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“Don’t start this shit with me, Bex.”

She barges into the room, tossing the towel at my chest before she grabs her coat from the other chair.

“Why the hell did you come today?” she asks, anger slipping in her tone. “To fuck with me?” She twirls the long coat, sliding her arms into the sleeves.

Black’s definitely her color.

“Listen, love, it’s not my fault your little world isn’t as perfect as you make it out to be. Crystal is pretty, but it shatters,” I say. I loosen my tie. “Don’t get cut.” I wink and cluck my tongue as she lifts her chin at me.

“My little world was just fine without you in it. And don’t ever call me love again.”

I stand up, the chair moving when the backs of my legs hit it. I stalk toward her. Her feet carry her toward the wall. My hand goes above her head and I look down at her pretty pissed off face.

I would kiss her if she wasn’t my brother’s wife. God, I would do more than that. My fingers burn with the need to dig into her flesh, bend her over, and press against her.

My eyes go to her lips.

Hers go to mine.

I haven’t been this intimate with her in years.

Her face is so close, I can feel her breath slipping over my skin. My pulse pounds to a steady beat and my hand twitches to wrap around her throat, applying just enough pressure while I kiss her smart mouth.

“Have you ever told him?” I ask. “Our little secret? Does my brother know that you knew I burnt a man alive, and yet you still gave me everything?”

The kids run by the door, and before I can blink, she shoves me back with force.

Her chest heaves, and her mouth hangs open slightly. I stand still as I watch her. She looks toward the door before looking back at me. “You’re a fool, Danny.”

“Am I the fool, though?” I ask cynically. “Who’s the one married to the wrong person?”

She slaps me. My whole face stings, and I love it. I move my jaw and look back at her, and it’s her expression that makes me snap out of it.

I don’t know what the fuck I’m thinking. I know I’m no saint, but she’s my brother’s wife. I have some morals.

“You son of a bitch,” she seethes. “Why do you keep doing this? Huh? Is it fun to you? Hurting people?” She shakes her head, looking at me as though I’m lower than tits on a snake. “You make me sick.”

“Get the fuck out of here, Bexley, before I do something I regret.” She has no idea how being this close to her makes me feel.

“Oh, now who’s talking to me disrespectfully? Leave us alone, Danny. Leaveusalone before you fuck up everything I’ve worked for.” And then like we weren’t just inches apart, as if we both didn’t almost die to touch the other only moments ago, she walks out without a second glance back.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Bones

2019

Monday is business as usual. We sit at the round table, the money counter a steady noise. Bags of money sit near the wall that’s already been counted and bound. I hit the joint, sitting back in my chair with my shirt sleeves rucked. I watch as Trig and Sweep stack hundreds, Trig telling us about a time he put a bunch of firecrackers in David’s, his foster parent’s, trunk. David’s nothing more than fertilizer now.

“Scared the piss out of him. He ran off the road and hit the damn power pole. We were out of power for half the day, but it was worth it,” he says.

Sweep nods with a slight smirk. “I remember that. Didn’t know it was you, though.”

“Of course not. I never get caught.”

I reach up, putting the joint in the ashtray as Moretti walks out of his office. “Better get to the bank with all that before they close,” he says.

I lift my chin. “Where you headed?”