Page 76 of Poisoned Pawn

“Don’t thank me just yet. I sense the best is yet to come.” He hands me the plate just as Carter comes down the stairs.

Carter’s eyes find mine instantly, and despite my whole family being here, my body tingles with desire. God, I hope he doesn’t touch me. I’m liable to go up in flames. How he looks freshly showered and dressed in nothing but a simple white t-shirt and dark blues jeans should be illegal.

He meets me as I reach the table, placing his hand on the small of my back. And there it is. A single touch that is like a caress of my soul.

I place the plate on the table, then take a seat beside Aidan. Rox, Maddox and Zak are on the opposite side. Carter sits beside me, making me the only thing between him and Aidan.

Frankie carries over the large cast iron pot holding the curry before going back to fetch the rice, then he hands out drinks to everyone before taking the other end seat directly opposite Aidan.

“Dig in. Ain’t no grace spoken that can save any of our souls,” Frankie says leaning over to grab a piece of naan bread and dropping it onto his plate.

I stifle a grin behind my hand. In the few hours I spent attempting to get to know Frankie, the one thing I discovered is that he’s a straight shooter. Doesn’t matter if his words come with a bullet attached, he’ll say them anyway.

“How cheerily ironic,” Maddox says dishing up rice onto his plate and passing it along.

“On the contrary, John 1:9 ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins’. Confession is the path to forgiveness. Don’t you agree?”

Carter smiles beside me as Frankie maintains a blank expression that is difficult to ascertain his seriousness on the subject.

“I call bullshit on that. Some of the worst sins have been committed in the house of God,” Maddox rebukes.

“Amen to that,” Frankie says, and this time his words are followed by an amused smile.

“Arsehole!” Maddox mutters now realising Frankie was humouring him.

A tepid silence follows as we all eat, but the inevitable conversation that’s to come is a constant pool of heat and warming rapidly as we finish eating.

“That was delicious, Frankie,” Roxy says, placing her fork down on her empty plate.

She’s not wrong. “I second that. It was lovely. Thank you, Frankie.” He gives me a wink as he gets up and begins clearing the plates.

“You think that’s good, wait till you try his risotto,” Carter adds passing our plates to Frankie.

Aidan is quiet, which is never a good sign. And as if he heard my thoughts, he looks at me for a second before passing his glare to Carter.

“The food was great, but I don’t want to be here all night. I have someone I need to check on,” Aidan says, and I sense there is a dig at Carter in his words. “Tell me about Rook?”

I manage not to show that I have no idea who the hell Aidan is talking about, but I assume this is who Carter was referencing earlier.

Frankie leaves a bottle of whiskey and several glasses on the table before taking the last of the dishes to the kitchen area.

Carter picks up the bottle and holds it in Aidan’s direction asking a silent question. Aidan gives a nod, so Carter pours and passes it down the table to him, then pours one for himself before giving the bottle to Zak across from him.

“What do you want to know?”

“I’d have thought that was fucking obvious, but if I need to spell it out, I want to know why the fuck he’s going after my family.”

Carter takes a slow mouthful of his whiskey. “I killed someone important to him and then I took him out, which we’ve already established wasn’t a fucking success. My guess is he knows Star is important to me and who she is, ergo leads to you. Top of the list for anyone wanting to make a name for himself.”

I don’t mention that we weren’t anything other than two people who spent a night together when the first attempt on my life happened at Neon Flux, but I don’t need to.

“If we’re assuming the shooting at Neon Flux was aimed at Star, then that doesn’t fit your theory,” Roxy questions. “At that point you and Star had only met once at a club.”

I say a silent prayer that she didn’t mention which one in front of Aidan. It was mortifying enough explaining to Rox about my visits to Illicit let alone to Aidan.

Carter nods. “Agreed, but I don’t think Rook was the only person who hired someone to take Star out.” He raises his glass and takes another mouthful, then turns to face me. “I think that first shot at you at Neon Flux was more to do with what Perry was up to.” At my frown, he continues, “That was the same night Perry was taken out.”

It takes me a second to catch on to what he’s saying. “You? You killed my boss.” He nods. “Oh my fucking god.”

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