“I’ve lain next to you after sleeping with you, Rome. I stared into your eyes and tried to find something other than what I was feeling. We were both destroyed back then. You had your demons and I had mine.”
We’d mixed our pain with pleasure, drowned out our misery with sex. It worked because we had each other for company, but it didn’t erase the pain I felt at losing my unborn child, at missing something back then that I should have caught. Brey was a filler, just as I was for her.
“Okay?” I responded, waiting for her to continue.
“Katie pushed us together. I’m realizing that now. I’m not sure why, but she trusted you to be nothing but a comfort to me. And you were. But you never, ever looked at me like you did her.”
Ahaescaped from deep in my chest. “And how do I look at her, Brey?”
“Like she’s your heaven and your hell. A dream and a nightmare all wrapped up in one tiny little warrior.”
“Ain’t that right?”
“I hope you both work it out.” She patted my back and gave me a solemn look. “You’ve been circling one another for years.”
She turned and left me for her husband, and I wondered if she and I ever would have worked. We shared our misery but not much more. It was an understanding within the bedroom at best, and she’d found someone who understood her beyond that. Quite frankly, she’d always had him. They just had to dig through the shit before making it to the sunshine.
I sighed and wondered if Katie and I would be able to do the same.
Except our shit was deadly, and her enemies stood there eyeing her and whispering. If Georgie made a move toward Katie, we’d be ready.
Tonight was about pulling him into a room with both her and Bastian. Katie was the arm candy that would pull Georgie in, and we would get him to crack.
When I refocused my attention on our targets for the night, they were nowhere to be found. I loosened my collar and strode to Bastian and Mario. “Where’s Kate-Bait?”
“Bathroom.” Mario waved me off. He’d already had too much to drink.
“Bastian? You let her go to the bathroom on her own?”
“She’s capable, Rome,” Bastian answered. “We’ve got eyes everywhere.”
“Georgie’s—” A ping went off on my watch, and both Bastian and I shot each other a look before I read the message. “Dante has a visual of them on the balcony.”
“Fuck. She told me she was going to the bathroom.” Bastian fisted his hand and then shoved it in his pocket. “Don’t make a scene.”
“I should kill you now,” I growled as we both tried to move fast enough to get there in time without drawing anyone’s attention. “With the way you’re running things, we’re in for a fucking bloodbath.”
“If you weren’t like a brother to me—”
I looked over my shoulder. “I’m more than a brother to you. I’m the man who makes sure you don’t take a bullet to the head. Lose the power trip.”
Bastian didn’t say more. He was already looking past me to the two blond, blue-eyed men who’d stepped in front of us as we got to the double doors.
One ran his hand over his buzz cut and said, “Sorry. Boss is having a private meeting.”
Bastian exchanged a look with me. We could spar, and I could cross a line with him every now and then. Russians didn’t get the same privilege. “Move or I’ll have you killed,” he said.
Buzz cut bulked up and rested a hand under his suit jacket exactly where I knew he was carrying. I shifted my eyes between the two of them.
Bastian spoke softly behind me, “I don’t want a war. I’ve told Dimitri that, but if you don’t move now, you’ll have one.”
He said it so smoothly, I almost thought I’d misheard him. Bastian had been skirting around his power for so long, I was sure our family would crumble. He led with negotiation, rather than confrontation. Tonight, he’d finally grown some balls.
The smile that spread across my face must have looked menacing. I was ready to do damage. I wanted a fight. Everyone was pushing too many boundaries lately, and Bastian never had near enough jobs for me.
The monster in me stirred.
The man in front of me took the smallest step back. And Bastian repeated one last time, “Move.”