Brant’s head swiveled to face me, his expression darkening. “Youdon’t want to go talking to Mick.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
He studied me again in that penetrating way I didn’t like. “How much do you know about what went down between the Nobles and the Hell Kickers a couple weeks ago?”
I knit my brow as if I had no idea what he was talking about. “Something went down? Ezra never mentioned that—but then, it’s not like he ever talked about business things with me.”
Brant folded his arms over his chest. “Your brother’s people turned on ours. Mick was the only one working that deal who made it out alive. You’d better believe he’s gunning for the Nobles now, and he won’t care how much you did or didn’t know about it. So I’d keep out of his way.”
I wouldn’t have any choice if I didn’t find out who I was looking for. “How do I know who he is to steer clear?”
“He’s a tall guy, not too bulky, dark hair down to here.” Brant gestured to his shoulders. “I don’t think there’s anyone else who fits all that who’d be coming in and out of the house regularly.”
Good. Now I knew who to not-avoid so I could get some more answers. This guy was saying that the Nobles had mowed down every other guy who’d been working the hand-off? More like this Mick had probably mowed them down himself and kept the proceeds, while blaming the Nobles for it. I could see in my mind’s eye exactly how that scenario might have played out—and led to the Rosanos being pissed off at Ezra through no fault of my family.
Which meant the last man standing was the key to this whole thing.
“Thank you,” I said with a bob of my head. “Really, I appreciate it.” More than he knew.
Brant let out a gruff sound and headed inside. I stayed out back for a few minutes longer, soaking in the warmth of the late afternoon sun, and then I went in myself to get on with my own business.
Unfortunately I’d only made it to the base of the stairs when Felix came sauntering down them. I halted in my tracks, but his gaze had already locked on to me. I held myself firm, unwilling to flee even as a predatory smirk curved his lips.
As he approached, he flicked his black hair away from his forehead in a careless gesture. “And what are you up to, Firebird?”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Who says I’m up to anything? A woman’s not allowed to walk down the hall in this place?”
“Not when that woman is you. I think you should have an escort. Otherwise who knows what trouble you could get into.” He stepped close, grazing his knuckles down the side of my arm, and a shiver that was far too enjoyable ran over my skin. There’d been no mistaking the suggestiveness of his last remark.
“I think I learned my lesson about trouble around here a long time ago,” I said tartly.
The retort had been meant as a reminder of the trouble he and his brothers had given me, but an emotion flashed in Felix’s bright eyes that looked more like anger than shame. Like before in the kitchen, it took me aback. What the hell did this guy have to be pissed off atmeabout?
“I don’t know,” he said in a voice that’d gone both tauter and sultrier, sliding over me like a caress in itself. “Imagine all the things I’ve learned in the last seven years. Imagine how fun it’d be to have me teach you them.”
“That’s assuming I haven’t already learned them elsewhere,” I replied dryly. “I didn’t leave here for a nunnery.”
“Had a good time with your decrepit old husband then, did you?”
My jaw clenched at the acidic insinuation in his voice. I wished Clyde had been a lotmoredecrepit than he’d actually been. Maybe then I’d have sported fewer bruises.
Squaring my shoulders, I stepped closer to Felix. I wasn’t giving him the power here, not when I had so much of my own to wield.
“Jealous?” I taunted under my breath. “Maybe there are all kinds of things I could teachyou… if the thought didn’t make me want to vomit.”
Felix’s smirk turned into a baring of his teeth, but a haze of unmistakable lust darkened his eyes. Oh, yes, I did have some power. The brothers might have used me before, but they’d used me because they’d wanted me. I’d been a cherry they’d gobbled up before spitting out the pit.
Never again.
Felix pushed toward me, forcing me to back up until my heel hit the wall behind me. He might not have been especially tall by regular standards, but he could still loom over my petite frame. As he opened his mouth, I kept my body stiffly unyielding—but then the front door swung open just down the hall, voices carrying toward us.
Something flickered across Felix’s expression, like irritation sparking into inspiration. Without warning, he grabbed my arm, yanked open a door just beyond my shoulder, and shoved us both past it.
His hand clapped over my mouth, muffling my yelp of protest. Ripples of thick fabric engulfed me, along with the smell of wool.
We were in a coat closet, full of winter coats that hadn’t been used in months. Only a thin sliver of light seeped through the gap between the door and the frame, giving Felix’s striking face a hazy quality as he tilted his head. The voices outside got louder—and stopped just a few feet from our hiding spot.
I swatted his hand away from my mouth. “What are you doing?” I hissed.