You Are Mine Little Sister (by Syra Tucker) novel Chapter 131

VOID

I tapped the cigarette above the open mouth of the corpse and let the ash snow down into him. Fitting. If he'd had a heartbeat left, he'd have felt the kiss of it. Too bad he didn't.

I took one last drag, tasted metal and night, then let the butt fall and die on marble.

A shot cracked behind me.

"He was already dead, Katya," Eric said, not bothering to hide the sigh. "You didn't need to waste that round."

"Relax. Money for ammo doesn't come out of your allowance."

We ghosted out of the house and back into the dark. Three cars rolled in a line, mine on point. I kept one hand on the wheel, the other loose, thinking about the last door on the list.

The phone lit. Of course it did. When I'd gotten she information yesterday, I'd tried calling the son of a bitch but couldn't reach him. Funny how blood made calls better than cell towers.

I thumbed green.

"What the fuck, man!?" Blayne's voice came in hot. "What the fuck is wrong with you!?"

I might've laughed if the rust in my chest left room for comedy. I knew the moment they started turning up dead, he'd find a way to reach me.

"You'll have to be more specific, Blayne. Lots of things are wrong with me," I said, easing the coupe into a lazy right.

"Come on, man. You know what the fuck I'm on about. You're hitting my people! Why did you why did you hit him and—and his family?"

"You sound so sure it's me."

"Well, I know it's you! What the fuck are you doing? I told you I was out of your hair. Why did you—"

"You might want to update that obituary list. Mikhael is off the table too."

The silence on his end grew a spine. I could feel him go still.

"No." The word escaped breathless. "No you did not."

"You think so? I left his house fifteen minutes ago. Send a choir if you need confirmation."

Silence, then the scrape of panic trying to find a foothold. I let it sit. Pain has a flavor; I like it steeped.

"These men didn't mean any harm to you," his voice was ironed flat, like he thought calm could hide the panic sweating through it. "Fuck, they had no idea someone precious to you would be at that mall at that moment!"

My brow ticked. He knew Tasmin died.

"Who fed you that?" irritation knifed up under my ribs before I could sheath it.

"Well, you're not the only one in people's business, Void. I know things as well."

My hand tightened on the wheel until the leather squealed. Fuck, I did not like the sound of that.

"These men are dangerous!" He went on, rant turning corners. "They're not even from this country! You don't just start clipping them for something you do all the time."

I took in her full look. She wore a knee-length lounge dress with damp hair lying over her shoulders. She had that clean-skin heat and something soft she always wore after showers.

She smelt exactly like I'd missed. God, I wanted to fold her in and bury my nose in her hair. I wanted to feel the heat of her body against mine. I wanted to hold her so tight until it felt like I was the only thing keeping her safe.

Instead, I peeled off my jacket.

"You're bleeding."

I took off my shirt and accessed the knife cut. Well, let's just say Leonid didn't go down without a fight.

Rali reached for the first aid kit before I could. There was a small frown on her face as she tore open packets, cotton in one hand, bottle of spirit in the other.

"This will sting," she murmured just before she dabbed the wound with the wet swab.

Cute she thought a sting like that would hurt me.

She glanced up when I didn't hiss, then kept working.

I watched her in the mirror. Something tightened in my chest at the recollection of how much she'd cried. It screamed 'failure' at me for not being able to protect her. Threatened to make me run mad from the fact that she cried.

I used to think it was fun to watch Rali cry. It was my biggest turn-on. But that was only when the tears came because of me. Because of the things I did to her body. I just realized watching her cry for other reasons was the worst sight.

"She knew it was me." My gaze was still on her and caught used when she looked up at me. "That afternoon, when she spent hours in the room with me, she'd been talking to me as the boy she adopted."