Page 27 of Holiday Scars
Dirk hesitates. “Don’tnothingme. My brother isn’t some fuck toy for you to get over your loneliness.”
“I said it’s nothing,” Blade snaps. Then softer with regret, he adds, “You know what I like. And your little brother isn’t it.”
The words punch through my chest like buckshot. A lie, sure. But he’s so damn good at it.Ishe playing me?
“Stay away from him. You don’t want me on your bad side,” Dirk says in a voice I’ve not heard before.
“Good night, Hana,” I say and stalk toward my bedroom before I hear Blade say something else that will make me want to throw up.
My hands are shaking when I shut the door. I sit on the edge of the bed, elbows on my knees, trying to breathe.
Nothing.Blade told my brother I mean nothing to him.
The door creaks open a few minutes later. Blade stands there, jaw tight, guilt swimming in his blue eyes.
“I heard,” I say.
“Jett—”
“You can’t tell your best friend what you feel about me?” My voice comes out choked.
“Dirk knows me as some heartless manwhore. You heard him. He will strangle me if he thinks I’m corrupting you. I can’t... I can’t lose him as a friend if he won’t accept you and me together.”
“That really stings.”
“You’re my partner. We took an oath. But Dirk is my rock. I can’t lose him.”
“I thoughtIwas your rock.” I hate how vulnerable I sound.
His silence hurts worse than anything else he could say.
“I was just a good time, then?” I ask. “Just for this weekend?”
He nods slowly, like it kills him to admit it. “You wanted to know what it was like. You’re figuring shit out. And I needed comfort.”
I bark out a laugh that sounds too much like a sob.
“That may have been what I agreed to on Wednesday night. But now that I’ve had a taste of you, I’m not ready to walk away.” I grab his shirt and pull him down to my mouth.
I roughly kiss Blade, desperate to feel wanted again.
His hands hover at my waist before he pushes me back gently. “Don’t,” he whispers. “Not after that warning from your brother.”
Then he turns and walks out of the bedroom.
The ugly sound that leaves my throat makes me cringe. Anger and heartbreak tangle in my chest. I follow him down thehall, ready to tell my brother to take his warning and shove it up his ass. How dare he make someone choose between him and me.
But a gunshot loudly cracks the air. I take off and skid to a stop, bumping into Blade, who stands in the shadow of the living room.
That Fed Reichart has my brother Dirk pinned to the floor with a gun to his head. Hana is struggling against the other Fed being dragged back into Dirk’s bedroom.
“Want to watch your woman be raped by both of us?” Reichart nudges the gun into Dirk’s temple. “Talk. I want names and credit card numbers. I know you’re doing those tats.”
“Fuck you, I’m not,” Dirk grinds out. “Get one of your hackers to floss my ass for my business records. I’m clean. No gangs.”
“Your little brother is a tracker for the Irish Mob. You telling me you ain’t tatting up those micks?”
“Is it me you want?” I say, pushing into the living room with my gun lowered. “You can have me.”
