Page 43 of A Murderous Crow
“Isn’t it?” he asked.
I frowned. “Okay, maybe it’s exactly like that—” I said, but then I stopped myself and leaned forward, swatting his arm and pointing up. She’d made it through the open garage door and was looking up and around. Specter was already heading down the stairs to intercept her.
“Yo!” We heard him through the door, and the cadence of his heavy boots descending the metal scaffolding-style steps to the landing before they turned to finish their way down to the garage.
We couldn’t hear what she said in return, but we saw her lips move on the monitor.
The burst of laughter out of Specter didn’t surprise us. The guy could be a real asshole – but none of us minded too much. He tended to keep the tourists and lookie-loos out of the club, which suited us just fine.
“She’s gonna fold,” Rev said.
I chuckled and said, “Five bucks she doesn’t.”
She said something back to Specter, and Rev pulled a hundred out of his pocket and put it on the bar. I matched him, and Specter got in her face. She stood her ground, and when he reached out to grab her face, she batted his hand away and called out with a voice raised and clear, somewhere between iron and steel, “Corbett, come get this mongrel out of my face, please?”
I slapped my hand on the bar and slid the two hundreds my way as Rev chuckled and shook his head.
“She’s got a brass pair of ovaries. Surprise, surprise,” he said, and I winked at him, went out onto the catwalk, and leaned on the railing.
“Let her up, Specter. She’s with me.”
He muttered something at Savannah, catching her by her arm as she made to pass him. She stared up at him with stubborn pride and jerked her arm out of his grasp as she ascended the stairs past him. He winked at me behind her back, and I raised an eyebrow and shot him an amused look when she took her eyes off me to hold on to the stair rail and watch her step coming up the metal grating in her heels.
I met her at the top of the stairs and took her hand lightly, glimpsing the necklace I’d bought her and she’d inquired about by text.
I buried my hand in the back of her hair and pulled her to me, covering her mouth with mine, and she responded beautifully, practically melting into me.
Her tongue touched mine, and it was a burst of sensation, like sweet sunshine filling my mouth and surging through the rest of me, setting me aglow with all the colors of the sunset. We kissed on the steps in front of my brother, and I felt wholly possessive of her. It was intoxicating as it was dangerous.
I wasn’t exactly known for catching feelings, and to be honest, I would rather keep it that way. Feelings complicated things, made them messy and unpredictable. I didn’t like that feeling. That feeling of falling and of being out of control. I preferred my heart tame and, in my breast, rather than flying wild and fancy free.
I’d done that once, and I’d paid a steep price when I’d found I’d just been… well… when I hadn’t mattered at all, really.
Savannah drew back, and I let her, her blue eyes wild with excitement and her smile an echo of the one I kept firmly off my face.
“Well, hello to you, too,” she purred, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
My eyes wandered back to the pendant I had gifted her, and I couldn’t decide if the blue of the stone made her eyes that much brighter, or if it was her eyes that made the stone glow. I touched the hollow of her throat where it rested and let a pleased smile slip.
It was stunning against her sun-kissed skin.
“I don’t know what to say,” she murmured.
“How about ‘thank you?’” I suggested.
She smiled wryly and said, “Thank you, but I’d like to know why.”
“Come with me.” I changed the subject and guided her toward the bar and caught Specter looking up at us with a strange sort of intensity. Well, notme, but Savannah.
“Revenant, this is Savannah. Savannah, this is Rev.” I made a short introduction and said, “You met Specter on the stairs.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Savannah said to Revenant, and held out her hand to shake his. He grasped hers and brought it to his lips, brushing her knuckles lightly with his lips.
“Pleasure’s all mine, for sure,” he said, and she giggled.
Rev was the brother who looked a lot like that actor, Daniel Craig. We loved his James Bond flicks the best, but he really was great in all he did – even that flop,Cowboys vs. Aliens. Still, the more folks likened Rev to Bond, the more he just sort of adopted that air of mystery. His greeting with Savannah was just one more thing that came off as cheesy as fuck to me because it was so a thing that Bond would do.
Rev may be drowning in pussy galore – but this pussy wasmine.I let him know it by gathering Savannah into my side.
