Page 6 of Three to Fall

For once in his life, X went quiet.

I kicked the door wider. Blinding midmorning light streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side of the room but did nothing to conceal the broad-shouldered man standing there. Even with his back to me, I recognized my psychopathic brother. The thick thighs and biceps, his back corded with muscle, his clothes always a tiny bit too tight because he was such a big man.

I was no slouch in the size department. I was over six feet. I had the sort of muscle that regular gym workouts gave you. But I was nothing compared to Trig.

And I didn’t give a fuck.

All I saw was red.

Before I could even think about it, I was lunging for one of the kitchen knives.

And then toward the man who’d wrecked my life.

Trig had the same sort of reflexes the rest of the guys did. He turned around, a slow, dark smile spreading across his face.

I stopped dead, the blood draining from my face and the adrenaline replaced with a fear so bitterly cold it was ice in my veins.

No.

“I didn’t expect a warm welcome. But you aren’t even going to say hello to your pretty girlfriend?” Trigger twisted his fingers in the cord he had wrapped loosely around Kara’s neck. “Hey, little brother.”

The knife fell from my fingers. Clattered to the tiled floor with a clang.

Kara’s huge, terrified eyes focused on me, wet with unshed tears. Her fingers gripped the cord around her neck, still loose enough for her to breathe.

But the threat was clear.

“Let her go.” The fear built in my throat, forming a ball that tried to choke me.

“She looks like Annette.”

My wife.

I swallowed hard. “I know. But let her go.”

Kara blinked in surprise, but the only sound she made was the too-fast breaths she sucked in, like she was preempting the air she wouldn’t get if Trig pulled that cord more than an inch.

Trig brushed her hair off her face and tilted her head back to peer down at her. “That why you like her? ’Cause she reminds you of your bitch?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“But you do like her, right, Brother? She came here, all upset about something, saying there were bad people after her andsearching for her knight in shining armor.” He grinned. “Which she found in me, of course. Because you weren’t here. Isn’t that right, Annette Number Two?”

I didn’t want to give him another weakness to use against me. But Kara’s eyes stared into mine, and I knew deep inside me, if Trig wanted to, he could kill her in an instant. All it would take was one snap of her neck and she’d be done.

If that happened, I didn’t want the last thing she heard to be a lie.

So I spoke the truth. “I think I’m in love with her.”

Kara’s bottom lip trembled.

I knew what it would look like to an outsider. I could feel the surprised gazes of the other guys. Though I’d never been stupid enough to tell a group of psychopaths about the woman I was falling for. Sharing my personal life with them had already ended badly once.

Plus, Kara and I had barely even kissed.

But the connection I felt to her wasn’t just physical. It was so much more than just wanting my lips on hers, or to take her out of those clothes and worship the curves beneath.

She was the first thing I thought about in the mornings. And the last thing before I went to bed. She was who I dreamed of when I slept.

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