Page 40 of Sinful Promise
“Seriously? Swear to God, if Felix Malone walks into my apartment right now, I’m gonna hurt some people.”
“Nah, Felix is in—”
The door opens, and Fletch moseys in. Clueless. Carefree.
It takes him a second to process the scene laid out in front of him. Me. Minka. Cato. And invisible, because of the back of the couch, Micah.
But Mia darts in without a care in the world, though she skids to a stop the moment she notices Cato, her childish glee quickly turning to worry as her little brain processes the tension sitting thick in the air.
“What’s going on?” Slower now, no longer smiling, Fletch closes the apartment door and wanders toward the living room.
His eyes are for Cato first, the strange face in the center of the room, but as he comes around and scoops Mia up into his arms, his eyes narrow to slits when he finds Micah laid out on the cushions, his shirt still high and his garish stitches on display.
Immediately, he turns Mia so she can’t see.
“Cato and Micah Malone, I presume.” Fletch is as much my brother as the others who share my DNA. But he’s never met these two in person. And the one he has—Felix—had a momentary loss of all common sense, kidnapped Fletch’s daughter, and may or may not have put her in grave danger.
It takes a man a minute to get over that sort of stuff. So it’s no surprise when he asks, “Felix around?”
“I was just saying to the doctor, Felix is in New York.” Dropping one foot to the floor, Cato stands and tucks his ball under his arm. “Cato Malone. You’re Detective Fletcher, right?” He extends his hand to shake. “I’ve seen you on the news with Archer.”
“Yeah.” Juggling Mia into his left arm, while Micah tiredly works to lower his shirt, Fletch accepts Cato’s offering and shakes. “Are you gonna be a problem in Copeland, Cato?”
“Nope.” He takes a step back and gets busy tossing his ball from one hand to the other. “My brother needed medical attention. I’m just a kid. Don’t be mean to me.”
“Just a kid,” I roll my eyes. “Jesus. He was neverjust a kid.”
Now that Micah is dressed and struggling to sit up on the couch, I cross to Fletch and extend my hands for Mia. Because she might be his, but she’s my niece in all the ways that matter.
“Hey there, Moo.” I take the girl in my arms and hate how she shivers.
She’s brave and strong; always pushing limits and shouting about her victories. But Felix terrified her so deeply, her psyche will forever remember the fear she felt that day.
“How are you doing, cutie? It’s still early, huh? You didn’t wanna sleep in?”
“The sun’s awake.” Timidly, she straightens out in my hold and twists to get a look at Micah. “He has an ouch on his tummy.”
“He’s fi—”
“He does have an ouch on his tummy.” Minka sets her bag down in the kitchen and strolls back with a smile unlike anything she’s shown my brothers. Her hair is messy, and my shirt drowns her in fabric. But she comes up on my right and brushes her fingertips across Mia’s chubby cheek. “His name is Micah, and he needed a doctor.”
Shyly, Mia peeks back and looks him up and down. “Minka’s a doctor. She does the needles all the time.”
“Yeah, and that’s why he’s here,” she murmurs. “He needed a needle to help him feel better.”
Hoarse, exhausted, Micah sits up on the couch, but drops back to rest against the cushions. He sets his disfigured hand on his stomach, but Minka exhales and goes back to her bag.
I guess she figured it could do with a little air, but now that Mia’s here…
“Your wound is clean.” She comes closer and kneels between my brother’s legs.
Her placement and proximity are innocent. Entirely appropriate. But fuck if it doesn’t appear lewd enough for Fletch’s brows to shoot high on his forehead.
“I’m gonna wrap it again to keep it safe, Micah. Then I’m gonna insist you find somewhere to rest. Stop traveling, stop messing around. You need sleep, water, and food that is gentle on your stomach.”
“What happened to your hand?” Mia’s voice is too sweet. Too adorable. But she asks the hard questions, like she always has, and pins Micah with a look hard enough to break even the most embattled men. “How did you hurt it?”
“Child-friendly version,” Fletch growls. He knows what happened already; he got the entire story the moment I had a minute to talk to him. “Or your ass lands on the same list where Felix sits.”
