Page 33 of Still Burning

“I don’t have my passport.” I blurted out the first thing I’d thought of.

I didn’t even have my driver’s license.

Brady let out a cackle of laughter. “Neither do I,” he called out as if that was hilarious. “She don’t have ‘er passport,” he told the other men, even though I knew they had heard me.

They all were grinning. Why was that so funny? There had to be some border patrol at whatever airport we landed in. I didn’t know a lot about international travel, but I knew that much.

“Come on, sister. Let me introduce ye to the world of Murphy luxury and power,” he said with a bright smile that reminded me of Eamon when he had been happy.

I had known the Murphys were wealthy, but I hadn’t known they were private-jet wealthy. Eamon had worked hard at his job. We’d not been given a dime from his parents. But Brady—the brother I hadn’t known existed—was in a private jet?

Was all this really happening? Had I fallen asleep? I didn’t remember lying down.

Brady held out a hand for me to go first on the steps to the plane. Having no choice, I made my way up with him falling into step behind me. When I reached the entrance, I froze. Cream-colored leather sofas, a full bar with a man standing in attendance behind it, and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. A blonde woman with a formfitting black suit coat and skirt was setting down a tiered tray of snacks on the largest table.

Holy shit.

I stiffened as Brady came up close enough behind me that I could feel the heat from his body.

“Eamon designed it himself,” he said. “One of the things I loved about my brother: he enjoyed luxurious things.”

I was in an alternate universe, or I’d hit my head and fallen off the ladder after all. Maybe I couldn’t take it anymore, so I snapped. I was hallucinating.

“How could he afford this?” I asked, my voice a hoarse whisper.

“’Tis our family business, sister,” he said softly. “We supply Europe’s addicts with the very best.”

12

Tex

This felt wrong. I stood in the corner of the small doctor’s office with my arms crossed, staring at the wall across from me that had the different stages of a baby. I hadn’t been aware I’d have to go back to a room and wait with Nixie.

The drive over here had been bad enough. She kept talking about names and asking my opinion. I’d had none.

I didn’t want to be here.

Not being able to text Salem was driving me fucking crazy. I had planned on us stopping at the store and getting her a phone on our ride today. The one we’d be on right now if she hadn’t pleaded with me to come to this appointment with Nixie. Salem was the reason I was here, but Nixie didn’t seem to understand that—or she was pretending otherwise.

Didn’t she have a mother who could come with her to this thing?

I shifted my gaze to the clock on the wall. We’d been waiting for thirty minutes. How much longer was the fucking doctor going to take? We had already sat in the goddamn waiting room for almost an hour. There were so many pregnant couples in there and tiny kids running around that I felt claustrophobic. I’d been close to bolting out the door. Nixie kept leaning on me and slipping her arm around mine, like we were some happy couple. My teeth were sore from grinding them so hard.

“What about Blue Ivy if it’s a girl? I love that together. Her nickname could be Ivy Blue.”

Not looking at her, I grimaced. “Are you hoping she follows in your footsteps?” I asked sarcastically.

Who the fuck named their kid something like that?

“What?” she asked, sounding confused, then let out an insulted laugh. “Are you saying that’s a stripper name? I’ll have you know that is what Beyoncé and Jay-Z named their daughter.”

I rolled my eyes and laid my head back on the wall. “Yeah, well, there are two you should take parenting advice from.”

“You could at least act like you care,” she started in a whiney voice when the door opened.

I straightened from my relaxed stance as an older lady walked into the room, carrying a clipboard. She was reading over it and then looked up to smile at Nixie.

“Hello, Darla,” she said, and my eyes widened at the name.

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