Page 40 of Frisco

I nodded, but that didn’t really need to be answered. He knew it as he’d said it.

I felt a flutter in my stomach, one I liked but also didn’t like. It was uncomfortable.

If the issue was something in the past, it was a done deal. There’d be no need for any of this unless Claudia had overheard or seen something else? Maybe it was something else? That was the only thing that made sense.

My head was messed up. Too many hours driving. Too much effort waiting, prepared, for when Aly and Harper would start the questioning about Foley.

Now Shane was here, and his presence was overwhelming. All he was telling me. Just standing there, staring at me, I felt him all the way to my toes. My blood was on fire, and it took effort to tamp it all down.

“Look, whatever she saw or overheard, I don’t want to hear it,” I told him. “I don’t want to know it. She won’t say anything. I promise. I won’t let her. My mom won’t let her. We know what you guys can do.”

He tilted his head. “Your sister tends to do her own thing.”

That was an understatement. “Let me talk to her. I can reason with her.”

“Can you? Actually?”

I winced, because he was right.

Then, as if he’d decided to take control of the conversation, he started for me. “I know you.”

Fuck.

“I know her.”

Jesus.

My throat tightened with each statement, each step he took.

He was dangerous. I’d always felt that from him, even back in high school. But it had been honed to perfection in the years since. I’d known that immediately when I saw him in the grocery store. My feelings were muddled up a bit at my mom’s bar, from that kiss. But this tiny room seemed to get smaller the longer we stayed in here. It was once again front and center in my mind that he was a killer.

Knew it in my gut.

No one could’ve told me differently.

Yet I still didn’t quite know why I was scared of him, except the obvious. He was a Red Demon.

Oh, right. My brother.

I took a breath, closed my eyes, and let it out. “Why do I feel like I’m going to lose someone I love because of you?”

He made no sound.

I waited, tensing for his response, but after ten seconds, nothing had come out.

I opened my eyes and half expected him to be gone.

He stared at me.

He looked haunted before he caught himself. Then he growled and lunged for me.

Maybe lunge was an exaggeration.

He stepped toward me, but I was so attuned to his movements that I jumped up.

He kept coming, and his hand went to my stomach. He walked me to a wall.

I couldn’t breathe.

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