Page 21 of Heir

The fucking late mayor’s niece was something else entirely. She was different from him. Not corrupted. Or power hungry.

I never paid her any attention when I was digging around for dirt on the good old mayor because she wasn’t a threat. But perhaps I should have because her presence had completely torn away my self-restraint.

In my world of control, she was an anomaly. She was messy and all over the place. Like a tornado wreaking havoc on my carefully contained emotions, and I didn’t fucking like it one bit. Gemma Gallagher was going to be a fucking problem.

5

GEMMA

I watchedhim storm out of the bar, my heart galloping in my chest at an abnormal speed.

“Ah, don’t worry too much about Kai,” Blue said beside me. “Like I said, he’s just in a bad mood, but he doesn’t really mean any harm.”

I turned my attention to him with wide eyes. “Are you sure? He looked at me like he hates me.”

“Did he?” Blue asked, making me question myself.

“He didn’t?” I asked skeptically. He and I had vastly different definitions then, because Kai had looked at me like if he wished it hard enough, I might just disappear, and here I was, trying hard not to show how badly he affected my nerves.

He looked the same as the last time I had seen him. Technically, we had never met, but Kai Madden was infamous around here.

Everyone said he was set to take over his father’s criminal empire soon, and anyone who didn’t fear him or hate him wanted to be near him.

I was just as fascinated with him as everyone else, though I’d thought I was safe behind my own anonymity.

Then Blue brought me right into his path, and he’d figured out who I was within moments of seeing me.

And I had—unintentionally—helped him pledge to the club, if what Blue said was true. I still bore the marks of that mistake, yet I couldn’t bring myself to regret the action.

Blue offered me a smile. “Don’t worry too much about it, Gemma. Things are going to be okay. Okay?”

I nodded, though I didn’t believe him. How could it possibly be okay when I was hiding from my own mother and uncle?

I shuddered, thinking about the night we went to Uncle Frank’s home for dinner, and Henry’s note, which led me to do some snooping while Mom and Kenton were asleep.

And what I found—

I closed my eyes as a sharp pain rammed into the center of my heart.

“Gemma?”

I opened my eyes and took in Blue’s concerned one. A lot of people thought he got the nickname because of his blue eyes. Perhaps that had played into it, but not many knew that Blue was his middle name, and it was the name his late sister had preferred to call him, so that was what we all called him.

“You never told me why you called in a panic yesterday. What’s going on?”

I looked down at the table, not wanting to confess to Blue about my mom. Not because I wanted to protect her, but because I was ashamed. Our relationship was always tense, but I had believed she loved me.

In her own way, she loved me, didn’t she?

I couldn’t believe that now.

“I don’t want to tell you right now,” I said. I could have come up with a lie. Could have downplayed my own panic and the reason I chose to stay with Blue when the lease for my apartment wasn’t even up yet. But Blue hated liars, and I didn’t want to lie to my best friend.

“Am I still welcome at your place?” I asked quietly. Blue was the only person I could depend on. I didn’t have anyone else besides him in this world.

“Hey, of course you are. You are welcome to stay with me for as long as you need.”

I blinked, trying to contain the tears. Blue hated tears, especially my tears. He had always been a little overprotective of me. He was only a year older than me, but he was held back a grade, so we had been in the same grade—and best friends since the fourth grade.

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