Page 42 of Gilded Kisses

Viper brushes unruly strands of hair from my face.

“Try it.”

“Baby girl, you’ve gotten mean in our time apart. But if it will keep you from hurting yourself, that’s fine by me.”

He pushes me between him and Mirsha, who has sealed his lips for a while now.

“Nice Aster died the night you three left me hurting and alone in the dark.”

The car falls silent, and for a moment there is nothing but the hum of rubber over Louisiana road. That’s fine. It gives me time to plan my escape from them and figure out a way to make my cousin pay for his disloyalty.

“I know Harlon called you. Don’t feel obligated to do his bidding. I would think by now you three would be tired of being Constantine bitches.”

Three sets of eyes level on me and I feel their weight like I do the enormous boulder in the middle of my chest.

I release a sign of frustration to keep myself from going off on one of them again. In my opinion, they deserve all my wrath, but I am bone tired.

“Look, I am not trying to be difficult. It’s just been a really fucktacular day. I don’t want to be here. I know you don’t want me here. Help get me on my way, please. That is all I need.”

Blue eyes sear me through the rearview mirror. Luther’s icy depths reveal turbulent waters as dangerous as the agitatedwaters of the Mississippi River. I drop my gaze to the glow of the dashboard. Through the low light casting onto him, I finally take notice of the suit he’s wearing.

That they are all wearing, I realize.

Louisiana and suits of this caliber equal The Gilded Key Society.

Nope. Not gonna happen.

“Drop me off at the front of the airport on your way around and I will buy a ticket. I’ll be gone within an hour. Promise. You don’t even have to kiss me goodbye this time.”

“What a fucking dirty mouth on this girl, brothers.” Mirsha’s cold steel eyes fall on me and the impact of his banked power radiates out until I can’t seem to breathe. His face comes closer, blurring out the passing streetlights untilheis all I focus on.

Mirsha asks roughly, with a cock of his dark brow, “Is that how you were raised to speak to your godfathers?”

“If you still think you can pull the godfather card on me, think again.”

Dark laughter reverberates in Mirsha’s broad chest, but there’s not a hint of humor in the masculine sound.

Time has only made the man look more distinguished. Dark hair feathers over his forehead. The way it makes his eyes stand out is not lost on me. I can be mad at the man, but he’s still drop-dead gorgeous. Rough around the edges, but all the more captivating. He must have a trail of women in his wake begging for him to return.

I kill the lust inside me with a nice bucket of ice-cold water. “I would die happy never seeing you three again.”

“Is that so?”

Not really. “God’s honest.”

And then the rope Viper mentioned is around my hands and feet with a silk tie forced into my mouth.

He pats me on the head. “Be a good girl for your godfathers and sit.”

Raw fury turns volcanic. I’m going to kill them all.

Eleven

Luther

It’s hard explaining a tied-up woman in the back of a car, so I don’t try.

The guard at the gate kept shooting eyes at Aster. Lucky for him, the college-aged boy had a head on his shoulders and knew better than to ask questions, check our membership and leave it at that.

---