Page 67 of The One Night Match

It’s little wonder Colten shies away from physical touch, given the number of beatings he was given for merely existing, and just the thought of their treatment makes me want to kill them all over again.

Those two men were the worst of the worst, and the world is a better place without them. They believed to be king, they had to have no conscience, no emotions, but ultimately, that’s what made it so easy to take them out.

“You okay, man?” I ask.

He nods but doesn’t bother responding.

I glance over at him again and sigh. Maybe he’s grappling with leaving Lexi for the first time since the accident. She’s still blind to his affections, but that doesn’t mean he’s able torationalize with himself about her safety. “You should tell her how you feel.”

He shoots a look across the car at me. “Who?”

I roll my eyes. “Lexi.”

“I don’t have feelings for Lexi,” he snaps.

I chuckle. “Colten, we’ve been friends for two decades. You think I haven’t noticed how you look at my little sister?”

He’s quiet for a moment, the tension only growing tighter in his shoulders. “I’m not going to act on it.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t deserve her.”

My brows rise in surprise. “What makes you say that?”

He shrugs. “She’s too good for me. Too good for anyone, really. She’s like the sun. Too pure to be dimmed.”

I consider his words for long moments. I understand that notion, because I feel similarly about Riley, but that doesn’t mean I’d let her go. Not a chance in hell. “You know what I think? I think that you’re perhaps the only person in the world who does deserve her.”

He shakes his head, his eyes locked on the road ahead.

Okay. It looks like I’ll have to come at this from another angle. “She mentioned to me that she might want to give the matchmaker a go.”

His back turns ramrod straight as panic slides across his features. “No. They’ll match her with some asshole who doesn’t deserve her. Absolutely not.”

I nod slowly. “So you want her to be alone forever?”

He scowls across the car at me. “Of course not.”

“Okay, so you don’t want to be with her, you don’t want her to sign up for the matchmaker, and you also don’t want her to be alone. So what is it that you do want?”

He pulls into his parking spot at the office and glares. “We’re not discussing this.”

I can’t help but chuckle to myself as I climb out of the car. It seems my best friend needs a little push, and I’m more than happy to be the one who provides it.

THIRTY-FIVE

CRUZ

“Gentleman,” I greet, striding into the safe house like I own the place. Which I guess technically I do, but both men scowl at me as I enter with Colten hot on my heels.

“Thought you were leaving us here to rot,” Dennis says, his face devoid of emotion as he snaps his mask back into place.

That’s the first thing you learn when you begin understanding that you’re part of a crime family. A perfectly placed mask of indifference can be what makes or breaks your lies, and both of these assholes have had decades to perfect it.

“I thought about it.” I shrug, dropping into one of the dining chairs while Colten begins rummaging through the fridge and cupboards.

We know everything that’s here because we provided it, but we have to throw them off their axis, and trashing the place is just one of many ways we can do that.