Page 48 of Tempt Me

“Jude’s dudes may find his, I don’t know, or your little swimmer star if you fly that w—”

I cut him off by smacking him upside the head again.

He dodged the second blow and danced out of the way.

“By the way, since when are you buying weed? That was an interesting conversation with one of my favorite serial killers.”

It didn’t surprise me that he was friends with a serial killer and even less that he was likely talking about the Russian man on the phone.

But fuck, did that mean I now owed a serial killer a fucking favor?

Greeeeat.

“Who’s the girl, Pharaoh?”

Goliath linked my arm on top of his and walked me back to bed like an old man.

“None of your damn business,” I said, plopping down and rolling over to turn away from him.

He sat down silently, but I didn’t look at him. He could shove his tracker up his own ass, thank you very much.

“Man…are you with…” He waggled his eyebrows at me. “Her?”

The tone of my big ass triplet made me pause my silent treatment. He looked uncomfortable but also hopeful?

“No,” I said flatly. “I don’t need any fucking distractions.”

Goliath rubbed his beard, the thick black layers bushier than usual.

“I know, bro. I do, but sometimes these women just latch on and take control of your fucking soul. And you’re happy to let ‘em.”

I thought about that. No one ever took control of my soul. Ariah and I were happy. I loved and respected her, but it was based on being good for one another. She was smart and didn’t need anyone bothering her. Hell, I didn’t even see her most days because her job kept her away. Her real love was her clients. My real love was…my daughter.

The shadow of Xeny’s bouncy curls appeared on the blank white wall. Xeny was running and playing with shadows of flowers flowing around her.

“I wanna see you happy, Roe,” he said, his voice losing all the playful edges it usually had. “You deserve it more than me, and that kills me. I don’t know how to—fuck…shit. I don’t know how to make it right.”

I sighed and watched the shadow dissipate, her laughter fading to the hum of the ceiling fan above us.

“Because you can’t. Nothing makes it better. Nothing brings Xenia back.”

Goliath went silent.

“The only thing I live for now, Lith, is finding the bastard who took her from me and ripping out his fucking heart with my bare hands. I won’t stop until I do. I’m too stubborn to die.”

Goliath clipped his arm over my shoulder, giving me a side whack that was his version of a hug.

He stood up and wiped his eyes.

“Listen, I wanted you to come by because we need to chat about Judie.”

My ears perked up. The sudden change in his demeanor told me nothing good was coming next.

“Did you find a way to free him?” A feeling of hope hit my system like a bitter drug that went down hard.

“Nah,” he admitted. “I found something worse, man.”

I frowned, unsure what could be worse than Judas not being freed from those prison bars.