Page 51 of Crave Me

I could hear Lance “Revenant” Carlyle blowing out a breath of frustration down the line that Asher had him. This was the version of him that I was familiar with. The calculating puppet master. “Fine. At least it’s Caspian King we’re talking about. One of the very few stable individuals in this sort of line of work. He’ll keep things in line.”

“Exactly.”

“If things go south, I’m here. Do you hear me?”

“You’re well heard.”

“Good. Be careful.”

“Always.”

As they hung up, Asher grinned at me. “Good thing he’s not aware that the whole stable thing when it comes to you is actually a far cry from the truth right now.”

“How come you’re not supposed to involve yourself in this sort of thing anymore?” Damien called to him from the backseat.

“It’s not good for him,” I answered for him, before smiling over at him as I said, “It’s why we’re fortunate he’s made an exception this time for us.”

“All right. Well, good,” Damien said. “I was worried it was about the danger, because that would be a hell of an issue walking into what we’re about to.”

“The danger is we don’t know precisely what we’re walking into,” Asher told him. “Our intel was limited, hence proper preparation wasn’t possible.”

“That means you can’t go in like a wrecking ball,” I reminded Damien.

“You said, until you give the word.”

I nodded. “The moment I do, and only then, can you unleash all over the place.”

I eyed him in the rearview mirror to see him rubbing his hands together with undisguised excitement. “It’s been way too long.”

For once, all that pent-up violence of his was going to come in handy.

I saw him start typing on his phone then, smiling to himself, then even chuckling.

“Texting?” I asked.

“Just looking back over some messages Skylar sent just after we headed out.”

“What messages?”

“Her trying to keep things light and all that, then keeping me updated about Seb, making sure I know he’s okay. She even sent a couple of pictures and one real sweet one of her holding his hand and smiling at the camera, those eyes of hers sparkling like emeralds in the light of Seb’s room.”

I tensed. “What’s going on there?”

“Going on?”

“I believe he’s referring to that sparkling like emeralds line,” Asher said.

Absolutely, I was.

“What about it?” he asked, clueless. Or at least playing it that way.

I wasn’t in the headspace to dance around it and carefully approach it like I normally would. Instead, I made it clear bluntly and outright, “She’s ours, Damien.”

“Believe me, I know that through and through. We’re just friends.”

“Friends?”

“Well, it’s more like a big brother-little sister dynamic.”

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