Page 95 of His Trick

I owed him a thank you.

He had the skinny, misfit boy breaking his body in the gym every day to be who I am now. And if he dared fucking return, someday I’d return the fucking favor.

X: Shiloh isn’t Tyler. I’m sorry I ever tried to make you two happy. I loved him. But he’s my past. Shiloh is my future. I hope. So please just fucking get along, Carrington.

Her future.

Not mine.

I pushed the pedal to the floor, letting the mile markers blur past me, and replacing the smiles, the moans, the fucking curses, and the pain.

I wasn’t going to let my fucking sister have a future with my Sunshine.

I’d kill her first.

Before I got back to the mansion I’d been avoiding, with the idiots I was so not thinking about, I stopped by a small hair salon.

Carmen’s Locked Lair.

It was an interesting name for a hair place. The delicate little blonde was fussing over some client. The body I saw ravaged by Shiloh’s darkness was bathed in a million lights that made her feel safe.

When people weren’t looking, she held herself, all the fake smiles disappearing with a worried glance. She constantly checked the doors to her building, fussing over the locks and carefully letting the clients in one by one before locking them back again.

My, my, Sunshine…You broke this woman. She wouldn’t be fun at all when I got to her. Hell, she would be begging to die before I even began.

Satisfied with my understanding of her routine and getting a good indication of her habits, I left the salon lot and went to a bar across the street. It was almost closing time for Carmen, and judging by the way she peered out the window longingly, I had a good hunch this was her crutch.

I ordered a fruity, shit drink, the same drink the two bitches from the first night of the hunt wouldn’t shut the fuck up about. I asked the bartender to give it to the woman when she arrived. It wasn’t the time to introduce myself yet.

Carmen wasn’t a woman who wanted attention.

She tried to avoid it as best she could, given the curvy beauty she had. Naturally, a lot of men and women were drawn to her, and I wondered if Shiloh had been, too.

It had to have been about power. He couldn’t have seen her in the dark. She could have been anyone.

The chant in my brain didn’t subside, and I got sidetracked. Before I realized the time, a ding at the entrance broke the spell of my mind, and I diverted my attention to the door.

Shit.

Carmen was there with her bag clutched to her chest. Her eyes wavered around the room, taking note of the few customers drinking here. She stopped when she saw me, then quickly put her head down and walked to the other side of the bar to sit down.

Dammit. I should have known my stupid face was too well-known around here.

“Ms. Vita, that man over there ordered you this sex on a beach.”

Carmen’s eyes flashed to mine in surprise, and then she shook her head and pushed it toward me.

“No, thank you, Carrington.”

Shit. Of course, she knew me.

“Ah, good to see you, Carmen. You look beautiful tonight. Is the salon business doing well? You’re just across the street, right?”

Carmen’s shoulders lowered, and I smiled wider.

“Yes. I’m doing well. I…haven’t seen you in a long time. How did the…hunt do this year?”

The mere mention of the word hunt made her cringe.