Page 96 of Amber Gambler

“I’m not what you deserve—” his lips whispered across my nape, “—but I’m yours if you’ll have me.”

Light flooded the room and retching noises followed as Matty clapped a hand over his mouth.

“Do not grind on my sister while I’m still in the room.” He turned his back on us. “I’ll have nightmares for weeks. Months.Years.” He curled in on himself. “You said you wanted to talk to her. Not…that.”

“He’s not grinding.” I might have been, though. “There was no grinding.”

“There was some grinding,” Kierce murmured, flooring me that he chose now to learn how to tease me.

“Wait.” I took stock of the bed next to me, which was empty, and my heart lurched. “Where’s Josie?”

“Carter took her to get something to eat.”

Relief cascaded through me, and I slumped against Kierce, who let me to melt into his arms.

“I can’t unsee this.” Matty shut his eyes and fumbled for the switch. “First Harrow and now?—”

Fabric rustled as Kierce caressed up my side and over my ribs, causing my breath to catch, until his fingers brushed my jaw. “Harrow?”

Allowing his touch to turn my head until I faced him, I suppressed a jolt at the metallic glint of his eyes. A wiser woman might have recognized the situation for the danger it represented, this awakening in him. I was, apparently, not her. I thrilled to witness his power and the burgeoning edge of a possession that hit me in the stomach like a mule kick.

“Matty walked in on a dream Harrow was having about me. That’s all. It was only a dream.”

Kierce smoothed his thumb across my cheek, over the seam of my mouth, and I bit him.

The low growl caught in the back of his throat warned me I was playing with fire.

Note to self: Kierce enjoys nibbling and being nibbled on.

“I’m going to stick my head in the trash compactor out back,” Matty announced, yanking the door open.

“Quit being such a drama llama.” I rolled away from Kierce. “Happy now?”

“You can’t trick me that easily.” Matty laughed. “I’m not going to look.”

“I’m not Josie.”

One of her greatest delights was scarring us with her romantic antics. Armie had been game for anything mischievous, so they had made a good pair when it came to inflicting trauma on Matty and me. To recall what a great team they made ignited my temper all over again.

“True.” He hesitated on the threshold. “Can you behave yourselves?”

“Yes.” I shot Kierce a glance over my shoulder, ignoring the clench in my abdomen. “We’ll be good.”

Carter and Josie were taking their sweet time getting back, so I indulged in the shower I skipped earlier and dressed for the meeting with Harrow. I felt better after washing, like I had scrubbed away the violation from what Armie had done to us. A layer or two of it anyway. As much as I wanted to go home, I couldn’t face it yet. Not without itching to burn it down to erase the horror off Josie’s face after she learned this latest and most damning truth.

Twenty minutes before sunset, Carter let herself into the room.

“Where’s Josie?” I shot to my feet. “Is she okay?”

“She’s tired.” Carter crimped her lips. “She’s next door and wants to be left alone.”

The urge to storm through the door and squeeze her until I crushed every speck of hurt almost overwhelmed me. I was the fixer. I kissed boo-boos. I made things better. I kept my family safe and happy.

But I couldn’t figure out how to mend what Armie had broken. Not her heart. Not wholly. Her spirit? The fire in her belly that burned out doubts and fears and stoked the flames of her hopes? Yeah. I worried he had doused that from beyond his pseudo grave.

“I’ll prop the door open.” Matty did it right then. “I’ll keep an eye on her while you’re gone.”

“Thanks, Mary.” I hugged him tight. “Stay safe, okay?”

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