Page 73 of Deceit

“Emmy, this is Madelyn and her father, Hardy…my brother.” I glance at Bishop, whose expression has materialized into aggravation. “Madelyn, this is…Emmy Lou. She works with me.”

“Why do you have two names?” Madelyn asks, staring at me like she’s seeing into the depths of my soul.

Poor girl doesn’t want to do that. She’ll get lost in the thing; it’s a mess.

“People are sometimes born with two names, Maddy,” Hardy answers for me. “It makes them special…and extremely pretty.”

Bishop plucks the box holding his niece’s toy, and half-ass examines it. “Look, Madelyn, we can practice shooting your father with it.”

Mills chuckles at my side and I watch Hardy smirk, walking over to Scarlett at his brother’s side just to ruffle her hair. She swats his hand away, mouth full with food, as Hardy examines the rest of the table, falling onto Camilla next.

“Now, you’re another one I haven’t met before.”

Bishop’s eyes suddenly lock with Kyson’s, passing along a silent message that only they can decipher.

They grew up together. They took care of each other. They ride together. They can read each other's thoughts, apparently.

“I’m Camilla,” she replies for herself. “I grew up with Kace.”

“Huh, no shit.”

“Language, Hard,” Scarlet lightly scolds him.

“Yeah…” Camilla locks her focus on Bish. “We were high school sweethearts.”

Bishop’s face turns deadly as he slices his gaze to her, causing Madelyn to begin squirming. He doesn’t realize it, but he might be squeezing the poor thing from how pissed he looks.

“Hey, Madelyn,” I chime in, breaking through the tension. “Wanna go practice? I’ll teach you how to be stealthy.”

The heavy attention of the table descends on me, and I rise over it, feeling Bishop’s fixed stare follow me.

“What’s ste—step—“

“Stealth,” Bishop fills in for her before leaning in to whisper loud enough for us all to hear. “It means to be sneaky.”

Madelyn’s blue eyes light up. “I wanna learn!”

I coerce a smile, wanting air that isn’t so stifled. “Let’s go. I’ll teach you everything you’ll need to know to beat the guys.”

Madelyn waits for me to round the table to stand at her side and takes my hand, leading me down a hallway to what I’m assuming is her room.

It’s better than sitting with the hoe in the other room.

Emmy’s car wouldn’t start.

And I may or may not be the reason for it not turning over and her slamming her palm against the steering wheel several times before I came out to “assist” her with my sister.

Emmy claims that it’s been running fine. She’s had no problems with it and keeps up with her oil changes and tune-ups.

Except it can’t run when one of the sparks plugs are missing, and I might have it residing in the pocket of my jeans right now.

I said it before, and I’ll say it again—Emmy Lou isn’t leaving my fucking sight to spend several hours in her hotel room while she complies with some stupid ass idea of going to the Hamptons alone.

And while I could just simply explain that to her, I’d rather keep the peace for my sister’s sake, my brother’s waning curiosity, and my sanity.

Except said sanity is wearing thin when my little brother has been flirting, staring, and making every effort in the book to be next to her at any given moment.

If I caught him in Madelyn’s room with her one more time to “check in on them” I was going to make him part of the wall.

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