Page 55 of Never Dance with the Devils
“Fuck Kyle.”
“Exactly.”
At least we’re of the same mind there.
RIGGS
“Does she know you’re here?” I ask, leaning against the door frame to block the unexpected visitor’s entry.
Usually, off-season around here consists of long stretches without a single person besides me and Maddox. Now, this place is relatively Grand Central Station between Kayla, a welcome visitor, and now this asshole, a very unwelcome one.
“Of course not. I like life on this side of the dirt,” Kyle Harrington replies, shaking his head emphatically. But he’s wearing a grin that says he wouldn’t really care whether Kayla knew or not. He’d enjoy the fireworks show, even if it resulted in his destruction. “She’s got that limited-edition, special mix, a little bit of kind and a whole lotta dangerous, you know? With an extra dash of cutthroat killer. She’d make my death torturously painful and slow, and nobody would ever find my body.” The words make it seem like he’s terrified of his sister, but it sounds more like he’s impressed by her, so maybe he’s trying to scare me?
“Exactly, which is why I’m not looking to piss her off. You’ve already done enough of that,” I snarl, the condemnation accompanied by a hate-filled glare. “So get the fuck out of here.”
I move to close the door, silently praising myself for not punching him in the face. Because nothing would feel better than punching this motherfucker square in his nose, make him bleed for the way he’s hurt Kayla. She’s hiding her pain with anger and bitchiness, but underneath it, there’s the sharp sting of betrayal, and it’s this asshole’s fault. He deserves a good ass-kicking.
He steps forward, sticking an arm out to stop me. I look at him in absolute shock. This man clearly wants to fucking die.
“Wait. Please.” The words are harsh, but with more of a plea than I expect from Kayla’s roughest-looking and most shit-stirring of brothers.
“What.” It’s not a question. It’s the barest hint of permission to say what he came to say, then he either leaves or I break his arm with this door.
“I want to apologize for the misunderstanding last week. I had permission to be in the back yard, but it was unprofessional of me to peek into the house. The movement drew my attention, and when I saw my sister, I… flipped out.” He nods like that’s the conclusion of his pre-planned script.
“Let me get this straight,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “You’re here to apologize…professionally? Like this is some customer service issue of you playing peekaboo in our back yard and you want to make sure we’re not gonna badmouth your business or ruin your reputation? Do I have that right?”
“No,” he argues. “I’m here to—” He stops, his jawsnapping closed and his eyes narrowing. But he gives me a quick head-to-toe glance like he’s taking my measure, and in that move, I see the real reason he’s here.
“I get it,” I huff. “That’s your in, but you’re here to check out me and Maddox, aren’t you?” Dropping my arms, I let him look his fill. “Whatcha think? Do I pass whatever test you’re running in your head? If it helps, I don’t want her money. I’ve got enough left guaranteed in my contract that I can live high on the hog for the rest of my life. I don’t give a shit about the rest of you,” I add as I return the favor, giving him a sneering up-and down, making it obvious I find him lacking as a brother, “and I’ll definitely treat her better than you do.”
“Can you blame me for checking you out?” he spits out, clearly not ready to back down. He’s got balls, I’ll give him that. “Kayla bailed on dinner, turned her phone off all weekend according to Cole, and now she has us blocked. Or at least, she blocked me.” He sounds most hurt by that option. “That’s not like her at all. What the fuck did you do to her?”
I tilt my head, glaring at the clueless fucker. Surely, he’s not blaming me for this when it’s his fuck-up, start to finish. “You really want to know?” He grinds his teeth, thinking I mean something sexual. But I don’t. “I showed her that she can do whatever she wants and be whoever the fuck she wants to be.”
“Be who she wants to be?” he echoes, making it sound like I suggested his sister could become an astronaut if she wanted. “What the hell is everybody talking about? Kayla always does whatever the fuck she wants.”
“Does she?” I shoot back. “Or does she do whateveryou and your brothers and your parents need her to do? Expect her to do?” I make it sound like they have her scrubbing their floors, which isn’t true, but she does clean up after them. Maybe not in aCinderellasorta way, but in a much more complicated way.
That shuts him up, his face going comically slack. “What? I am so damn confused,” he mutters, rubbing at his left eye with the heel of his hand, talking more to himself than me. He blinks and stares at me again. “Of all of us, she’s the one who has her shit together. Are you saying… she doesn’t?”
I hold my hands out to stop that tangent, hoping the universe didn’t hear it. Kayla would probably feel the disturbance in her image if it did, like little prickles along her skin. “I’m not saying anything of the sort, and you shouldn’t either. What I am saying is that Kayla has put every single one of you first for her entire life. You’re all she talks about, thinks about, worries about. But from what I can tell, the reverse isn’t true.”
Kyle’s eyes darken at the accusation. “You don’t know shit about our family.”
“You wish that were the case, but I know more than you’d think. I know about your woman, and her lunch business, and the bitch who was living next door to her, and I know it directly from Kayla’s mouth. Can you say the same?” He blinks, the smallest tell, and I know I’m hitting a nerve. “Have you bothered to ask her a single thing about what she’s going through while you’re chasing your dog around, playing pool boy, or trying to ride herd on the most mismatched group of motherfuckers you can hire to work for you? You guys make hockey players seem normal.” I intentionallylist out details Kayla has shared about Kyle to highlight that, even having never had a real conversation with him, I know all about him because Kayla knows her brother better than he probably knows himself. And that means I know him too. Not as deeply, but at least the surface things that prove my point.
He clenches his fists, the knuckles cracking, and I think there’s a fifty-fifty chance he’s gonna send a well-deserved punch my way. “If you wanna dance, you should know I’ll throw back,” I warn before he can finish his thought. Kayla’s brother might hit the gym, and even put in some hard work there, not just posing and shit like a bro, but I hit opponents every game. Neither of us are street fighters, but I have no doubt I can take him on and come out the victor. “You can wear the black eye like a badge of honor, courtesy of Riggs Patrick,” I promise.
Kyle takes a deep breath but slowly releases his fists. After a second, he huffs out a bitter chuckle. “If you wouldn’t kick my ass, I might take you up on that. But we’ve got the Foundation Gala coming up and for once, I’m trying to do the right thing and show myladya good night. Can’t very well do that with a shiner, huh?”
He’s simmering down, and I do the same, trying to match his energy. Fighting Kayla’s brother won’t do her any good, and that’s all I care about. Even if I really do want to hit him for the harm he’s caused her.
“Look, it’s not a criticism. Fuck knows, I don’t have any room to hand those out,” I concede. “I’m sure you’ve got your own shit to deal with, whatever that is, but you’ve all put Kayla into this role where she takes care of you, but nobody takes care of her. That’s where we come in. For me, Kayla comes first, last, and always.To us, she’s it.” Such a raw confession isn’t something I’d normally share so openly, but for Kayla, I’d shout it from a mountaintop. “None of us were looking for this, but it happened, and I’m glad. I won’t let you ruin it. For me or for her.”
He stays silent for a long moment, like he’s thinking through what I’ve said, before finally sharing, “She blew up at us. It was ugly. I’ve never seen her like that.” He looks haunted by whatever went down at their sibling intervention, as Kayla called it. “None of this is what I expected to happen. Hell, if I’m being honest, I don’t know if I even thought it through. I just reacted and now, it’s all fucked up.” He looks up at the sky, running his hands through his hair before tossing them out wide. “Like usual, I’m the one standing here holding the match.”
“You might have the match, but she’s the one in the middle of the ashes, trying to put her life back together after someone she trusted set it on fire,” I counter, relishing his flinch as I throw the ugly truth at him. “She says you’re smart. Yet, you reduced us down to some sexually deviant fun—which even if it was, wouldn’t be any of your family’s damn business—but do you truly think that’s all she’s getting from this? That a woman like Kayla wouldn’t demand—wouldn’t deserve—more than that?”
