Chapter-2,part-2

Continue

The whiskey turned sour in my mouth, and I set my glass

down with a grimace.

“I’m worried about her.” Josh rubbed a hand over his jaw, his

expression growing serious. “I know she’s a big girl and can take

care of herself—unless she’s getting stranded in the middle of

fucking nowhere; thanks for picking her up, by the way—but she’s

never been on her own for so long and she can be a little too…

trusting.”

I had an inkling of where Josh was going with this, and I didn’t

like it. At all. “She won’t be alone. She has her friends.” I inclined

my head toward said friends. One of them, a curvy redhead in a

gold skirt that made her look like a disco ball, chose that moment

to hop onto the table and shake her ass to the rap song blasting

through the speakers.

Josh snorted. “Jules? She’s a liability, not help. Stella is as

trusting as Ava, and Bridget…well, she has security, but she’s not

around as much.”

“You don’t need to worry. Thayer’s safe, and the crime rate

here is close to zero.”

“Yeah, but I’d feel better if I had someone I trusted looking after

her, ya know?”

Fuck. The train was heading straight off a cliff, and I couldn’t

do anything to stop it.

“I wouldn’t ask—I know you’ve got a lot of shit going on—but

she broke up with her ex a couple of weeks ago, and he’s been

harassing her. I always knew he was a little shit, but she wouldn’t

listen to me. Anyway, if you could keep an eye on her—just to

make sure she doesn’t get killed or kidnapped or anything? I’d

owe you big.”

“You already owe me for all those times I saved your ass,” I

said wryly.

“You had fun while doing it. You’re too uptight sometimes.”

Josh grinned. “So, is that a yes?”

I glanced at Ava again. Took her in. She was twenty-two, four

years younger than Josh and me, and she managed to appear

both younger and older than her years. It was the way she carried

herself, like she’d seen it all—the good, the bad, the downright

ugly—and still believed in goodness.

It was as stupid as it was admirable.

She must’ve felt me staring because she paused her

conversation and looked directly at me, her cheeks tinting pink at

my unflinching gaze. She’d changed out of her jeans and T-shirt

into a purple dress that swirled around her knees.

Too bad. The dress was nice, but my mind flashed back to our

car ride, when her damp shirt had clung to her like a second skin

and her nipples had strained against the decadent red lace of her

bra. I’d meant what I’d said about her not being my type, but I’d

enjoyed the view. I could imagine myself lifting that shirt, tugging

her bra aside with my teeth, and closing my mouth around those

sweet, hardened peaks—

I yanked myself out of that startling fantasy fast. What the fuck

was wrong with me? That was Josh’s sister . Innocent, doe-eyed,

and so sweet I could throw up. The total opposite of the

sophisticated, jaded women I preferred both in and out of bed. I

didn’t have to worry about feelings with the latter; they knew better

than to develop any around me. Ava was nothing but feelings,

with a hint of sass.

A ghost of a smile passed over my mouth when I remembered

her parting shot earlier. I hope that stick in your ass punctures a

vital organ.

Not the worst thing anyone’s said to me, not by a long shot,

but more aggressive than I’d expected coming from her. I’d never

heard her say a bad word to or about anyone before. I took

perverse pleasure in the fact that I could rile her up so much.

“Alex,” Josh prompted.

“I don’t know, man.” I dragged my eyes away from Ava and her

purple dress. “I’m not much of a babysitter.”

“Good thing she’s not a baby,” he quipped. “Look, I know this is

a big ask, but you’re the only person I trust not to, you know—”

“Fuck her?”

“Jesus, dude.” Josh looked like he’d swallowed a lemon. “Don’t

use that word in relation to my sister. It’s gross. But…yeah. I

mean, we both know she’s not your type, and even if she was,

you’d never go there.”

A sliver of guilt flashed through me when I remembered my

errant fantasy a few moments ago. It was time for me to call up

someone from my roster if I was fantasizing about Ava Chen, of all

people.

“But it’s more than that,” Josh continued. “You’re the only

person I trust, period, outside of my family. And you know how

worried I am about Ava, especially considering this whole thing

with her ex.” His face darkened. “I swear, if I ever see that

fucker…”

I sighed. “I’ll take care of her. Don’t worry.”

I was going to regret this. I knew it, yet here I was, signing my

life away, at least for the next year. I didn’t make a lot of promises,

but when I did, I kept them. Committed myself to them. Which

meant if I promised Josh I’d look after Ava, I’d fucking look after

her, and I’m not talking about a text check-in every two weeks.

She was under my protection now.

A familiar, creeping sense of doom slithered around my neck

and squeezed, tighter and tighter, until oxygen ran scarce and tiny

lights danced before my eyes.

Blood. Everywhere.

On my hands. On my clothes. Splattered over the cream rug

she’d loved so much—the one she’d brought back from Europe on

her last trip abroad.

An inane urge to scrub the rug and tear those bloody particles

out of the soft wool fibers, one by one, gripped me, but I couldn’t

move.

All I could do was stand and stare at the grotesque scene in

my living room—a room which, not half an hour earlier, had burst

with warmth and laughter and love. Now it was cold and lifeless,

like the three bodies at my feet.

I blinked, and they disappeared—the lights, the memories, the

noose around my neck.

But they’d come back. They always did.

“…You’re the best,” Josh was saying, his grin back now that I’d

agreed to take on a role I had no business taking. I wasn’t a

protector; I was a destroyer. I broke hearts, crushed business

opponents, and didn’t care about the aftermath. If someone was

stupid enough to fall for me or cross me—two things I warned

people never, ever to do—they had it coming. “I’ll bring you back

—fuck, I don’t know. Coffee. Chocolate. Pounds of whatever is

good down there. And I owe you a big, fat favor in the future.”

I forced a smile. Before I could respond, my phone rang, and I

held up a finger. “Be right back. I have to take this.”

To be continue

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***