Page 35 of Sinful Seduction
“Minka—”
“He was right to bite back,” she concedes. “I’ve been especially short lately. Harsh. And even if I’d admit it to you, like I did earlier in the shower, I never admitted it to him.”
“He’s fucking in our apartment!Whileon the phone with you!” The latter burns hotter, like poison in my veins and a battle the Malone in me wants to fight. “That’s the New York in him, Minka. That’s Tim theSecond. And it’snotappropriate. You don’t have to tolerate it in your own fucking home.”
“The kid is cracked,” she smirks, tugging me back and forcing me to move slower still. “He’s a Malone, through and through. But I think he probably had decent intentions when he answered my call.”
“Decent? No! He wanted to whack off with your voice in his ear, babe. He had a body to come inside, and you in his mind. It was win-win?—”
“He wanted to make sure I was okay, and he knew not answering would be bad. Felix raised him, so we need to factor that in before we tear him to shreds.”
“You’re defending him!?”
She snorts, tucking loose locks of hair behind her ear. “No one is more surprised than I am. I guess it’s just… despite how depraved he is, he’s actually really good, too. He would do anything for me. He would do anything for you.” She searches my eyes, her lips crinkling in the corners. “He’s weird, but he loves deeply. And I don’t know if you know, but I’ve thought the same thing about you a time or two.” She drags me to a stop and pushes up to the tips of her toes, and when that’s still not enough, she grabs my face and forces me down. “He’s weird because he was raised within weird, with a side of freakin’ crazy. But his heart is pure, and his protection is second to none. He’s a good guy, Archer. But I’ve made a habit of chewing him out.”
My heart thrums, quick, skittering movements in the middle of my chest. “Are you falling in love with my little brother, Minka Mayet? Because I’m prepared to end his life and tell Lix we woke up and he was gone. I’d even forge a farewell letter if needed.”
She pulls me closer and settles a soft, barely there kiss to the center of my lips. “Absolutely not. But it occurred to me that half of my personality is wrapped around giving him a hard time, and he makes it kinda fun, since he bites back and never seems to take it to heart.”
“And… what? You don’t like that game anymore?”
“I realized that maybe hedoestake it to heart.” Genuine sadness shimmers in her eyes. Regret. “He carries it well, and I’m often too busy to slow down and really pay attention to how my words affect him. But I think I really hurt his feelings today, and then the accident happened, so I had to hang up before I could say sorry.” She releases me and lowers back onto flat feet, but she takes my hand and continues toward home. “It’s too hot to stay out here longer than necessary.”
“You rushing home to see your little boyfriend?” I roll my eyes, copping a gentle smack to my stomach in response. “He got to fuck whiletalking to you today, which is basically everything he ever wanted. Yet, somehow, you’re the one who plans to apologize?”
She snickers.
“What kind of parallel universe did I stumble into? Is it the heat?” I glance up at the sky, closing one eye and squinting through the other. “Am I lying somewhere, unconscious ‘cos I got shot?”
“I sure hope not.” She wraps her arm across my back, hooking her hand on my opposite hip. “If I find out you’ve been shot again, I’m gonna lose my mind. I’m sick of worrying about you every time you walk out the door.”
“Says the chick who ended up in the hospital today.” I bring my focus down again. Just half a block left until… we step inside a building with no power and no air conditioning.Fuck. “We’re not staying at the apartment tonight, Mayet. It’s too damn hot to spend the night in a hotbox with no cooling.”
“You want to stay at Aubree’s, too?” Her lips wrinkle with distaste. “I’m not really theslumber partytype. I’m still recovering from the last one we had.”
“We have our own house, too.” I rest my lips on her hair, but even that is hot to touch. Her dark locks draw the sun’s rays in and warm her brain.No wonder she has a headache. “We could go to the Waterfalls. It’s been cleaned out a bit, since Rory and Detective Banks stayed there that time, so it’s not just dust and bullshit anymore.”
“Youwantto sleep in your old house?” Her eyes flicker with surprise, while her free hand comes up and fans her face to combat the stifling heat. “Won’t it feel weird?”
“Weird is better than melting into my mattress. I already did that this week—multiple times. For as long as the power stays out down here, I’m taking you somewhere better.”
“Makes you privileged.” She drops her arm and bumps her hip against mine. Just fifteen more feet until our building front door. “Most people don’t have the luxury of another home to escape to, Detective Malone. Everyone else has to stay down here in the city, sweltering and catching a case of heat stroke.”
“Guess I’m privileged then. It’s about time I benefited from my father being a piece of shit.” I flash a teasing smile and snag the door handle just two steps ahead of her. “We’re going in, getting some clothes and the cat, then we’re leaving?—”
“Minka, help!” Cato’s terrified voice brings me around, the sweat pouring off his brow, and his body folded over Steve on the floor. Hepumps his hands with a frenzy only a nineteen-year-old athlete could possess. “He went down, like, two minutes ago. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing.” He bends lower and clamps his lips over Steve’s, exhaling hot air into the man’s lungs. “I don’t know if I’m doing it right.”
“Shit!” Minka shoves past me and slams to her knees, busting her stitches wide open and frantically feeling the man’s neck for a pulse. “I knew this was going to happen! Dammit, Steve.” She pushes Cato aside and replaces his hands with her own, and throwing all her weight into her compressions, she pumps his heart because he can’t do it himself. “You don’t get to die, you old bastard. You don’t get to quit on me when I told you to be careful. Call an ambulance, Archer!” She pinches Steve’s nose and breathes into his mouth, filling his lungs and expanding his chest. “Call Cleary if you have to. I’m not letting him die like this.”
MINKA
“I’m sorry.” Cato’s face glows red, his eyes swollen, and his hands, nervously fussing. But he walks a constant lap of the hospital hall, thousands of steps counted on the expensive watch he wears on his left wrist. And every time he passes me, he slows and meets my eyes. “I’m sorry, Minka. I was checking on him, I swear.”
“Take a seat, Cato.” Tim steps in his baby brother’s way, clapping a hand to the boy’s shoulder. Comfort and control at the same time. “We won’t get answers for a while, and you’re wearing yourself out doing this.”
“But she asked me to…” He looks at me with desperate eyes. “You asked me to watch him. It’s like you knew this was coming, and you put safeguards in place. I know you think I wasn’t paying attention, but I was. I swear I was.”
My heart hurts. My entire body is in pain. I haven’t slept enough since we caught the Ben case, I haven’t rested enough, since I was out all damn day trying on dresses and attempting—but failing—to save old men from the things their hearts do to them. Every muscle I possess is tired. Every bone, throbbing with a dull ache. My soul is simply exhausted, and perhaps most horrifying of all, my jaw quivers.
