Page 45 of Ruined

The look Clarissa gave him was drier than the Simpson Desert. "Chances are it's bacon, attached to the rest of a person. They're coming here to Dusk Bay. Leon doesn't want anyone to know. He's expecting me to pick them up."

"You work closely with Leon?" Mina asked, her tone this side of dangerous. Any associate of Leon was a potential enemy of hers.

If I thought Clarissa was tight with him, she'd be dead right now.

Clarissa shrugged her broad shoulders. "On and off. He's done me favours and I've done him favours. All within the umbrella of Brantley business. So he claimed. If he was working with Kurt Lasalle against you, I was unaware. I would have told him to fuck off. That's why I'm here telling you about this. I don't want anyone to think I'm not loyal. I like breathing."

"Has he given any indication who he wants you to pick up?" I asked.

"Nope," she said lightly. "What I've shown you is all I have."

I rubbed my chin. "I want you to follow through with the pickup. Don't let on to anyone else that we know. Once we have some idea who it is, we'll move."

Mina swallowed audibly. "You think it's Kurt?"

"Why else go so hard to hide it?" I asked. If anyone was going to arrive like this, it would be him. Trying to sneak in the back door without being noticed. Like the snake he was.

"I'll do whatever you need me to do," Clarissa said. "I've heard some disturbing rumours about Lasalle." Once again her gaze was on Mina. She knew better than to ask and we weren't going to enlighten her, but that wouldn't keep her from being curious.

"We'll be right there with you," Gianni assured her.

"You better, because if he suspects I'm working with you, shit might get ugly," Clarissa said. "I have a feeling you want to get your hands on him before I stab him in the throat."

Of course she hadn't meant that he'd try anything with her, or that he'd succeed. People fucked with her to their own detriment. Personally, I would have paid good money to see her eviscerate him, but that honour went to Mina first.

"Yes, but we don't mind if he loses a few fingers," Gianni said. "Just leave a couple for us."

Clarissa punched him on the shoulder hard enough to make him wince. "I like you."

He grimaced and rubbed his shoulder. "I'd hate to see what you do to people you don't like."

She grinned. "Stay on my good side and you never need to find out."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said. He took a moment to glare at the twins who were both laughing, but keeping a safe distance.

Mina was the only one who didn't look amused at the exchange. If anything, she looked slightly green.

"Stay in touch," I said to Clarissa. I took Mina's hand and guided her back out to the street.

"If it's really Kurt…" She sat down on the curb beside the car park.

"He'll be dead this time tomorrow," I finished for her. I lowered myself down beside her and put my arm around her.

"It doesn't seem real," she said, her tone hollow. "After all those years, he'll finally be gone. I can put all of this behind me."

My heart ached for her. The fact he continued to breathe was starting to piss me off more and more. It was past time for that to stop, and for her to get on with the rest of her life. While he was out there, she'd be in some kind of limbo. Always looking behind her and wondering if he'd appear. Wondering if she'd wake up in that filthy cage, the strap around her ankle. Her naked body dirty, hair matted. Living through hell day after day. Treated like some kind of wild animal.

She deserved so much better than that. She deserved to be spread out on the couch and worshipped the way we'd worshipped her. The sound of her coming rang through my ears like the most beautiful music I ever heard.

The taste of her skin still lingered on my lips. That and the way Gianni's mouth felt on mine.

I was still trying to get my head around having kissed him. Thinking about it and doing it were vastly different things. I never expected to act on feelings I'd suppressed for so long. My attraction to him and to Reuben were best kept under wraps.

Or so I thought.

Now, I was conflicted, but that was something I needed to think about later. Right now I needed to focus on Mina and tomorrow's pickup.

"Why would he come here?" she asked.

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