Page 52 of Property of Azrael

She needs this just as much as we did.

I just wish Asher would see it that way.

HALLIE

After Asher’slittle outburst at breakfast this morning, Az had given him a wide berth. While the rest of the guys had taken off on a chartered boat to do some fishing, Az and I had stayed behind at the house. We’d just finished cleaning up after breakfast when his cell phone rang. He had gone off to another part of the house to take the call, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Deciding to give up on him after twenty minutes of being gone, I grab my laptop from our room and head out onto the patio. The sun is blazing compared to when Az and I had been out here earlier, so I switch to one of the more covered spots, settle in, and open up my latest work in progress.

The story flows more easily than it has in months. I’d fully intended to have this book written months ago, but my creative muse had chosen that exact moment to take some time off. My characters were still stuck in limbo, between the firefight from their rival club, leaving the heroine in mortal peril.

I work away, allowing my experiences from the last few days to help me craft a deeper plot line for my lead characters, while adding new nuances to the romantic relationship budding between the love interests.

“She dug her hands into his hair, while he worked to divulge all of her secrets with a single swipe of his tongue,” Azrael’s husky voice reads along from over my shoulder.

I peer up at him, scowling. “It’s rude to read over someone’s shoulder, you know?”

“I couldn’t help it, baby. You were lost in thought when I came out here. I called your name a few times.”

Had he?

“Writing about all these new experiences?” he teases

“Not exactly.”

Looking appalled, he places his hand over his chest, feigning hurt. “Ouch, Hallie.”

“You’ll live.” I laugh at him. “Did your call go okay? You were gone awhile.”

Azrael moves from behind the couch and sits down next to me, easing his arm over my shoulders. “Nothing I couldn’t handle. Before we left, I had a charity project that was presented to us from the Lafayette mayor’s office. Apparently, they didn’t understand the whole out of the office part of the discussion.”

“Sounds pretty important if the mayor’s office called you.”

“To be honest, the project is a dumpster fire. I wouldn’t even be considering it right now if it weren’t for Asher. I like to take on a project every year that will help the community. Asher found this one, and let’s just say that the mayor is being persistent.”

He flinches at his own mention of his brother. Clearly, whatever conversation they’d had outside was not a congenial discussion.

“Did I do something to upset him?”

Az sighs. “My brother is a complicated man, Hallie.” He hesitates, looking out to the ocean ahead and the families in the neighboring homes now littering the beach. “Do you remember asking me about that tattoo on my chest?”

I nod. “The lily with the initials.”

“Her name was Kennedy. She was Asher’s fiancé.”

The revelation is like a punch to the gut. I didn’t know her, but if Asher’s demure and Az’s tattoo were any indication, she was well loved.

I place my hand on his thigh and squeeze. “She must have meant a lot to you to get her initials tattooed on your skin.”

“She did. She meant a lot to all of us.”

“What was she like?”

“She was kind, selfless, and so goddamn funny. Kennedy had this infectious laugh that you could hear a mile away.”

The way he talks about her rattles me. It’s almost as if he’s talking from his brother’s perspective. He’s given me no sign that there may have been something more on his end, but I can’t shake the odd sensation that maybe there was.

“Kennedy was in the sister sorority to my frat, and I met her at one of our mixers. That first night, she talked as if she already knew me. Turns out, she thought I was Asher. They’d had a class together the previous semester.”

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