Page 24 of A Brother's Secret

“’K, you can get up,” he said and I turned a harsh eye in his direction.

“I’m going to want that back,” I said and I caught Reaver grinning nearby like I’d done something to get after his own heart.

“You’ll get it back, Queenie. Don’t you worry,” Rev said and he jerked his head at Reave. They trudged across the lot, gravel and dirt scraping and crunching under their shoes. They slipped into the building around the big man and the door closed. A second later it opened back up spilling the man of the hour out into the dark with me. Although, between his coloring, and how he moved, it was like he was a piece of the dark coming home. I didn’t know if that was some kind of an omen ornot.

I stood, hands loose at my sides, and waited on him to come to me. I wasn’t about to defer to him. I mean, he may be their leader, and Kyle may choose to follow him, but I had sworn no fealty and didn’t have the same compunctions. I didn’t follow anybody, leastways not blindly, and in my world respect wasn’t something that was always freely given… it had to be earned.

He stopped a healthy distance away from me and brought his cupped hands up, lighting the end of his cigarette. He took a decent drag off of it and held it, smoke curling from his nose, well, like a dragon, as his dark eyes raked me from head to toe. He kept one hand raised, cigarette between his index and middle finger while the other mirrored mine, kept loose and at the ready at hisside.

A slight breeze ruffled past us, dragging a loose lock of my hair from my braid across my cheek, but I didn’t move to brush it away. I waited to see what he would say ordo.

He’d exhaled a few heartbeats back, and rather than speak, he cocked his head and took another thoughtful drag off his cancer stick. He let that breath out much quicker and said on the trailing end of it, “Y’know, we’re a pretty peaceful lot nowadays. Doin’ our best to leave that other world bullshit in our rearview mirrors. A lot of these guys have wives and children, and up to a couple a nights ago, we didn’t even know you existed.”

“You’re pissed,” I said with a shrug and he echoed the movement, shruggingback.

“Not especially, just curious.”

“Ask whatever you wanna ask. Not like I can stop you.” He huffed a laugh and shook his head, but his coal dark eyes never leftmine.

“Got a chip on your shoulder, ain’t you, sweetheart?”

“Maybe.”

He nodded slowly, “Fair enough, we ain’t especially welcome you with open arms – part of that bein’ because we don’t know you, or what kind of trouble you’re bringin’.”

I shrugged and felt bad. I honestly did. I didn’t want there to be any collateral damage as much as these guys didn’t want to be collateral damage. I kept to myself for a reason, that primarily, beingit.

“Look, I don’t want to cause any trouble. Never dreamt in a million years I would ever even see Kyle again…”

He pointed at me with his two fingers, the coal of his cigarette glowing an angry red, but his voice wasn’t unkind, just genuine when he said, “Now that I believe.”

He dropped his thumb over his two fingers and I felt my chest seize up with anxiety until I realized that it wasn’t some kind of threat, but rather an unconscious motion by him that he’d finally confirmed something he’d suspected since meetingme.

“So now what?” I asked, swallowinghard.

He sighed, “Well, now you tell me what you want to have happen.” I opened my mouth and closed it, brow crushing down into a confused frown. “Humor me,” he said, adding, “And for once you can be honest. Don’t be tellin’ me what you think I wanna hear. I know bullshit when I smellit.”

“Huh,” I relented eventually, leaning my ass back against the hulk of the old beater that Rev had frisked me against. “Guess we have something in common after all.” I sucked in a harsh breath and let it out just as quickly. I needed to make a decision and the Queen of Swords haunted me, Reaver’s words echoing… Make good choices… This, trusting someone other than Kyle, was a blind corner for me. Hell, trusting Kyle after such a long separation was a blind corner but I have to confess, all the same, old feelings were there and strong as the day I’d left. The vibe I got off of Kyle was a good one and he trusted these people… I swallowed hard and prayed this was the right choice.

“I want to know who’s following me and I want them to stop following me. I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said and Dragon searched my face, nodding slowly.

“I understand why Data – sorry… Kyle kept you from his brothers. It’d been a long time before he got himself hooked up with the club.” His gaze roved over me again and he changed tack. “Lemme ask you something.”

I raised an eyebrow when he didn’t immediately come out with it and I realized he was waiting for me to give him permission, a big departure from our reception so I nodded and said, “Go ahead.”

“What do you think would lead a man to follow some girl who dropped off his radar without so much as a goodbye seventeen yearsago?”

I shrugged and shook my head, an uneasy feeling creeping over me. It was a legit question, but I didn’t know where he was going with it. He nodded, apparently satisfied with what he was seeing out of me and chuckled darkly. He didn’t provide an answer, instead, he said to me, “Well, when you have an answer to that question you go on and promise to let me know what itis.”

I nodded mutely, caught off guard by the strange request. He took another drag off his cigarette, his dark eyebrows rising into his hairline. He jerked his head in the direction of the building and I felt a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding creep out of my lungs. He turned for the corrugated steel structure but didn’t lead, instead, he waited for me to fall into step beside him and I felt a quiver of anxiety that was my usual paranoia but it quickly fizzledout.

I still hoped like hell I was making the right choice, my fingers damn near itched to hold my cards and ask for insight into the mysterious figure that Dragoncut.

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