Page 40 of Cryptic Curse

I don’t wait.I just grab his arm and pull him from his chair.

He lets me—because of course he does.Because he wants this.

We cut through the kitchen, past the hum of the dishwasher, past the scent of warm cake and cooling coffee.I shove the double doors open and step out onto the redwood deck that wraps around the house.

Warm Texas night air hits my face.The sky is wide and full of stars, the way it always is out here.I stop near the railing, and he stops beside me, finally dropping the smirk.

“So?”he says.“What’s your damage?”

“You flirting with Daniela,” I snap.“That’s my fucking damage.”

He lifts his brows.“You jealous?”

I clench my hands into fists.“You want to get hit?”

He laughs.“God, youarejealous.That’s cute.”

I step in close, until we’re nose to nose.“Don’t play with her.I mean it.”

He shrugs.“She’s a big girl.She can handle a little conversation.”

But can she?Eagle doesn’t know anything about her.I don’t know a lot, but Vinnie told me her past was not pretty.

“She’s barely eighteen, damn it.She’s not just some woman you can chat up to kill time.”

“She’s notyours,Hawk.”

That lands.Hard.

“No,” I say, voice tight, “she’s not mine.But she’s notyoursto play with either.”

He scoffs, looking away.“Jesus.You act like I’m some fucking predator.”

I cross my arms.“I act like Iknowyou.”

That stops him.

He turns back to me, jaw clenched.“You don’t know me as well as you think.”

I step in again.“Bullshit.I knoweverything.Every screw-up.Every escape plan you never finish.I know what you do when you get bored, and I won’t let you do it to her.”

He glares at me.“And if I wasn’t playing?What then?”

The question hits like a gut punch.

Because it’s not just a hypothetical.It’sreal.

And it terrifies me.

I look him dead in the eye.“Then you’d better be damned sure.Because she’s not someone you justtry onto see if it fits.She’s not your little sex doll, like Scarlett.”

His face turns red.I’ve struck a nerve.

He starts toward me.“Don’t youevertalk about her like that.”

Eagle’s gotten stronger since his last relapse.Going to the gym seems to have helped take his mind off his addiction cravings.

But he’s not as strong as I am, and I’m able to hold him in place by the shoulders before he can get a swing in.