Page 59 of Tethered Souls

Maddox snorts. “Bro’s idea of being romantic is probably throwing a bouquet at her face and calling it done.”

Our cousin laughs. “Did you really just chuck the ring at her?”

When I don’t give them a response, Maddox deepens his voice to mock mine. “What difference does it make? We’re already engaged.”

Uncle Myers jumps in, mimicking his voice to be exactly like mine with his magic – more experienced than Maddox. “What’s the point of being romantic when she can’t say no? I already own her.”

“Yeah. Don’t even need any foreplay,” Vinny adds, and I want to smack the lot of them. But doing anything will just get this trio riled, so my face stays flat, without any emotion whatsoever.

Maddox nods sagely. “I’ve never heard her scream.”

“There’s a silence ward in all of our rooms,” I point out.

“You were in the woods with her all night last night, and there wasn’tonescream,” he counters.

My eyes narrow minutely, but I can’t exactly tell him I was watching over her while she slept. Although she was dumb enough to fall asleep without taking any precautions, and by all means, that should’ve been her problem alone, I couldn’t just leave her out there with a traitor somewhere on the premises. But revealing that will do nothing but cause Maddox, with his damn psych degree, to ask a million questions I don’t want to answer.

“Khalid, you were there when he fucked her the first time. Did she scream?”

He nods, and my chest puffs out.Fuckers.

“Loudly,” Khalid affirms, “but it was someone else’s name.”

Uncle Myers spits his drink everywhere. Vinny laughs his balls off, and my face flattens as Maddox shouts, “She did what?”

A few heads turn towards us, including hers. She looks at me curiously, and the urge to take her in front of everyone so they can hear just how well she screams has me itching to go to her.

“She was playing a joke,” I say. I don’t want to mention Dayne being there at all. Don’t want to reveal he had a tracker on her. Slights like that can’t be ignored when you’re a Boss with as many targets on your back as I have. Any show of weakness will have traitors crawling out of the woodwork, and Khalid already killed nearly half of our men only a few years ago due to an attempted coup. The capos in this room have been promoted because of their loyalty, but clearly not all of them are that loyal. My eyes fall to Lincoln as he talks with another capo at the far side of the room.

Maddox whistles. “I wonder if her sister is just as good a liar.”

Vinny snorts. Uncle Myers full-on laughs.

I turn my head to him and deadpan, “You can find out during your engagement.”

“Hey!” He backpedals, holding up both his hands. “That’s not funny. I’m too young for that shit. Also, she’s sixteen.”

“A marriageable age in more than half the states,” I say seriously. “More if you can get her pregnant.”

His eyes widen in horror, and I smile on the inside. As disgusting as those laws are, I enjoy riling the little shit up.

He backs up further, shaking his head. Then turns and leaves entirely. Someone calls Uncle Myers away, leaving Vinny and I alone.

My cousin punches me lightly in the left shoulder. “How have you been anyway? I haven’t seen you in over a year.” About a month after I nearly died. “You heal okay?”

“Yeah.”

“You ever remember anything about the attack?”

“I’ve started to.”

“Oh yeah? Anything to help you track him down? Or her?”

My skin prickles, the paranoia of his questions irritating me. I stare at him, a promise of pain in my eyes, psyching him out in case he is the traitor. A cousin rather than a brother… I don’t know if that’s better or worse. Myers is like a fucking father to us. Killing his only son would wreck him.

“Yes,” I say, holding his gaze. “Andhewon’t be around for long.”

His smile drops ever so slightly. There’s a flair of fear in the catch of his breath, and my heart stops for the barest of seconds. Lincoln’s wife supposedly told Vinny about his sins...meaning Lincoln might be nothing but a patsy, thrown under the bus by a man who is getting worried he needs someone toaccuse.To point the finger at before the noose tightens around his own neck.