Page 7 of Ink & Reina

Closing my eyes, I gritted my teeth. I should have made her promise me she wouldn’t give him the time of day. Made her fucking swear it to me. But I hadn’t. I’d thought my warning to her would be enough. That she’d listen to me.

Jordan’s phone went off in his pocket. I didn’t have to glance at his screen. I already knew he was in bad shit. It was one of the main reasons I did my damnest to keep my distance from him. “I need to go, babe, but I’ll see you this evening, yeah?” Jordan asked, flashing her a wicked grin. To her, it probably looked like something out of one of her romance novels.

To me, it just revealed the monster lurking beneath his nice-guy facade.

She shyly nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear. Jordan looked at me. “I’ll be waiting, bro.”

I watched Jordan walk back to his car with narrowed eyes before I looked down at Reina. “Reina?—”

“If you’re warning me against him, save me the lecture,” she told me, abruptly cutting me off. I ground my teeth together. “I’ll already have to hear it from Johnny. You both need to learn that I’m a big girl. I can make decisions for myself. I don’t need two protectors.”

No, she wouldn’t need two. She would need a lot more because Jordan played dirty as fuck.

But I bit my tongue. If I fought her on this, I knew I could lose her friendship. One word to her dad, and she would never have to see me again. I knew that. So, I didn’t push it. Reina was sweet, but I also knew when she put her mind to something, she was determined as hell. I admired her for it.

Until now. Until Jordan.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I need to get home,” I told her, my voice sounding tired to my own ears. “Someone will come by later and grab my bike. Don’t worry about it.”

“Ink—” she started, her voice surprisingly small now. But I just… I couldn’t. I needed to get my head together.

“Not now, Reina,” I softly told her, barely holding my temper in check. “You don’t know him.”

She frowned. “He’s your brother, Ink. How bad can he be?”

Deadly, I wanted to tell her, but I didn’t. Just because Jordan and I were brothers didn’t mean we were cut from the same fold.

“You told me not to say anything, Reina, so I’m not.” Her frown deepened. “But I need a bit of time to wrap my head around this shit,” I told her. “But when Johnny does say something to you about this, maybe you should listen to him.”

She glared at me, beginning to get angry. “Why is it when the first guy ever to show interest in me comes along, you all of a sudden want to be a dick?” she seethed.

I clenched my jaw so tightly that it fucking hurt.

“I’m not being a fucking dick, Reina. I’m trying to stop you before you do something you’ll fucking regret.”

“Like what?” she snarled. She threw her arm out to the side. “I’m so sick of every man and guy in my life fucking dictating what I can and can’t do. Jordan is cute and sweet, and he has a real interest in me, Ink. I’m going to date him. You, Johnny—no one—is going to fucking stop me.”

With that, she spun around on her heel and stormed off toward her house. Snarling, I kicked my bike over and pulled out my phone, calling Johnny as I glared at the front door as she slammed it closed.

“Bad timing, bro,” he told me. I heard a girl moan in the background.

“It’s Reina,” I told him. Immediately, I had his full attention. “My brother just met her because he had to come get me, and she’s adamant about dating him.”

“Fuck,” Johnny swore.

Yeah… that about summed up how I was feeling, too.

Chapter Four

Ink

Ipushed off the porch railing as Jordan parked his car. He was just coming back from his date with Reina, and I’d been stewing the entire fucking time, my rage simmering and just waiting to explode.

It hadn’t been hard to figure out where Jordan would be staying while he was in town. Considering I knew he wouldn’t get his own place, I knew he would be bunking back at where we’d grown up. The place was paid off now, and Jordan made sure the taxes got paid on this place every year.

If it were up to me, I’d have let the fucking state take this place years ago.

“She’s a fucking fine ass girl,” Jordan said as he slid out of his car, that cocky smirk on his face.

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