Page 54 of The Heiress

I busted out laughing at that. “Cockier?”

He shrugged. “He didn’t use that word. He was more eloquent about your confidence and shit. But I think cocky suits you. You think you can handle the secrets. You think you can put up with club life. That’s cocky coming from a bookworm like you.”

I chose to take that as a compliment. “You don’t think I can?”

“Maybe. We’re a bunch of bastards.” He lightly punched my arm.

There was so much hedging, like we were dancing back and forth over a line. The part of me that craved information wanted to obliterate the line, run head first into the darkness. But the thing about lines like that...once you cross it, there’s no going back.

“So what is it like? Being a member of Devil’s Wrath?”

“What do you want to hear? That we swear and drink and watch porn in between beating the shit out of each other for fun and shooting things?”

“Do you?”

He chuckled. “A little, yeah. The clubhouse is kinda like a frat house. Some of the guys are married. Some of them like to fuck anything that walks. We’re all different. I’ve seen a lot of my brothers lose their girls because they can’t hack it.”

That ended our conversation because the guys returned with sandwiches and salads, along with a local amber beer. The food and beer went straight to my head and the next thing I knew I was asleep on Jace’s shoulder.

“You should put your lady to bed,” Storm said. “You too. Get some sleep. We’ll keep watch tonight.”

“You’re sure?” Jace asked, his arm tightening around me like he was preparing to lift me into his arms.

He didn’t need to do that. I could walk. Probably. Only it seemed kind of impossible to open my eyes.

“Get out of here, Red. I know what you look like when you’re exhausted and you’re about twelve hours past that now.”

Home Run snorted. “Like that time after Nova died when your eyes got all red and wild when you didn’t sleep for four days. You’re not quite there. But you’re getting close.”

“Fine,” Jace sighed. “Thanks guys.”

“Anything, brother.”

19

Islept hard. At first it was the exhausted, dreamless sleep of someone who needed rest. But then, as my brain and body returned to normal, the dreams rolled in. Epic dreams with lots of planes for some reason. Giant double-deckers that were too big and heavy to take off safely, followed by being inside one with the doors open, trying to hold on and keep from blowing away. Then I did blow away, strapped inside some mechanical contraption, but it was okay, I was supposed to jump.

I woke up sweaty, heart racing, and very confused. The room was pitch black but it felt like it should be light out. The sheets felt different and the room smelled like male body wash. I tried to remember what day it was, and when I couldn’t puzzle that out, attempted to rememberwhereI was.

“Hey,” Jace mumbled, his voice very rough and lazy.

My brain spun into overdrive trying to make sense of everything. It was hard when I couldn’tseeanything. Jace. Dark. Planes.

And then I slowly began to remember the alarms, the frantic drive to Calusa Key, and then meeting with Jace’s brothers. I was in Jace’s room.

Because we were kind of a couple now?

Even though I just barely got my bearings on time and space, my brain insisted on revisiting the memories of kissing Jace on the boat, of making love in my extravagant bed.

I felt Jace sit up and heard fumbling before a small light came on beside the bed. “Hey I’m sorry. You’re probably freaking out. We’re at the club, remember?” He held his arms open like it was the most natural thing in the world to wake up side by side and cuddle.

“Starting to.”

“Come here.”

I settled against his chest and he rested backward into the pillows, stroking my back. “I feel like I’ve slipped down a rabbit hole and now everything is different. Just a little bit off.”

“That’s because you did.” He lightly massaged the muscles of my neck. “The world of the ultra rich is very strange and has its own sets of rules. The same can be said of MC life. And now you’ve hopped from one world to another, and then yet another.”

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