Captivated (The Dragons) (7 page)

It hadn't been the tonic. I wasn't ashamed. I'd been on fire, but it was kindled way before the test. When I pushed the door separating our rooms open with a slight creak, his eyes met mine, and I grinned. He was already awake, and he reached out, pulling me onto the bed with him.

Our lips met easily like the lips of lovers.

I wasn't ashamed.

We got into it again well before breakfast, this time taking it slower than we had the night before. We fit far more easily than we had at first. Maybe that was our thing. We began in conflict, too, but now... we were connected.

I wondered if anyone could sense it when we went down to breakfast together later. Sue had the usual sage look on her face, but she didn't say anything that hinted at her suspicion. She might have known, though.

“What do you think of the special?” He asked me, his eyes smiling before the humor reached his mouth.

“It was... interesting.”

“Yeah. I don't think I'll be having it again, either.”

“At least it's super healthy.”

“We'll leave the seaweed to the fish,” he said with a wink.

“Or in an easy-swallow tablet,” I replied with a grin.

We both started at the letter dropping to the table between us. It was opened. Spark, a testier member of the crew, looked down at it with a deep frown.

“What is it?” Link asked him, his brow creasing at Spark's theatrics.

“Read it for yourself.”

I recognized the look in Spark's eyes; it was almost murderous. My gut clenched, and the reality of where I was and what I'd been doing hit me. As if the events from the previous night hadn't been enough.

I was in the lounge/warehouse bar of one of the town's most infamous motorcycle clubs. Clubs in which guns and manpower were final solutions to competitive problems. To add to that, I'd just slept with one of the higher ups in command. Twice. And everything within me wanted to do it again.

I'd completely lost focus of where I was.

My attention turned to Link, and I watched him lift the opened message on the table. It had the mark of a dragon on its edge, and Link's frown told me it definitely wasn't news he'd wanted to receive.

“Well, your cousin's alive. He claims he burned the shipment to evade a road block.”

Link's eyes lifted to meet mine before they returned to the message in his hand.

“The Ghosts worked him over pretty good for that, apparently, but he says he got away.

“Where is he?”

The words came tumbling out, my breathing erratic as hell.

“He's definitely got a price on his head if what he's saying is true. They'll off him out of spite.”

I swallowed my nerves, trying to gather whatever inner calm I could.

“He didn't betray you then.”

“It appears not.”

“So you're going to help him?”

“It's not my call. And he burned the shipment. There's no proof he didn't hand it over.”

“The attempt on your warehouse the other night isn't proof enough?”

I could hear the emotions building in my voice, but I didn't know how to bring myself to level. My cousin's life was potentially on the line. What the hell had I been doing all of this time but trying to prevent him from being in that very position. And now we find out he wasn't guilty to begin with.

“If he didn't cross you, you owe me,” I told him. “And I know you're serious about honor.”

“I am,” he replied easily, relaxing into the seat across from me as he met my gaze.

“I hope I'm more to you than a roll in the sack, even if we barely know one another.”

I saw anger flash in his eyes and wondered if I'd chosen the wrong words.

“You are,” he indulged, like he didn't feel there was a need for him to admit it. Like I should already know.

“Then help him. If not for him, then for me. Please. Help him.”

I had no idea the roller coaster those words would take us on, but our connection proved itself and only grew deeper after that. And Vinnie had someone come to the rescue again, this time rightfully so.

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