Page 11 of The Devil's Playground

I didn’t get that. It wasn’t like I was suggesting he marry them or anything. It was just sex, right? Close your eyes and a pussy is a pussy… and my dumb ass believed that until Nicolette.

Link called himself a sap once. For mooning over Ava when she was in a relationship with another man… but he still wanted her. He held out hope he’d get his second chance with her. And while I’m sure he’d prefer she didn’t have to go through what she did for him to have it, he’s happy with how everything turned out.

Me? I don’t know what will come of my obsession with the gorgeous waitress, but I can finally say I understand what Link meant. Because I haven’t even been able to be with any other woman since the moment I met Nicolette, and I’ve never even had her. At least Link had memories of his Ava to keep him going on the lonely nights. I just have my hand, my wry attitude, and a couple of photos kept hidden on my phone.

I shake my head, trying to knock out just how fucking pathetic I am. Then, knowing this is unavoidable, I give Link my trademark winning grin. “Okay. You wanted me to stop by to see you. What’s up?”

“Right. Got something to talk to you about.”

“I’m listening.”

Link clinks the bottom of his shot glass against the tabletop. “Jake.”

Shit.

I knew it.

Keeping my tone light, I ask, “What did my cousin do now?”

What doesn’t Jake McIntyre do?

“Did you know he was back in town?” Link asks.

I can’t lie to him. For one, he’ll know and get pissed. For another, I respect him too much to even try.

“He called me a couple of weeks ago. Mentioned that he met another girl?—”

Link throws back his head, groaning loudly. There’s a reason he chose the book to claim for his infrequent trips to the Playground. Not only is it shadowed, giving up privacy, but the acoustics in this booth are amazing. Despite how loud the club is hopping tonight, I can just hear Link’s annoyance in the sound.

I hold up my hand. “I know. I know?—”

“I know you haven’t forgotten what shit he pulled the last time he ‘met a girl’.”

A lump lodges in my throat. I swallow it roughly. “No. I haven’t.”

“If it wasn’t for Jake… look. I know what happened with that other girl was a mess. A fucking disaster. But if Jake had listened to what you told him, it wouldn’t have been our problem. You understand?”

“Yeah, Link. Of course. What? You think I like cleaning up after him?”

“Why not? Since that girl got killed, you’ve been cleaning up all of ours.”

He’s not wrong. A guilty conscience is a bitch, and I’ve spent the last six years trying to find a way to smooth mine over. When Heather died… Jake took off. I gave my aunt and uncle some money to send him to a college on the other side of the country so that the fall-out from her death didn’t touch him. He was just a kid—barely twenty—and he had no idea that falling for the wrong girl would end up with the Dragonflies and the Sinners on the brink of World War Three.

Link smoothed it over without any other bloodshed; at least, not more than could be expected when a Dragonfly’s sister dies in the arms of one of his enemies. Knowing that Jake was out of Springfield helped, and I figured he’d want a fresh start in California.

And then, at Christmas, he visited home and told me all about Simone Burke, the most recent woman that caught his eye—in Springfield.

You think I’m obsessed? That’s nothing compared to Jake… and maybe that’s another reason why I finally decided to give up on Nicolette. When my cousin tells me the lengths he goes to catch Simone’s attention… at least I just followed her in my car.

Jake? He’ll sprawl out on the backseat of his target’s…

“I’ll take care of him.”

“We can’t fuck up this truce, Royce.”

As if I need a reminder of that. “We won’t, boss. I promise. Don’t worry about Jake. I got it.”

“I know you do.” Link tilts back the rest of his whiskey, a sure sign that the hard part is over. “Okay. Now, about that DB you guys cleaned up last week…”

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