Page 91 of Brutal Collateral

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Griffin – June

Ava climbs into thebackseat of my Escalade, and all I see is skin. Long, toned, sun-kissed legs in a short-as-fuck dress topped with a white fuzzy waist-length coat get my blood moving.

For different reasons.

Kai’s boasting about her two weeks ago in my office comes to mind. Seeing her in the clothes she keeps coming home with reminds me other men will look at her in a sexual way. Ava’s legs drive wild lust through me remembering them wrapped around my waist.

It’s taken a few weeks for me to see past that wounded mess of a woman from a cage. Slowly, a different Ava is coming out of her shell, but I still feel deep inside that Hadleigh is waiting in the wings.

And damn, that’s who I want. But I can’t have Hadleigh. That’s not who her brothers will allow her to be.

Will I?

“Sorry.” I block her from getting inside the SUV. “This is the car going to a cocktail engagement party at your aunt’s house. Pants are required, please go back inside and—”

“Lola suggested I wear this on a video call,” she says, looking all innocent, knocking her bare legs together.

“Lola?” All I hear is Barry Manilow’s voice in my head.

“My cousin. She and Lucia are home from school.”

“What school?” Why wasn’t I given a dossier on these people?

“They go to culinary school in Paris.”

“You’re kidding?”

“I don’t kid about crepes.” Ava wears me down, and I let her in the car.

“How old are they?” I ask.

“Nineteen.” Ava settles in next to me, our legs brushing together.

When I stop talking because I’m staring at how she’s so easily touching me, she glances down, too. Suddenly that short dress tempts me to do something I shouldn’t. I’ve kept busy these past two weeks to avoid being this close to her.

To Ava, it’s as if the weeks held no meaning. It could have been a year later, and she’d act the same way.

Siren.

“Get moving, up there.” I snap my fingers for Gus to drive.

I’m finding out that getting anywhere in this city by car is a nightmare. Gus immediately cuts to the East Side to take the FDR North, even if we’re only going a few blocks.

Aunt Helena’s luxury apartment is in a pre-war building on the Upper East Side. This degree of lavishness will have my family twitching. We have plenty of money. The manor house in Astoria is massive, well-furnished, and impeccably clean.

Through the eyes of some, that house must seem dated, but it speaks to who we are. We’re simple Irish brats.

With my new wealth, however, I’ll never begin to spend the amount of money I’m getting from Troi’s estate.

We stop, and Zeke, who sits in the front with Gus, opens the door for me. Ace sits in the third row, watching the cars behind us for trouble.

I hop out and help Ava, holding her hand.

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