Page 118 of Clinch'd

My mouth is sour as I pull up Hudson’s contact and press send. We don’t usually communicate but I need him to knowMonroe’s safe and to ask about the fucking picture. Except when I dial the number, it goes to voicemail.

I can’t leave a message, but I do click my tongue, something we used to do as kids. Back then, it was a fuck you, I win. Now it’s just an, I win, I guess.

Still, a shiver overtakes me which I brush off, images of Minnie with that bastard circling my brain. How does she know him? Is this related to her protecting Lorri or something more?

Although right now, the last person I want to talk to is her, I dial her number. When it goes straight to voicemail, I leave a message, short and sweet. “Call me.”

The back of my neck itches but I ignore the feeling and help Monroe inside.

Mom takes one look at her, her brows crinkling with concern before ushering her down the hall and into the bedroom.

I should feel relieved, but I can’t concentrate and forgoing the family reunion, I grab my keys and stalk back to my car.

What the fuck is going on?

Three hours later, I’m sitting in my SUV with Beast beside me. I tried calling Hudson twice more before calling his boss who told me Hudson wouldn’t be checking in for another forty-eight hours.

Something isn’t right though. I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel it in the crawl of my skin and the ache in the base of my skull.

Even though we’re not truly twins, Mom still refers to us as such because we were conceived so close together. Irish twins she called us, always with a tired smile. I mean, we were little shits back then.

All I know is, he’s the closest sibling to me in age. I can’t describe it; I can just feel it. Dammit.

Minnie hasn’t called either and I’m fighting the suspicion that she’s been lying about more than the stupid drugs this entire time.

With no idea what I can do beyond waiting, I convinced Beast to come with me and now here we sit, staring at Sal Castinetti’s estate. It’s no secret where he lives because the asshole flashes his money around like a moron.

So far nothing monumental has happened and I’m starting to get itchy. The guards surrounding Castinetti’s house have shown no indication they’ve seen us despite the fact that I’m not hiding. It’s a message I choose not to heed.

“Just because Minnie was in that picture don’t mean she’s in bed with Castinetti,” Beast breaks the silence to say.

“Oh really?” I sneer. My chest burns whenever I think about her sitting beside my father’s killer pretty as you, please. Did I fuck a woman who was in bed with the enemy?

“Because that’s the same fucker, I spoke to when this shit went down.”

“And?” I can’t breathe through the lump in my throat, and I want to believe him so badly, but my resolve hardens when I spy none other than Minnie exiting that fuckers house dressed in a fucking gown.

She looks mighty fucking cozy to me.

Beast follows my gaze and as she slides into the back of the swanky car waiting for her, I put mine in gear. “You were saying, bro?”

Chapter 44

Minnie

In a daze, I slip into the vehicle and close my eyes. I suppose I should be grateful that I’m alive but frankly I’m too shell shocked to know the difference.

After Lorri took me upstairs to a bedroom fit for a princess, with honest to god bed hangings on her four-poster bed, she shoved me into one of her old prom dresses while I circled the drain of my thoughts.

All of which came to nothing because there was no way I was going to convince the mob boss to let my sister go with his baby in her belly.

It’s only when she pulled out her own dress that I snapped out of it and said, “Are you crazy? What the fuck are you doing?”

“Sh,” she said, tipping her head toward the door. Following her gaze, I frowned. Was she implying that he could be listening to us?

When I merely turned back and stared at her like she’d grown two heads, she said, “Go wash your face. I’ll do your makeup.”

I was about to protest when she widened her eyes and instead, I stomped toward the bathroom and turned on the water. Shewas right behind me though and hissed in my ear, “It was the only way.”

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