Page 41 of The Verdict

The song came to an end, and the distant ripple of applause was drowned out by the rapid clap of my pulse in my ears.

“Always good for a show,” Talon drawled with a laugh and patted my back, claiming my attention.

“Thanks,” I muttered, wading through the subsequent praises from everyone else in the room before I turned back to Merritt. “What did you think?”

“You’re… incredible.” She reached out and ran her finger along the edge of the instrument—a touch I too easily imagined occurring down the length of my cock. “What is this?”

Another reason for a cold shower.

“A hurdy-gurdy,” I answered instead, my strained smile unable to reach my eyes. “A cousin of mine came to live with usfrom Ireland when I was younger, and she brought hers over with her. Taught me how to play.” I shrugged, turning the crank and letting the drone rise over our conversation. “Just became a thing.” The sound faded away, and I rested my arms on top of the instrument, my fingers returning to my wrist. “Ryan loved it.”

“Your friend?”

“Yeah.” I pressed my thumb over his dog tag number, feeling the heavy thud of my pulse—my life—under the memory of a man who was gone. “He’d be the first to sing along. Off-key, but with enough enthusiasm to make up for it.”

“He sounds like the life of the party.”

I let out a weak laugh and removed the hurdy-gurdy from around my neck. “He’s the reason we all got tattoos and motorcycles.”

“And piercings,” Dare chimed in casually as he walked by us over to his brother.

Goddammit.I wanted to strangle him for casually tossing that grenade between us. On purpose.Like he was trying to test me.But he was gone before I could.

My attention swung back to Merritt. Maybe she’d think he meant something else. Like a normal piercing.

Not a fucking chance.Our eyes locked, and I swore the whole room could see the sparks. Nope, she knew exactly what he was talking about. She remembered the feel of me inside her—the way the metal bar through the head of my cock made her lose her mind.And fuck me, I remembered, too.

I widened my stance. my dickturning from hard to throbbing in a second.

“I think I’m going to go to bed,” Merritt murmured, but there was no mistaking the hunger in her eyes.Or in mine.

“I’ll walk you. Give me one sec,” I replied gruffly.

I strode to the back of the room to putthe hurdy-gurdy away, and as soon as I turned toward the door, I found Dare standing in front of me, the darkest scowl on his face.

“Don’t make the same mistake I did.” His warning should’ve been a bucket of ice water over my head. Instead, I felt nothing—nothing but frustration at my friend for not being able to see past his own insecurities.

My jaw locked. “I won’t.”

It wasn’t possible. We weren’t at war. We weren’t in enemy territory. Getting involved wouldn’t put the rest of the guys in jeopardy—only me. But there was no point in arguing. The betrayal Dare had suffered hadn’t just broken his heart or his trust—wounds that could’ve been set right like any other fractured limb, with steady support and time to heal. What Dare had endured was nothing short of an amputation. There was no heart or trust to heal because they were simply gone.

“Rhys—”

“I said I won’t.” I went to move around him, and he grabbed my arm.

“She’s not telling us the whole truth. I know it,” he rasped low, even though Merritt was waiting for me in the hallway. “At least get answers before you get in too deep.”

Raw pain slashed over his features, the likes of which I’d only ever seen once—the one time he’d broken down in front of me, completely fractured by how blind love had made him… and how it would’ve been easier if it had cost his own life instead of Ryan’s.

That expression did more than his words ever could, sinking like an anchor in my stomach and weighing down the raging want that had started to soar.

“Okay.” I lowered my chin slowly, a nod all I could manage before striding through the door. His warning followed me like a dark shadow as I walked beside Merritt to the elevator, my thumb rubbing a hole straight through my wrist.

God, I wanted her.But he was right. No matter how firmly I believed she was innocent, it didn’t change facts or circumstances; it didn’t change how fucking coincidental it was that she was attacked not long before Wheaton was killed. Maybe she didn’t even know her own connection to this. Maybe tutoring Wheaton’s son or being in his home, she’d seen or heard something she shouldn’t. But until I knew for certain, I had to keep my distance.

The elevator doors closed, and suddenly, all my good intentions were locked in a pressure cooker of control.

“Did it hurt?”

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