Page 64 of Torched

“He always answers his phone,Cristina.”

“We’re in the mountains,Liam.” She rolls her eyes. “You and your brother really need to cut that invisible chord at some point.”

“Invisible chord?” I cock an eyebrow, not appreciating whatever the fuck she’s insinuating. “That’s my brother you’re talking about.”

“¡Yo sé!And you can’t seem to break loose from him.” I can hear the clear contempt she has for him. It’s not new, but this comment about it definitely is. Not once has she disclosed that she thinks that Kane and I are too close.

“Why would I want to break loose from him? We work together. He’s my family.” I hope she didn’t think that at some point I was ever going to choose between Kane or her, because as far as I’m concerned, that’s not an option. I will never give up my brother. He will find a way to tolerate Cristina, but ifshe’snot willing to tolerate my brother, we’ve got some real issues.

“So? He hates me, Liam.”

“He will get over it.”

“We’ve been dating for months. Seems to me, he never will.” She rolls her eyes at the same time the doorbell rings.

“Who is that?” My eyebrows knit together.

“I don’t know. Probably the caretaker of the house.”

I watch how she gets up and carries herself out of the living room. Her hips rock from left to right, and with every step, my body seems to react more to her departure. But not in the way I should expect.

No.

My heartbeat thumps.

A tight knot forms in my belly.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

An ominous feeling creeps up my torso like an unwanted snake, and my brother’s scowl flashes in front of my eyes.

“She’s playing you.”

Making a snap decision, I fly my body to the edge of the couch toward my brown carry-on bag and pull out the gun that’s tucked inside of it. I check the safety with my heart racing in my throat, then sit back on the couch, the gun hidden in my palm underneath a cushion.

With pricked-up ears, I try to listen for any voices until I hear the front door slam shut again.

“Who was it?” I call out, as casual as possible.

She doesn’t reply, but I do hear footsteps coming back to the living room. With a ticking jaw, I keep a tighter hold on the gun, an unnerving feeling washing over me with every step that follows. But it isn’t until I look into the horrid, wolfish grin of Junior Reyes that my heart drops to the floor. I quickly bring up the gun, but my gaze flies all over the place when half a dozen men trot into the room from behind his back.

Oh, fuck.

“Liam!” He beams, the sound of his voice making my chest constrict like a building is crashing on top of it. He’s the epitome of a punk kid with the leather jacket covering his shoulders, and the smug look on his scrawny face tells me he’s feeling more confident than he should.

This is not fucking happening.

This isnotfucking happening.

My mind tries to think of a way to get out of this situation, while my eyes keep glancing beside him to find out what happened to Cristina.

“Oh, she’s all right.” He mockingly follows my gaze. “Didn’t she tell you I was coming? I figured it was time we got to know each other. After all, you’ve been dating for months now!” His Spanish accent makes my skin crawl, and normally, I have no issues firing back snarky comments about it, but I’m trying to wrap my mind around what’s happening.

Is Cristina in on this?

Is she lying on the floor, knocked out?

“What do you want, Junior?” I try to sound bored, but I can’t help that, for the first time in my life, I feel powerless. Stupid. Foolish. And fucking guilty. I should’ve listened to Kane. I should’ve listened to Jeremy when he warned me about the Reyes family and told me no good would ever come from them. They were right. I should’ve been more careful.

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