Page 12 of Breaking the Alpha (Serpent’s Tongue Ink #2)

A ngelina’s Saturday Indulgence Night was a ritual she held sacred.

No matter how her week went, no matter how tough or long her days were, Saturday night was hers to enjoy her favorite things without thinking of what else she should be doing.

It was a quiet, guilt-free evening, one she didn’t share with anyone.

Anyone except River, apparently.

Something in the way they seemed to get each other drew her to him.

Although she continued to hold her past as close to her chest as much as he was, there was a natural harmony they reached effortlessly together.

It made it easy for her to invite him in to experience a slice of her life.

But although her instincts were leading her to his side, her mind wasn’t as quick to abandon all caution.

Nothing about him made sense on the surface.

What little she knew about him only led to more questions and tossed up more warnings.

He unbalanced her and steadied her at the same time, simultaneously making her heart pound while calming her soul with nothing more than his presence.

She wanted to know everything about him, and she wanted to know nothing.

And it was this delicate equilibrium that was making him irresistible to her.

With her purse in hand and the store locked tight, she watched him walk out of Serpent’s Tongue Ink and move fluidly through the small group of shoppers still milling around and making dinner plans.

“Hey,” he said, and greeted her with a grin. “I’m ready to observe this Saturday ritual of yours.”

“I’m sure you are.” She took his hand and led him across the street. “We need to make one stop on the way to my house, and we’re going to be walking so we can enjoy this weather.”

His gait shifted a fraction, transforming from the confident swagger of a man who knew he was being watched to the prowl of someone who knew how to walk the streets on the rougher side of town. “Lead the way.”

They headed west and he released her hand, stepping behind her then coming up on the other side, ensuring he was closest to the curb. “I’m assuming your Saturday night indulgence doesn’t include salad or sushi.”

“If you feel gas station sushi is in your best interests, be my guest. I, however, will be focusing my energy on the sweet and salty food groups.”

His eyes tracked every single person and vehicle that passed them until he noticed she was watching him as intently as he was scanning their surroundings. “This area can be a little sketchy once the sun goes down.”

The unspoken assumption that she wasn’t as aware of those around them as he was grated her.

But he knew nothing about her past, about how she learned to check behind every door and around every corner by the time she’d even started kindergarten.

So she shoved her internal grievance aside and gave his hand a quick squeeze as they walked into the small corner store. “Pick your poison.”

Once both of them had selected enough junk food to make an elephant ill, River carried the shopping basket to the counter.

He muttered under his breath about her insistence she pay until she reached over and placed a finger against his lips.

“You’re assuming I’m not going to inhale that beef jerky when your back is turned. ”

He grinned and they continued on their way. “I look forward to fighting you for the last piece.”

“Don’t make me break out the naked crayon art voice.”

His steady stride faltered for a second. “You’re good.”

“I know.” They entered the residential area and his eyes moved from the street to the Epson water tower. “I grew up right over there.”

“With Birch?”

He nodded. “And my younger brother, Grey. And, um, Winter.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to take a wild guess based on your expression that you’ve definitely heard of Winter.”

Nudging him to turn right toward her home, she nodded.

“I’m a little disappointed in myself for not connecting Birch and River Baker to Winter Baker earlier.

” She refused to let go of his hand while she rifled through her purse awkwardly for her key.

“Well, River, since I now know the names of all your brothers, I’m Angelina Addison Watson. It’s a pleasure to formally meet you.”

She led him inside and set the snacks on the kitchen island. “Let’s get this Indulgence Night started. Follow me.”

*

River wasn’t sure how he’d ended up straddling a wooden chair in Angelina’s bathroom, surrounded by candles and the scent of her strawberry bubble bath, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to complain.

He couldn’t even if he wanted to. He was too busy spilling his guts to the bathing beauty nestled in the mass of bubbles in front of him.

“I was fourteen when Winter went to prison for killing our dad,” he said, continuing the sanitized version of his family history.

“Birch was eighteen, so Winter worked something out with the D.A. that he would give a full confession and take a nineteen-year sentence in exchange for Birch being named guardian of me and Grey.”

She kept her eyes closed, as though she knew it made it easier for him to talk when he wasn’t being watched. “That shift from brother to father figure must have been difficult for everyone.”

Shrugging, he shook his head. “Not really. Birch and Winter were already raising me and Grey. They paid the bills, got us to school, made sure we had food and clothes. Life was actually way better with Dad gone, even if Birch was kind of strict.”

One long leg emerged from the mass of bubbles, and Angelina’s painted toes nudged at the tap until a stream of hot water poured out, adding to the steam already filling the small room. “I like Birch and Winter already. They raised you well.”

He stretched over and turned the water off after a minute. “They did pretty damn good, considering Grey was nine and I was a total delinquent.” Pausing, he considered how much more to say. “Some shit went down with Birch when I was almost nineteen and he ended up going away for three years, too.”

With that, one amber eye opened. “What happened to Grey?”

“He had to accept me as his lord and master.”

A small smile graced her face and she sunk down a little farther, keeping the mass of hair piled high on her head a fraction above the water.

“So yeah, I took care of Grey until Birch got out. When he came back, he gave me a wad of cash and basically booted my ass to California that same week.” Thinking back to the day he left, he exhaled.

“It was probably the hardest thing I ever did, leaving Birch here to deal with the gossip and bullshit while I escaped to LA.” He cleared his throat, but it did little to erase the guilt he still carried.

“Shortly after that, he and that Drayson asshole opened Serpent’s Tongue Ink.

Now Grey’s acing his engineering courses at the university and Birch has a girlfriend who not only tolerates him but seems to like him enough to move in with him. ”

The water sloshed as Angelina sat up and pulled the plug out. River tugged a large pink towel off the hanger beside him, holding it out to her.

“How did you get into piercing?” she prodded, wrapping herself up without giving him a single peek.

“I trained in LA and was actually working at a shop there when I was scouted for the whole modeling thing,” he replied, mesmerized by her movements as she eased one hair pin at a time out of her hair.

She opened the door and steam billowed into the hall. “How many piercings do you have? I don’t remember seeing any.”

Grabbing the chair, he waited outside her bedroom while she dressed, then set it back in the corner of her room once she was done. “None.”

“How does a piercer have no piercings?” she asked with a smile, her pink cotton pants riding low on her hips and her tight black tee accenting the fact that she was definitely braless.

“I have enough holes and scars. I sure as hell don’t need any more.”

She frowned, but the expression was short-lived as though she were filing that tidbit away for another time as she led him downstairs. “Now, we eat and bead.”

“We what?”

“I’ll let you pick the movie since I won’t be paying it much attention,” she continued, as she pulled a box from under the sofa and set it on the coffee table. “Grab the remote and get comfortable. We’ll be sitting here for a few hours.”

She sat cross-legged on the floor of her living room, opened the box, and picked up an incomplete, delicately woven bracelet. As she concentrated on the fine threads she was attaching to a small metal loom, River sat behind her and fiddled with the remote until he found a movie.

“Grey and I used to do this a lot,” he shared as he got comfortable.

“He was kind of a skittish kid—for good reason—so we moved one of the TVs into my room when Birch left. We went down to the thrift shop and picked up an old VCR and a few dozen video tapes, then watched the hell out of them every night.”

“Best big brother ever,” she replied as she scooted back so she was resting against his legs. “Grey was lucky to have you.”

He envied her peacefulness as she focused on weaving glass beads among the threads.

She seemed so calm, and he wanted to be a part of it in any way he could.

Deciding to indulge in something he’d been dying to do for the past two hours, he gently combed his fingers through her hair.

When her response was nothing more than a contented sigh, he started twirling the strands one by one, examining the way the colors changed with the angle of the light.

“Now that I’ve spilled my guts, what are the chances I’ll learn anything about you?” he finally ventured when she’d finished one bracelet and prepared another.

She took a deep breath and exhaled. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”