Page 111 of Like Grim Death: Part One
I swear to Satan, if my nephew wasn’t in my arms I would break his fucking neck.
But before I can say or do anything, my phone buzzes beside my thigh. I glance down at it and it unlocks with my gaze, showing me the text back.
Her: We have nothing to talk about.
Predictable. But she must know that because a second later, another response comes in.
Her: And I don’t want to speak to you.
I press my lips together, crossing one ankle over the other. I’m stretched out on the couch, and I glance at Atlas and Ella again before I pick up my phone with one hand while Rain stirs, and respond to Brooklin.
Me: We have a nephew. Both of us are caring for him. You’re my sister. We’re family. Talk to me.
She had a job on the coast. When I found out what it was, I drove all the way there to bring her home. She didn’t need to work at a club anymore. It’s not that I’m against stripping. But I just… it’s where she ran to after Dad kicked her out.
She doesn’t need that anymore. I have so much money I could bathe in it every day and never run out. I told her as much, and yet she refuses to take anything.
Sometimes she stays with Ezra, and I don’t know what she does other times. Like right now, where is she? I asked her to come here in an earlier text, but she didn’t respond, just like I knew she wouldn’t.
Ezra says she’s “fine,” which means fuck all to me. Lucifer says to leave her alone. Obviously, I don’t listen to Lucifer.
I set my phone down and run a hand over my face, closing my eyes.
But Ella’s bright, tipsy laughter pulls me from my single moment of rest. I snap open my eyes, dropping my hand back to hold Rain closer, but I’m staring at Ella.
Her long, red hair is down her back, contrasted with a white crop top she’s wearing over ripped leggings. She’s got her elbows on the glass high-top, one hand curled around a beer which I know she doesn’t even really like. She’s pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, her green eyes gleaming as Atlas tosses his cards on the table, shaking his head like he lost.
He reaches for his whiskey glass, stirring the rocks around before he tips it up to his lips, but he’s staring at my girl, across the table from him. Her red boots are pressed against the lower rungs under the chair, and she’s leaning in toward him.
A door thwacks closed at my back but I don’t look away from my girl as Sid approaches, then sits down heavily beside me, so I’m in between her and Ezra.
“There you are,” Ez says, speaking behind my back.
Sid sighs. “I tried to sleep but I can’t. When the fuck is he getting back?”
“He’ll be here tonight,” Cain says, like a reassurance.
Sid’s thigh nudges mine. I glance down and see her bare leg beneath black shorts, but I don’t look up at her.
“Let me hold him,” she whispers, reaching for Rain, but I don’t let him go. “You look like you got your hands full.” There’s a dark undertone to her words and I know she isn’t talking about my nephew.
Clenching my jaw, I slowly drag my gaze from Ella to stare at my sister. Smudges beneath her gray eyes, but her hair is damp from the shower she took earlier while I spent time with Rain. She’s in a loose tank, but it looks like a clean one.
“The fuck is that supposed to mean?” I growl at her. Just then, my phone buzzes between us, just under her thigh. When I look down, I see Brooklin has texted back.
Sid grabs my phone and turns it toward me, the screen unlocking.
Brooklin: I’m coming over but it isn’t to see you. I don’t want to talk.
I nod once, indicating Sid can drop the phone which she does, right in my lap, beneath Rain, and I ask, “You good with Brook coming by?”
She lifts her brows, twisting toward me and rubbing Rain’s foot. He’s momentarily still again, his little chest rising and falling. “Ezra already mentioned she might.”Fucker.“You two are talking?”
“Not exactly.”
“She’ll probably be too busy to talk when I see her, Mav, don’t worry about it,” Ez rumbles from behind me.
I twist around to look at him. “Keep your hands to yourself in front of me. I don’t want to see you feeling up my fucking sister.”
