Page 10 of Cryptic Curse

Falcon’s been through enough, with prison.

Raven’s been through enough, with cancer.

And Robin?I’ve thought of confiding in her, asking her to help with Eagle.

But in the end, I never do.

After all, I’m the one Eagle calls.He’s my cross to bear.

I used to tell myself it was just a phase.That he’d grow out of it.That he’d hit rock bottom, bounce, and finally get it together.But rock bottom keeps shifting for him.It’s like he’s found a way to make it a home.

And I’m the one who gets the late-night phone calls.I’m the one who shows up to the bars, the alleys, the holding cells.I’m the one who lies to our mom about where he is.About why he didn’t call on her birthday.

I have my own life.Or at least, Idid.Before my brother’s chaos bled into every corner of mine.Relationships?Shot to hell.Work?I’m running on fumes.Sleep?A distant memory.I wake up half the time expecting disaster, and the other half already bracing for it.

And the worst part?

He looks at me like Iowehim this.

Like being his brother makes me his savior.

I’m not.I can’t be.Not anymore.

I love him.God help me, I do.But love isn’t supposed to feel like drowning with someone else’s weight tied around your neck.

Sometimes, when the phone buzzes and I see his name, I stare at it.Let it ring.I just sit there.Breathing.

Hoping it will stop.

But it doesn’t.

I answer, and I take care of everything.

But lately I’m realizing something.

Being his brother doesn’t mean I have to die saving him.

I can’t be on call twenty-four hours a day.I have my own work, my own duties to the ranch.My own life.

Raven is on the phone, presumably talking to Daniela.

Daniela is Vinnie’s wife.

And yes, Raven’s his girlfriend.

Vinnie married Daniela Agudelo when she was only seventeen to get her out of Colombia and her engagement to some older guy in the mafia.

She’s fucking gorgeous.She came as Vinnie’s date to Raven’s gala several months ago, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

Until I found out she was only seventeen.

Still…

Grace the nurse is pretty.She’s closer to my own age.Has a stable life, no past traumas that I know of.

But Daniela?Fucking beautiful.Magnificent.The perfect hourglass figure, hair like black silk, and eyes even darker than my mother’s.

My heart races at the thought of her coming here.