Page 66 of Caged Bird

If that were even possible.

Spider found his side and pointed through the crowd to a woman sitting with a couple of men, drinks in their hands. They weren’t far from where I stood, and I could hear their conversation easily, even if none of them appeared to notice I was there. I busied myself with the food so I had an excuse to be hanging around.

Normally I wasn’t interested in Eddie’s business dealings, but normally he ran with low-level gangbangers. Guerra had never graced us with his presence, even if Eddie had been doing things for him for years.

I suspected Guerra was really why Eddie had brought Zane in. Even though he now didn’t trust him and had taken the role back for himself, my gut told me this was the meeting Eddie had been scared of looking weak for.

Which told me whatever it was these people had to offer, Eddie wanted it. It had to be more than money for Eddie.

He wanted power. The respect and admiration of being Guerra’s equal.

But he stopped short at the group, surveying the faces of the woman and four men, and battled to keep his own expression in check. “Evening,” he said eventually. “I was expecting Mr. Guerra.”

The woman stood, her long, shapely legs shown off in a short, tight skirt that clung to curvy hips. She held a hand out to Eddie. “I know. But you got me instead.” She gave him a flirty wink I couldn’t miss even from a distance. “Lucky you.”

Eddie’s confusion was clear in the crinkled lines of his forehead, but there was also no mistaking the slow sweep of approval his gaze made along the woman’s body.

It was clear to me she knew it was her secret weapon.

Or not so secret, considering she had everything on display. I’d once worked as a stripper and loved the feeling of control and power over men it had given me. I didn’t blame her at all for using what she had.

The intelligent awareness in her eyes would have been easy to miss if you were a guy like Eddie, too busy slobbering over her pushed-up tits and jeweled belly button ring.

“Guerra and I had business to take care of tonight,” he eventually managed to stutter.

She peered up at him from beneath thick, black lashes that had to be fake. “There’s a Guerra right here, waiting to do business with you right now.”

I could see the irritation on Eddie’s face. The barely concealed rage that a man thought so little of Eddie he’d sent a woman in his place. Guerra clearly didn’t think Eddie worth his own time.

An uncomfortable trickle of worry slid down my spine. And for a second, I was sure this was going to end in one of Eddie’s outbursts of anger. The kind where he grabbed my head and slammed it into a wall. Or yanked my hair so hard strands cameaway in his fists. But this time it wouldn’t be me crying in pain, but Guerra’s wife.

A sign Eddie wasn’t to be fucked with.

Every muscle in my body tensed, waiting for him to strike.

But it didn’t come. Eddie’s frown smoothed out, and he nodded at Spider. “Could we get Mrs. Guerra another drink, please? And one for me too.”

“Audrina,” the woman said, holding her hand out.

Eddie took it, but instead of shaking it, he drew it to his lips and kissed the back of her knuckles. “Eddie Sinclair.”

Audrina laughed, a sweet, tinkling sound that cut through the general chatter of the group and the low baseline of rap music. “So you’re charming as well as handsome?”

Eddie chuckled, his laughter almost genuine. Thing was, the woman wasn’t blowing smoke up his ass, and he knew it. Eddie was a good-looking guy, if you liked the beefed-up, gym bro look.

I had once. I’d taken one peek at the thick biceps and rippling abs and hadn’t seen past them until it was too late.

I wanted to yell out to this woman, warn her of what I knew. But she wasn’t a stupid teenager who didn’t know any better.

Audrina Guerra was a fully grown woman who had a clear agenda of her own, even if I didn’t know what it was just yet.

Spider handed Eddie two red Solo cups full of beer, and Eddie passed one to Audrina. At a flick of her wrist, one of her husband’s guys moved aside.

Eddie took up his spot. “So, about this expansion Guerra wants to make—”

Audrina let out a shriek of delight and pointed to the house. “Who is that sweet thing up in the window?” She clutched Eddie’s arm. “Is that your boy, Eddie?”

My heart sank. I whipped my gaze up to Otis’s bedroom window, where a low glow came from behind the curtains. ButOtis’s little face peeped out around them, his big eyes taking in the party happening below.

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