Page 59 of Unhinged

“Sighted at the Wolf and Moon last night. Ruthie told us.”

And by us, he means Vadka, Rafail’s best friend. Ruthie’s his sister-in-law and bartends at the Wolf and Moon. It helps having an observant ally in the local bar. There’s a reason we know everything. Lips loosen over drinks.

“So he’s not hiding. Interesting.”

I canhearRodion’s smirk on the other end of the line. “Ask your girl,” he says.

I scowl. “She’s not my girl.”

Anissa feigns being affronted with an exaggerated open mouth, her hand splayed across her chest. She holds my gaze and shakes her head.

“Right.” I can hear the note of derision in his tone.

Just a girl I keep locked up, feed by hand, and growl at whenever another man so much as breathes on her.

Totally normal behavior.

I grit my teeth and growl.

“Hey, I’m just saying, if it walks like a duck, fucks like a?—”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Oooh. Touched a nerve?”

Touched fucking all of them.

“I’m just giving you shit. You’re one of the last to fall, and this woman’s gonna do you in. Mark my words.”

She willnot.She’s here because I forced her, not because she wants to be.

“Fuck you.”

“It’s alright,” he says, snarky as fuck. “You can do this. Be a big boy. Use your big boy words.”

I exhale through my nose. “I fucking hate you.”

“Nah, baby, youloveme. Now go take care of your girl and figure out what the fuck Cillian O’Rourke wants here.”

I hang up the phone as Anissa polishes off the last of her toast. “You men show affection so strangely,” she says, shaking her head. “Probably your bestie on the line, eh?”

I glare at her.

How’d she know?

But when she busts out laughing, I huff out a breath. “I tease, I tease,” she says, drinking from her steaming mug of tea. “I saw Rodion’s name pop up on the caller ID.” Her gaze levels with mine. “You don’t think you’re the only one who knows how to stalk, do you?”

I definitely fucking don’t.

The perpetual glint in her eyes fades a bit. “Did he say something about the Irish?” I note the way she moves without meeting my eyes, standing to rinse her dish and put it in the dishwasher. She takes out a mug and pours me a cup of coffee. “Cream? Sugar?”

I shake my head and take it black.

“Cillian O’Rourke’s in town.”

Something flickers in her gaze. “That’s strange. Why?”

“That’s a good question, isn’t it?”

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