Page 52 of Dangerous Love

Riley

Who the hell was I kidding? I must have been born yesterday if I thought for a minute that Sienna holding me was anything other than her giving me the kiss of death.

I fell back on the bed, my weight putting a dent in the mattress as I crumpled against the wall. Stabbing pains drilled through my chest, my throat as dry as concrete powder. I took a couple of deep breaths, my brain needing as much oxygen as it could muster.

I knew Sienna. I knew her like no one else could. She was stubborn. Determined. Unforgiving. She’d disappeared for three years because she thought I’d rejected her when we were teenagers. What would she do now that she actually had a valid reason to hate my guts?

“Shit…” I smacked the pillow next to me and flung it across the room. Once my energy had depleted, I grabbed my phone and tried her number. After the third call, and the third pitiful voicemail begging her to not do anything stupid and to let me explain, I gave up. Instead, I dialled the only person who wouldn’t treat me like a leper for being born a Cooper.

“YOLO, brother…” Trey crooned in the receiver.

“Are you home? I need someone to get my head back into gear.”

He laughed, glass clinking in the background. “I’ve just poured myself a whiskey. If you hurry up, I’ll save you some.”

“You got it,” I said, as I grabbed my things and made my way out to the car park. I rushed behind the wheel of the Subaru, smashing the gas pedal until the engine revved, and left the nightmare behind. The tyres crunched as I travelled through Hope Island, the car cruising along the back road. I cranked the music up, drowning the thoughts in my head.

You’ve lost her forever.I pushed the thought away, my mind refusing to believe it. She was just mad. She’d come around when she realised I only meant to help.

As soon as I landed in front of Trey’s townhouse, I leapt out of the car and knocked on his door in record time.

“It’s open,” he yelled from the back of the house. I pushed the door in and followed the sound of his voice. Within a minute, I found Trey sitting on a high stool in the kitchen, an opened bottle of Jack Daniel’s on the counter. In front of him, two glass tumblers waited, his already half-downed.

“I started without you.” He grinned and took a gulp of the amber liquid.

I settled next to him, my fingers strangling the glass he pushed in front of me. “I’ll catch up.” In one go, I sculled the grog, its intensity warming my insides. Instantly, the edge of my mind thinned until the panic that had threatened me for the last hour dulled a little.

“What’s the matter with you?” Trey cocked a brow, his eyes studying me.

I slid my cup over. It clanked against the bottle. “As soon as you serve me another.”

The sound of alcohol being poured into the cup soothed me, as did the bitter smell when I inhaled it. I swirled the glass, the contents twirling in small circles, before I downed it. Once again, relief filled me, warmth replacing angst.

Now we can talk.“Sienna found out her brother roped me into finding her.”

“Finding her where?”

I sighed. It wasn’t a conversation I’d ever had with Trey. Especially given his history with her. “Sienna was MIA after the whole Hal business, and Avery was worried about her, so he asked me to track her down and bring her back.”

He scrunched up his face. “As in, reel her in?”

I nodded, shame niggling at me. It sounded worse when he put it like that.

“Wow. That’s low, even for you, pretty boy.”

“Trey, I came here for a reason.” I snatched the bottle from his hands and poured myself a third glass. “And don’t judge me. You’ve done worse. At least I did it with good intentions.”

Trey narrowed his eyes and pushed the bottle to the other side of the counter, away from my reach. Instead, he slid a bottle of water in front of me. “So big bro sent you to heal her wounds and reconnect her with her people?”

“Yep. Pretty much.”

“What’s the issue with that? It worked, didn’t it? Everyone should be happy with the results of your rescue mission.”

“It seems that she didn’t appreciate my initial lack of enthusiasm over getting involved.”

Trey shrugged. “Women… They’re so damn complicated.”

I sighed as I uncapped the water bottle and took a swig. My head spinning slightly, I dropped it between my hands, my elbows resting on the counter. “The issue is that Avery and Jarryd aren’t too happy about Hal’s latest antics either. Why can't the old man just fucking die?”

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