Page 87 of Amber Gambler

“I must leave.” Kierce slipped his fingers into my hair. “I will return soon.”

Adrenaline flooded my veins, and I jerked upright, gripping his wrist. “You’re going away again?”

“Only to run an errand.” He brushed his lips across my knuckles, and chills skated down my arms. “I won’t be long.”

“I’ll go with you.” I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. “Let me find my shoes.”

The headrush caught up to me, and the room spun. Not my room. Not my bed.

“We’re at the hotel.” Matty gripped my shoulders to steady me. “Same one as last time.”

From the open doorway behind him, I noted they had opted for adjoining rooms.

“What happened after I left?” Josie smoothed the hairs off my sweaty forehead. “You were bleeding and covered in glitter.”

Bleeding. Glitter. Damn it.

“Keep her here.” Kierce rose, making room for Matty to take his place. “Keep her safe.”

“We will.” Josie regarded him in a way that defied labels. “Hurry back.”

A faint incline of his head was his answer, and then he was gone.

“Now that your birdfriend is gone—” she punched me in the shoulder, “—spill.”

“First you need to take ibuprofen.” Matty opened a bottle of soda and dropped two pills onto my palm. “And then you need to snack.” He passed me a bag of cookies next. “Once you finish, you can talk.”

“He’s right.” Josie lowered her head until her cheek rested on my thigh. “Sorry, Mary.”

Gulping and chewing, chewing and gulping, I got everything down fast to restore my equilibrium before the food I was inhaling threatened to rocket back up my throat. Ten minutes was all the time I allowed myself, and only because my siblingswere in arm’s reach. Once I balled up the crinkling bag, stuffed it into the bottle, and twisted on the lid, I kept it to give my hands something to do besides itch to choke a dead man.

“I followed a lead tonight that brought me to Armie’s restaurant.” As much as I didn’t want to, I had to ask Josie. “Have you ever been in his office?”

“Yeah.” She found somewhere else to look. “A few times.”

A bitter taste flooded my mouth, but I had to know. “You were distracted those times?”

“You could say that.”

“Have you ever been in there alone? Ever snooped? Ever used his bathroom?”

“No.” She lifted her head from my thigh. “He always meant to get the toilet fixed, but he never...”

“What’s this about?” Matty scooted down to wrap a protective arm around Josie. “What did you find?”

“There was a secret room hidden behind a wall in the bathroom.” I couldn’t look at them. “Inside it was a freestanding room. A box. One he kept warded to keep people out.”

“Oh.” A thready whisper passed her lips. “What was in the box?”

“Surveillance equipment. He monitored the security feeds from the restaurant in there.”

“That wouldn’t freak you out.” Matty gave no quarter. “What else did you find?”

Bile climbed up my throat, and I had to fight to keep it down, to act calm while I broke the news.

“He was watching us too. He had cameras in all our rooms. In the shop. In the garden.”

A whimper that was two parts hurt and one part hatred sliced through the air.

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