Page 13 of Burn With Me

“Hey, I’m talking to you, kid.”

I grit my teeth. “I’m not a fucking kid,” I snap. Jesus, she can’t be more than a year or two older than me, if that. “And I heard you—yes, I want to hit something.”

“Okay,” she says with a smile. “Then why don’t you?”

“What?” I gape at her. “I can’t just—” I gesture awkwardly to the space between her and me and then around to the practically empty parking lot.

“Sure, you can,” she argues with a shrug, “but I wouldn’t recommend hitting rock or brick,” she says, nodding back to the bar’s building. “It might leave your knuckles bruised, or worse, broken.”

I snort. “Speaking from personal experience?” I ask.

She grins. “Yeah.”

I shake my head. “You’re fucking weird, you know that?”

She shrugs, a lazy movement. “S’not the first time I’ve heard that. Probably won’t be the last.”

I look her over, curious. Something tells me a straightforward approach is what works best on this chick, so I suck in a breath and go for it. “Why did you follow me out here?”

Avalon’s smile curves her lips and she tilts her head down toward me. “Thought you might be interested in some free advice.”

I sigh, putting one hand behind my neck and leaning it to one side—feeling the need to crack it. “Go ahead,” I offer casually. “What would you do in this fucked up situation?”

Her smile cuts through her face and makes a shiver run through my spine. “I’d give my enemies a taste of their own medicine.” It’s a simple statement, and yet, I know she means something darker.

“What are you saying?” I ask cautiously.

She pulls one hand from her pocket and gestures back. “Your brother and Dean are in there trying to come up with any number of ways to get your mother to divorce this guy,” she says.

I’m not surprised. Even knowing that the man my mother has married this time isn’t your average perv with too much money and time on his hands, I’m still not convinced they won’t divorce on their own soon enough. “So?”

Avalon shakes her head. “From what I know, sounds like Marcus is planning on making a move soon—Dean hasn’t told the others yet, but Marcus probably won’t be around here much longer. Doesn’t make any sense for them to leave this up to him, does it?” No, it doesn’t. She keeps talking and finally, I feel like she’s captured the breadth of my attention. All of it is focused on her and her words. Her ideas. “Dean’s still on the learning curve,” she admits.

“To what?” I ask.

“To figuring out that women aren’t all pretty objects to be kept and protected. He doesn’t think that of me anymore, but most girls…” She drifts off, yet I get her meaning, and she’s right.

I love Marcus, but for most of my life, and especially after the catastrophe of my mother’s last marriage, he’s treated me as little more than a child. Someone to be kept close and protected, just like she said. It probably didn’t do anything to change his mind when I called him for help.

“Okay, so what the hell am I supposed to do?” I ask her. “Walk up to Damien and tell him I know the truth?” No, that would not be a good idea. If he really is involved in something like the mafia, that would be a one-way ticket to a Godfather-type ending.

Avalon tilts her head and rolls her eyes. “Come on, girl,” she says. “You don’t strike me as stupid. What is something you can do that your brother can’t?”

And just like that—like a lightning bolt to the head—I know. It hits me like a freight train. It’s so simple, it’s almost laughable.Isaac. A plan forms and my attention drifts to the ground as I see it unfold in my mind. Damien must have seen me as an obstacle—or a key—when my mother didn’t immediately return at the start of the summer. That was why he’d tried to force me to move in with his son. As leverage? Maybe. And now that leverage—me—is free, but he’s still having Isaac keep an eye on me.

What for?

I shake my head. Whatever the reason, doesn’t matter. What does, however, is that this opens a door. There’s a simple solution to this whole issue. All I need to do is make Damien Icari give up on my mother, and what better way to do that than go after his son the way, I have no doubt he’s planning on coming after me.

“So?” Avalon’s voice makes me jump. Fuck, how the hell does she do that? Make you forget she’s there and then surprise you when you least expect it. It’s like she somehow manages to mask her own presence, but the second you recall it—it’s overwhelming. “Figure it out?” she asks.

I meet her gaze. “Yeah,” I say. “I think I’ve got it.”

Her cool, toned eyes slide over mine and she smiles before holding her hand out to me. “Phone,” she commands in a tone that brooks no argument. I snort, but reach into my pocket and pull it free, handing it to her anyway. She types something into the screen before handing it back. “You’ve got my number,” she says. “Call if you want more advice or … whatever.”

I almost laugh as I tuck my phone back into my pocket.

“Now,” she steps back towards the door, “let’s go grab a beer and wait for the guys to make their own plans.”

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