Page 38 of Sin

“Stepbrother, “I automatically correct from behind him.

I don’t think the biker heard my correction because he gives Sin a knowing look. “Brother?” he laughs.

The laugher acts like a red cape to Sin, who punches him again. The biker blocks the punch and pins him against the wall with his forearm on his neck. Sin makes choking sounds, but the look he gives the biker is pure defiance.

Instinct tells me that though the biker is a kind man, he’s also a dangerous one. I tug at his arm, desperately trying to get him to release Sin. “Please don’t hurt him. I know he’s an asshole, but?—”

The biker finally seems to listen to me. “But he’s your asshole,” he says. I nod and after another moment of deliberation, he lets Sin drop to the ground. “Next time, take better care of your brother,” he says, and kicks Sin in the ribs almost as an exclamation point.

Then he turns toward me and drops a brief kiss on my cheek and stalks off into the night, leaving me to the wreck that is my life.

Chapter 20

Cassidy

“We should take him to the ER to make sure his ribs aren’t broken,” I insist to Mercer, who helped me get Sin out of the club and back to the suite without creating more of a scene. I only hope none of this ends up on a gossip site. The last thing any of us needs is for Gideon to find out about tonight.

“He’s fine,” Mercer says. “I checked his ribs. They’re just sore. Nothing the hot shower he’s taking won’t go a long way to curing.”

“And you’re a doctor?” I bite at him.

“No,” he sighs, “but I’ve cleaned Sin up after countless fights and dustups, and he’s done the same for me. I know when he needs to see a doctor.”

Just more of the history that Sin and Mercer share. More proof that they are meant for each other. “Well, since you’re staying with him, you can make sure he doesn’t overdo it.”Translation: Please don’t make me listen to you two having sex all night. Not in the hotel suite I’d planned to seduce Sin in. It will kill me.

He looks at me oddly. “I’m not staying here. My family’s company keeps apartments in Lexington over by the Botanical Gardens.”

I try to take that in, but it doesn’t make any sense. “I thought that—Since you were—” I clear my throat. “I thought the way you were dancing meant that you’d be staying here together.”

Mercer lets out a long breath and then looks me straight in the eyes. “I know you don’t like me, Cassidy.”

The polite, always-wants-to-please Cassidy instinct is to deny Mercer’s statement, but then images of him licking tequila from Sin’s chest flash in my head. “You’re right. I don’t.”

He smirks. “That sucks, cause I like you. So many of the people in Sin’s and my lives are users and hangers-on, and mostly, not very nice people. You are a genuinely nice kid.”

“I’m not a kid,” I tell him, not willing to be patronized by Sin’s lover. “You are only a few years older than I am.”

“You’re right, and I’m sorry,” he apologizes, “What I was trying to say was that when you became Sin’s brother, I recognized how cool you were and always hoped we’d eventually become friends.”

“Stepbrother,” I correct.

His smirk turns into a full-blown laugh. “And that brings us to the whole reason you don’t like me.” He gives me a searching gaze that feels so intrusive, I instinctively fold my arms across my chest.

“Sin and I haven’t hooked up in months, Cassidy.”

“But—”

“Not since,” He strokes his chin as if to call back a memory, “oh, what a coincidence,” he rolls his eyes, “not since the night you came back to Nashville.”

All those times these past months, Sin had mentioned plans with Mercer, and it had felt like acid burning in my gut to imagine them together. Now, if Mercer is telling the truth, it turns out that they were just hanging out as friends—until tonight, that is.

Mercer seems to sense my thoughts. “Tonight, what you saw in the restaurant and the club had nothing to do with Sin.”

“Nothing to do with him?” I object, my jealousy coming unleashed. “You had your tongue down his throat all night.”

He waves his hand as if to minimize what happened between them. “That was nothing.”

“You did dangerous drugs, and then you were practically fucking each other on the dance floor.”

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