Page 7 of The Inquirer

“I’m not playing hero,” I said. “Just trust me on this. It’ll be better if I deal with drunk Nyx.”

“All right, I’ll go.” He paused, his finger coming close to my face. “If you take advantage of her, I’ll cut your balls off and use them as Halloween decorations.”

“Thanks for that imagery,” I said dryly.

A moment later, the gravel crunched as Isaac walked back to his car. I waited until he drove away to speak to Nyx. The fact that she was still standing there, glowering at me, was yet more proof that she’d had too much to drink. If she’d been sober, she would’ve been either slamming the door in my face or cussing me out.

“Tomorrow morning, you’re going to feel pretty stupid for yelling at Isaac the way you did.” I shoved all ten fingers through my hair. “He’ll forgive you for it. The Huxleys are good people that way.”

“I wouldn’t have said any of it if he had just kissed me back.” Her tone was petulant.

“I think, tomorrow, you’ll be glad he didn’t.” My voice was tight. “You should really go sleep it off. Alone.”

She made a sound that I, belatedly, recognized as some sort of laugh. Not the real laugh I’d heard before. This one was filled with a lifetime of bitterness. I didn’t like it.

“It’s none of your damn business who’s in my bed. Just like it’s none of mine who’s in yours.”

“What?”

She reached out like she was going to shove my shoulder but missed, throwing her off balance. I reached out automatically to help her, but she smacked away my hands. Somehow, she managed to regain her balance, and she looked even more pissed than before. Repeating my question was probably a bad idea, but I did it anyway.

“What did you mean?”

She rolled her eyes. “I guess that answers the question if she fucked your brains out.”

My jaw dropped as I connected the dots. I didn’t know how, but she’d seen Antoinette in my cabin.

Was that why she’d gotten drunk?

Did it matter?

The problem was, the answer to both of those questions was the same.

I didn’t know.

Four

Nyx

I shouldn’t have said that.

Shit.

I’d known kissing Isaac was a bad idea, but I hadn’t realized it was going to send everything else down the crapper. Of course, Bradyn had to do what he’d been doing from the moment I first arrived in Savannah. He just showed the fuck up.

“When did you get back?” he asked, an intense expression on his face. “You were here earlier, weren’t you?”

I shook my head, then regretted the movement as it nearly knocked me off balance. “Doesn’t matter. Like I said, not my business.”

I should’ve just gone straight inside when I got here. Ignored Isaac and just gone to bed.

“I’d like to know how you saw what you did, but I don’t think that’s the most important thing right now.” Bradyn took a small step toward me. “Look, nothing happened.”

“Right.” I pointed at him as he became two people, then came back together into one. “Cuz a naked woman answering your door while you’re in the shower doesn’t scream ‘just had sex.’”

“Fuck,” he muttered. “No, Nyx. I didn’t have sex with her.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t care.”

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