Page 89 of Bound By Her

“Eric’s great,” Kaydon said. “He showed me around the gambling center yesterday.”

“No shit,” Seth said.

“Wow,” Bryson drawled, stabbing a carrot with unnecessary force. “I wonder where the two of you will go next.”

Kaydon’s grin withered.

He took a slow bite of his chicken before responding. “Yeah, well, he showed me how they make sure people betting actually have the means to pay. Less hassle with shake-downs. More above board if you ask me.”

That caught Adria off guard.

He wasn’t wrong.

The Federov side of the Nine dealt in gambling.

But she had done everything in her power to keep it as clean as possible.

And she hadn’t expected Eric to share that with Kaydon.

“How altruistic of her,” Bryson muttered, his fork clanking against his plate.

She turned to Seth. “Care to explain to me why your brother is in a mood today?”

Seth looked up, but didn’t answer. His eyes were still glassy from their earlier play session.

“Why would he know?” Bryson sneered. “He’s too busy fuckingyou.”

He said it directly to Seth.

Seth flinched.

His dazed expression snapped into something harder.

Kaydon tensed beside him, his easygoing demeanor vanishing.

“How about you take care of your own shit,” Kaydon snapped, “instead of dumping it on us?”

Bryson stood, the chair scraping violently against the floor.

“How about you fucking make me?”

The tension exploded.

“STOP!”

Adria was on her feet as fast as Bryson.

Kaydon opened his mouth, but she was quicker.

She turned to him, her gaze cutting like a knife.

“Not another word.”

Kaydon’s jaw snapped shut. His eyes held the words she was sure Bryson would eventually hear. And that was fine. Kaydon could tell him later. She didn’t need to hear it, and Seth sure as shit didn’t need to either.

She grabbed Seth’s chin, tilting him to meet her eyes. “Okay?”

He looked nervous. Due to his history, it made sense that he wouldn’t like family conflict.

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