.”

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