Page 111 of Dukes of Peril

Her lips twist into a small, rueful smile. “I don’t think that’s something I get a choice in now.”

It’s the first time I’ve seen it in weeks.

Blue.

It surges through me like liquid warmth, driving my mouth to hers in a slow, reverent kiss. Her fingers tangle in my shirt, tugging me closer.

“Then maybe let me save you back sometimes,” I say, thumbing at the worry line in her forehead. “What’s going on with you lately?”

Her eyes flutter open, still dazed from the kiss, so it takes her a moment to answer. When she does, it’s with a pensive frown. “Would you… let me leave?”

“Letyou?” I snort. “Woman, if you wanted out of here, I’m pretty sure there’s no power in this tower that could stop you.”

She tilts her head. At first I think she’s being coy, but then I realize she’s baring her neck–her ear. “Nick could,” she argues, and then it hits me.

The tracker.

“Ah.”

Her mouth twists unhappily. “He’s mad at me for asking.”

I press my fingers to the spot, eyeing the scar left from the first tracker. I stand by my earlier statement. Maybe there was a time when Vinny was a prisoner here, but if she wanted out, she’d already be gone. “This is Nick we’re talking about. Rail him tenderly and he’ll fall over himself to forgive anything.”

She sighs. “Weirdly, I think that’d just make everything worse.”

I think carefully about my words, knowing that she’s still waiting. “I’d let you leave. I know what it’s like to belong to you, Vinny.” I press our hips together, knowing the moon and the star are aligning. “Going back to how it used to be would be the same as losing you, anyway.” Tipping her chin up, I force her to meet my gaze. “Do you want to leave?”

“No.” The answer is instant, punctuated with a strained, pleading expression. “But I don’t want me and Nick to end up like Perez and Sutton.”

Scoffing, I reply, “That’ll never happen. For one, Nicky’s not feeding you drugs on the reg. For two, Perez never loved that girl. But most importantly,” I squeeze her hips, “Perez and Sutton didn’t have me and Sy.”

She gives me a skeptical look. “So you’re saying if Nick ever tried something crazy, you and Sy would stop him?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” I list off on my fingers, “Nick and I will keep Sy from going too far, Sy and Nicky will keep my head straight, and me and Sy will keep Nick from caging up his Little Bird.” Shrugging, I conclude, “We’re a bonafide system of checks and balances, babe. It’s why you can’t have just one of us.”

Her brow creases with a thoughtful frown, her big eyes searching my face. “Oh.” Just like that, her expression clears, a brightness filling her eyes. “Thank you.”

“For promising to kick Nicky’s ass?”

This time when she smiles, it’s a soft beam of blue. “For saving me.”

“Yeah, I’m really carrying you three lately.”

I herd her over to the window and stand behind her, bodies close. I hold the cigarette up to her lips, but she shakes her head. “No thanks. The nicotine will give me a buzz, and I’ll never get back to sleep.”

She’s got a point, so I take one last drag before stubbing it out on the granite wall.

“At night like this,” she says, leaning into me, her hair smelling sweet and flowery, “it’s hard to remember how fucked up Forsyth is. That there are monsters lurking in every corner.”

“You see that?” I say, pointing to a streetlight three blocks over. “I flipped my skateboard on the curb and had to get six stitches in my knee.” I shift my gaze, turning it toward the line that separates West and North. “That’s where I bought my first dime bag, from a guy named Pee-wee.”

“Aw,” she says. “I knew him. He was nice, actually.”

I grunt, eye scanning the city, pausing on a three-story brick office building. “That’s my old orthodontist office.”

“Hey!” she twists her neck to look at me. “That’s my orthodontist office too.”

The idea of crossing paths with a younger Lavinia, fresh-faced with a mouth full of metal, makes my heart kick with a thud.

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