Page 116 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

“Please!” he scoffs. “Women get wet just looking at me.”

“Women over sixty don’t count.”

“Fuck you,” Cillian laughs, before his tone irons out into seriousness. “But, honestly, how’s it going?”

I pause. Howisit going?

I genuinely have no fucking clue.

We’ve been on this island a little while now and we still have a week left. That’s enough time to fuck each other senseless or stab each other bloody.

I can’t tell which outcome is more likely.

“Wow. If it’s taking you that fucking long to answer, I’m guessing it’s not going so good?”

“It’s… complicated.”

“Because youhavefucked her?” Cillian asks. “Or because youhaven’t?”

I roll my eyes. “Why is everything about fucking with you?”

“It used to be the same with you…” he points out, “…before.”

“I’m not the same man I used to be,” I say simply. “I haven’t been since Marisha.”

It’s as honest as I’ve been about that in a long time.

“Until recently,” Cillian corrects.

I frown. “What?”

“I don’t know,” Cillian muses vaguely. “There’s just something different about you lately. You seem less… pissed off. I think that happened around the time we stormed the Moreno compound.”

My frown deepens. I know what he’s trying to imply.

But I’m not taking the bait.

“Have you been keeping out of trouble?” I ask instead.

“Trying to change the subject?”

“Ah, the Irishman’s not as stupid as he looks.”

Cillian laughs. “I’m actually on my way out. Checking out this new club in town with the boys. Need to stop and get condoms. I have like ten on me, but I don’t think that’ll be enough.”

“You know you don’t have to wear a condom when you’re masturbating right?” I tease. “Especially not ten. Probably not good for blood flow.”

“Asshole.”

Laughing, we say our goodbyes. I hang up and turn off my phone.

But the moment the silence settles over me, I find myself—yet again—slipping back to thoughts of Esme.

I strip off my clothes and lie down on the bed, naked and tense as fuck. As my thoughts linger on Esme’s face, it takes only seconds until I’m hard.

I need a release, especially after what almost happened between us.

We were right on the edge together. Right on the cusp of falling into a mess we’d never get out of.

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