Page 140 of Killer Kiss

Her shoulders slumped, but then she steeled her expression, ignoring me, a pleading tone in her voice when she spoke to her youngest son. “I never meant for it to go this far. I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking. I tried to stop it all back when they threw that Molotov cocktail through Willa’s window and—”

“What?” Banjo and I snapped in unison.

She stared at him with big eyes, and then looked to me, and then back to him. “They said your car was there and so they assumed you were too.”

I remembered Banjo, Colt, Lacey, and Rafe taking a limo to the city that night, celebrating an anniversary. They’d been picked up from Willa’s after dropping Luna there for babysitting. Leaving Banjo’s car in the driveway.

Mom gave him the most pathetic, pleading look. “I didn’t know they’d be so reckless. That they’d try to…do it while Luna was there…”

A rage so hot I was sure I’d never felt anything like it coursed through me. I couldn’t contain it. “I know you don’t give a shit about me, but you nearly killed an innocent, three-year-old girl. Not to mention Willa! She was the closest thing we had to a mother, and you damn near ended her. Fuck. You sit over there, acting all small and innocent, playing the ‘I’m sorry’ card like we could ever fucking forgive you. But you’re as sick and twisted as the people you associate with.”

Banjo shook with a rage I’d never seen from him before. But while mine came out in a rush of words and a storm of anger, his came out in a chilling threat.

“Stay away from my family. Leave town. Run away, like you did all those years ago. But this time, stay gone. Because if I ever see you here again, you’ll find out you aren’t the only one who has connections.”

He didn’t have to say another word.

I stood, and he followed me out.

It wasn’t until we were outside in the bright sunlight, away from the building, that he turned to me.

In an instant, he was the boy I’d rescued from foster care. The one I loved so much it fucking killed me. I put my arms around him and held him, neither of us saying anything.

His shoulders shook silently, but after a while he pulled back, sniffing once and dashing tears off his face with his bandaged-up hands. He laughed. “Wanna go to the beach?”

I grinned at the abrupt change of subject. “You can watch me surf.”

“I can watch you wipe out; I think you mean.”

“Ooh, big words from a little grommet.”

He shoved his shoulder into me, jostling me off the sidewalk. “I’m nearly twenty-two! I hardly count as a grommet anymore.”

“You’ll always be a grommet to me, little brother.”

He grinned, and I soaked it in, finally feeling whole.

I’d taken exactly three steps inside my house before I realized something was different. There was a pretty floral scent in the air, coming from two candles on the entryway table that had most definitely not been there when I’d left.

In the living room, my old, threadbare couch had acquired two new cushions that were a girly pink color. My battered coffee table gleamed with…I swiped a finger across it. Was that some sort of wood polish?

“Lia!” I called out. “What happened while I was gone?”

She stuck her head around the corner from the kitchen, a nervous smile on her pretty face. “Do you like it?”

I walked over to her, putting my arms around her waist. “You bringing your things into my house and making it ours?” I dropped a kiss on her lips. “Yeah, Lia. I love it.”

She beamed at me, then kissed me back. Our tongues tangled for a second before she drew back sharply.

“How did it go with your mom?”

I shrugged. “As well as can be expected. She’ll leave town if she knows what’s good for her.”

“I’m glad. Hopefully your parents and mine are both holed up in Hell. Or at least somewhere far, far away where we never have to deal with them again.” She frowned and swiped at my wet hair. “Did you go surfing? It’s freezing!”

It had been, but it had made me feel alive. “I want to teach you. You’d be so hot out there on a board.” My dick got hard just thinking about it. I rubbed it against her.

“Mmm?” she asked, smiling at me. “You aren’t worried about me trying to drown one of your friends? Or stabbing that guy who runs the juice stand?”

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