Page 57 of Dangerous Love

“Avery?” He quietened when he heard his name. “It’s my job to protect her now.”

He didn’t reply right away. Instead, he grew silent, an emotional void floating between us. “I didn’t mean what I said about you and her.”

“I know.”

“I’m just scared shitless thinking about what’s gonna happen again if Cooper comes back on the scene, know what I mean?”

“I know,” I said, my voice low. I wished I could have told him that was never going to happen, or that Cooper would never try to hurt any of them ever again, but it would have been a lie. My father was as cunning as they came and as trustworthy as a loan shark. “That’s why I have to end him. Because we’ll never sleep right as long as he’s around.”

Avery chuckled. A sad sound that bled of the pain he’d carried for the last few years. “I wish you were wrong, kid.”

“Me too.” I leaned back until my head rested against the sofa. “And one day we will. In the meantime, we have to get her to see that, and forgive us for being dicks.”

Avery’s tone lightened, and for a second, it was almost like nothing had happened. “You know I still don’t regret it, right?”

I laughed, pushing aside the slight guilt tickling me. “Neither do I. But you tell her that, and I’ll deny it.”

“All right. I’ll wait for a few days, but if you hear anything, you’ll let me know, okay?”

“I will,” I promised, before he disconnected the call. I closed my eyes, my neck stiff as I pressed my head back. In a swift motion, I cracked my spine, the pressure suddenly easing.

“You keep doing that and you’ll get arthritis.”

I jerked towards the voice and tossed a pillow at Trey when he settled next to me. He lifted his feet onto the coffee table, crossing his ankles as he laced his hands behind his head. “Which one was that? B1 or B2?”

“Avery.”

He whistled. “B2 it is.”

I rolled my eyes. “Dude, you have to stop calling them that. They’re good guys.”

He smirked. “So am I, but I’m guessing the nickname they have for me isn’t as cute.”

I let out a breath, my shoulders dropping. “You’re anything but cute, brother. I don’t blame them.”

His hand landed with a soft punch to my stomach. “Whatever. I’m super cute.”

I closed my eyes again, my mind wondering where Sienna could have run off to. There were only so many options before I considered that she might have gone back to Parma.

Shit? What if she had?

“What did big brother want?” Trey asked, as he mirrored me and closed his eyes.

“Sienna’s gone.”

He straightened, the couch undulating as he moved. “What do you mean she’s gone?”

I sighed, my body ageing two decades in the last twenty-four hours. “She took off. The usual Sienna way.”

“Fuck. ‘Cause of your lover boy stunt?”

“Guessing that’s part of it. I just don’t know where she’d go.”

Trey pushed to his feet until he was up. He motioned towards the kitchen. “I’m gonna make some coffee. Want some?”

I was behind him in less time than it took him to turn sideways, the phantom smell inviting me in. “Please. Double shot.”

At an impressive speed, Trey had mugs out, Nescafé and sugar on the bench. He passed me a small spoon and the coffee jar. “If you expected the Williams’ usual barista machine, sorry, dude. Third-class coffee only on this side of town, since Father dear cut me off twelve months ago.”

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