Page 2 of Torched

“You know what I mean.” His eyebrows knit together, giving him a stern look that’s nothing like him, but funny enough, I’ve been seeing it more and more lately. I don’t know when I died and he became the sensible brother, but he sure as fuck seems to be taking an interest in the role by trying to scold me. It’s fucking annoying as hell, and call me naive, but I’m fucking sure I wasn’t in his business like he has been with me for the last year.

“I don’t know what you mean, Kane. We’ve been fucking whores since our dicks started working. Not sure why all of a sudden it’s an issue.” I pull my shirt over my head, covering my damp chest. When the fabric covers my shoulders, my eyes connect with the judgment in his once more, and I prematurely roll my eyes, knowing exactly where this is going.

“It’s not. It’s anissuebecause you’re fucking whores that are a fucking copy and paste of Cristina Reyes,” he counters, accusingly. “You have been for the last fucking year. I shut up for a long time, thinking it might help you get this shit out of your system, but you’re only becoming more obsessed.”

I snort. “I’m not obsessed.” Yeah, maybe I’m a little obsessed, but not in the way he’s implying. I’m obsessed with killing the wicked witch. Slowly and painfully. Emphasis on painfully.

“You used to fuck a whore every other weekend. Now, after Cristina, you’ve been fucking whores five times a week. You’reobsessed, no way around it.”

“You fuck a different whore every night.”

“But I’m not fucking whores that look like my ex.”

“That’s because someone would first have to want a relationship with you,” I mutter, pulling a face.

“Funny.”

Kane stands in front of me like a fucking smartass who invented the fucking wheel. He might be a genius when it comes to the business side of our lives, but I’ll be damned before that manwhore of a brother of mine gets to tell me there is something wrong with the number of whores I fuck in a week.

I hold his gaze, every muscle in my back tensing. My nostrils flare with every exhale, causing my chest to expand as I inhale. Jeremy is awkwardly shifting beside him, trying to break the tension by clearing his throat, but we keep glaring at each other like wild dogs, waiting to see who will snap first.

“Look”—Kane’s gaze softens just a tad, and I take it as a cue to grab my leather jacket from the bed to put it on, though my grimace never leaves—“I know she hurt you.”

“She didn’t hurt me!” I interrupt.

She destroyed me with full intention, and for that, my frustration has been growing more and more every day. It’s not the part that she betrayed me. I’ve been around for a long time; being part of the world that we are, making tough decisions comes with the territory, no matter who you screw over. No, it’s the part where I allowed myself to have feelings for her. The part where she made me doubt my judgment.That’swhat’s fucking with my head.

“I know she hurt you,” he continues, “but fucking girls to death that look like her isn’t going to help that.”

“You’re right,” I snarl. “Killing her will.”

“You told me not to kill her!” The frustration blazes in my brother’s arctic eyes.

“Five minutes after I found out that whatever I felt for her wasn’t real! Before I knew she fucked me over! Used me like a fucking dog and then tossed me aside!” The rage is clear as I shout at my brother, my hands longing to smash something. “I didn’t know what the fuck I was saying, Kane!”

“Well, you sure as fuck know now. Do you want her dead?”

“Fuck yeah!” I’m leaving out the part where I first want to torture her for screwing me over, but yes, I want to see that cunning little bitch burn. Literally. I’ll bring Salem in the 17th century right to her doorstep. I want to show her that betraying Liam Carrillo only has one outcome; pain. I won’t rest until every last member of the Reyes family wishes they never messed with the Carrillos.

“Fine! Then we’ll find her, and we’ll blow a bullet through her head. Make her pay. Make Junior fucking Reyes pay. We’ll make every single member of that family regret what they did. Let’s fucking finish this war because you’re not going to like what I’m about to say next.” Kane shoots me a conceding look, reading my mind, before it changes into an annoyed one.

“What?” My gaze shifts back and forth between Jeremy and Kane. Something is sitting on their chests that triggers their reluctant expressions, like they expect me to snap in the next few seconds.

“Frank Reyes stole our stones,” Kane explains.

“He didwhat?” I growl.

1

LIAM

PRESENT DAY

I’vedreamedaboutthismoment. Visualized it. Thought of possible situations and scenarios of how it would play out. Each and every one of them started with my gun aimed at her head before I forced her on her knees, begging for mercy as I stayed calm and collective. But right now, staring into her big brown eyes, I feel anything but that. The pesky position she has the woman I love in keeps my feet frozen to the floor, but inside it’s like a herd of wild beasts is ready to break through my chest.

Goddamnit, I love Imogen.

I’m in love with her, and I haven’t even told her yet.

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