Page 210 of Play Dirty (Brooklyn Dawn 1)

“Isn’t it? I watch out for him. I always have. Keep the shit away from him when he couldn’t be assed to do it ‘imself.” He tipped his head against Lindsey’s. “But you were different. Even from the beginning. I thought you were just a shag, but then he acted like a kicked puppy for months after you ran out of there after creaming your million dollar panties.”

“Enough,” My voice was a roar.

“No!” His eyes blazed. “Never enough. You didn’t see me. Ever. Even before that night as this one so kindly pointed out.”

“I didn’t.” She shook her head trying to wiggle out of his hold.

He pressed the knife tighter against her ribs and I had to hold myself back. Jamie was downstairs trying to talk to the police. To find a way to get them directions here. Again, my secrets were hurting her.

Hurting everyone.

“I mean, he left me in the basement of Trident. They felt sorry enough for me to give me a job. Poor Nash’s scarred friend. Ugly and talentless. It took me years of study to prove them wrong. What else did I have to do? No one wanted to look at me. And now I can pull magic out of nothing. Make any audio file shine. People started to seek me out. Then you created that mixing table and took it away from me.”

I took a step back. “What?”

“No one needed me after you created that. Anyone could clean up a file and make the most talentless hack sound studio perfect.”

“That’s not what I made it for. It was to take hours of work out of the studio. To save everyone money.”

“Ahh, but you were the one who got the money, weren’t you? Patented that up and you live here in this cement castle you hacked out of an old warehouse. Even here you can shine up shite. And I was back to the basement.”

I swallowed. I didn’t realize I’d taken away his jobs. But if it wasn’t me, it would have been another engineer. Another audiophile who found a way to cut hours of work out of the studio. “I didn’t know.”

“Of course you didn’t. You don’t see anything but your own bubble of self-loathing and genius. No one can do it as well as you. No one can be you.” Spittle flew out of his mouth, his eyes wild.

A flash of dark in the greenery behind Kyle made me pause. I was prepared to eat my words. To beg anything to get Lindsey free. But maybe I needed to get him on the attack. Off center.

To get one chance.

Because Jamie hadn’t listened to me. As if she ever listened to anyone. In my short time knowing her, I could tell anyone that.

But maybe her brand of crazy would help save the woman I loved. And in the end, that’s all that fucking mattered to me.

“You’re fucking right, no one can be me. I worked my ass off for every artist I took on. I earned that level of respect. You didn’t.”

Lindsey’s eyes went round.

Kyle’s eyes narrowed. The blue contacts giving him an otherworldly hue. “I wasn’t given the chance—”

“You think I was? I was no one. A step above a street kid from a town in Ireland no one had ever heard of. I had an ear and I used it. I honed it. I was just as broke and nothing as you were at one time. I just didn’t let my past hold me back.”

“Of course you didn’t. You were given everything while I—

”

“While you whined. You didn’t put in the work when we were kids, and you only did it here because the Brady’s weren’t here to pat your head and tell you that you were a good lad.”

“Don’t you bring my family into this.”

“Why not? You were the one who left. Your ma hated me for the accident, but you could have stayed. Could have had a good life.” I was laying it on thick and I hated the flinch with each slashing word, but not enough to stop. Because there was a truth to it. And God, I hated myself for it.

When we were kids, running the streets was fun and crazy. But I always wanted more. More spotlight, more music, more stage. Ireland wasn’t ever going to be enough for me. But Kyle just liked the fun.

He didn’t bleed for the music.

It didn’t follow him into dreams and was sometimes so loud that only the booze and pills had quieted it. But I’d learned to channel it in other ways now. And while the stage wasn’t ever going to be for me, I could live in the music.

I’d found a way.

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