Page 88 of Prohibited

“Your child?” he said quietly after satisfying his desire to kiss her. “What was her name?”

Surprise registered in her face. Then grief. Tenderness. She smiled at him, a good, sad smile that made her eyes glisten. “Camille,” she said in a voice as fragile as tears. “I named her Camille. For his mother.”

Ryan pulled her head against his chest and held her tightly while she wept.

Chapter thirty

Alex

“We haven’t got all day.” Alex was standing at the driver’s side of his car, door open. One foot resting on the step plate, elbow resting on the top of the open door. The engine of the car was ticking pleasantly, a sound that always made him think of Tommy. Tommy and his obsession with cars.

Thinking of Tommy made him furious, so he rarely did it. Even now, the image of his brother with his sly, handsome smile while he bent his head near the hood of the car and nodded with approval at the soft chugging of the engine made him grit his teeth.

Ryan coming down the front steps of the cabin drove the vision of Tommy out of his mind. Ryan was carrying his suit jacket in one hand, blinking the sun out of his eyes in spite of the fedora shading the sunlight out of his face. The high waistline of his trousers emphasized the neat tapering of his torso. Beautiful as always, even though he looked like hell warmed over. Eyes puffy from drink and a lack of quality sleep.

A deliberate act of defiance, Ryan stopped at the bottom step and took his time fitting a Lucky Strike between his perfect lips and touching the end of it with a match. Their Dolly was lingering at the door, hand on the frame, half of her body hidden. The look in her eyes was difficult to read. But mostly it was cautious. Good. He didn’t want her to be too comfortable. She hadn’t earned that.

Malcolm, George, and Carlos climbed into Malcolm’s truck after Malcolm turned the crank and got the engine running.

“See you at Lavar’s,” Malcolm said, giving him a salute. And then the truck was off, throwing dust up in its wake.

Ryan didn’t say anything as he climbed in the car and slammed the door. The way he moved, the way his eyes shifted, the way his shoulders were held high and tight told Alex everything he needed to know about how comfortable Ryan was feeling about their little trip into the city together. This also made him smile. He had fully anticipated Ryan regretting their fun together.

Well. If he thought he regretted it now, he didn’t even begin to comprehend the meaning of regret. He would, though, once Alex was finished teaching him his lesson. But that was a lesson for another day. Today, he was going to savor Ryan’s discomfort like a rich taste on the back of his tongue while they attended to business.

“Straight to Lola’s?” Alex asked as they turned onto the highway and started rolling through the beautiful green countryside of Oklahoma.

“I don’t want to keep him waiting all day.” Ryan didn’t turn his face away from the window. “The longer he waits, he might just change his mind.” His fedora was in his lap and his head was resting against the door, eyes closed, letting the warm air lick his skin as they drove along.

“Business and pleasure,” Alex said in a deliberately facetious tone. “Don’t mind if I do.”

Ryan snorted, but didn’t otherwise respond.

“Gesundheit,” Alex said.

Which drew another sound of disgust from Ryan, but he still said nothing.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Alex said, humor aside.

Ryan made a sound of exasperation and Alex caught the look he shot him out of the corner of his eye.

“Are we really going to have this conversation again?” Ryan said.

They’d been arguing about it since she’d called them yesterday.

Lola’s was an establishment run by Lola, herself, that catered to the needs of her gentlemen clientele. These needs ran the gamut from gaming to sexual pleasure to sexual interests of an unusual flavor. Alex had never taken any pleasure there, but he had heard rumors that there were at least a couple of the women who specialized in administering pain as well as receiving it. As tempting as it was to sample the wares, he didn’t pay for his pleasure anymore. He liked his playmates to participate out of desire, not financial motivation.

When Lola called them the day before to tell them that Mike Page, one of Walter’s guys, was coming forward for a fee, Ryan had been triumphant. Alex, on the other hand, was not so enthusiastic. Yes, Lola was a good and loyal client. Yes, she was a friend of his mother’s. Yes, she’d always given them a safe place to stay and a bite to eat when they needed it as boys. Yes, she typically stayed out of all politics.

But something about it felt off to Alex. And he wanted vengeance as much as a man could, but he wasn’t stupid. Ryan and Malcolm just couldn’t be reasoned with and Alex wasn’t going to let them go along without him.

Personally, though, he was prepared for the worst.

Though normally he would have savored the opportunity to spend so much time with Ryan, Alex was annoyed enough with him that he happily returned Ryan’s determination to ignore him all the way into Tulsa.

Lola’s was a well-appointed home near the riverfront on a large lot set far back from the road that was completely eclipsed by the cyprus trees that grew around the property for the sake of privacy. To the unknowing eye, it looked like any of the other prestigious and stately homes situated in the neighborhood. To the well-informed, however, crossing onto the property was bound to bring a tingle of excitement at the pleasures to come. Alex murmured the correct password to the man who leaned down to greet them and the enormous, elegant wrought iron gates parted to accommodate the sleek Ford that purred softly all the way up the driveway.

“Here goes nothin’,” Ryan muttered.

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