Page 68 of Tricked By Jack

“Looks can be deceiving,” I reply cryptically.

“Are you bored yet?” she asks after a beat, completely changing the subject.

“Very.”

She smiles at my reply. “Yeah, I’ve been where you are, Eve. Well, not literally, but close enough. If I were you, I’d use the alone time to get curious.”

“Curious?”

“Jack’s careful,” she says, straightening. “But he’s still a man. And men often hide what they don’t want others to see. Especially Knight men. They all like building pretty walls around rotten things.”

Before I can answer, she gets up, moving slowly now that Willow is sleeping on her arm. The baby makes the softest little coos in her sleep.

“We should get going. It was… oh, wait. Before I forget again. If Jack’s not back by the end of the week, I’ll be escorting you to an event at the Sanctuary.”

“You will?” I ask, dumbfounded by the fact Jack might be gone for days. “Where did you say he was?”

Carolina cackles. “Nice try. I didn’t say, and I’m not going to. Knight business is just that… for Knights. Take care, Eve.”

With those words, she leaves, locking the door after her. I don’t know what she meant by her parting words, but I know I’m going to find out. Eventually.

The Trickster

Nick talks too fucking much. He always has. Tonight it’s worse, his voice a steady grind in my ear as I follow him down a side corridor of the warehouse.

He called while she was still asleep, curled against me in the cage, my cock still buried in her heat. I should have ignored him. Instead, I carried her out, laid her in my bed, and chained her to the wall.

For half a second I was tempted to leave her free, but no. Eve’s not ready for that kind of freedom. If I give her the keys to escape, she’ll leave faster than I can ask her to stay. Besides, I need more time to figure this shit out.

I can’t fully explain what has changed. Mostly because I’m not even sure I fucking understand it. Maybe it was because she showed me her scars and opened up to me… no. That’s not it. Well, not all of it. There’s more to it.

Deep down, I know she’s right. I don’t hate her, and I’m not sure I ever have. But I hate what she represents; my own failure to save Ruby. None of what happened is Eve’s fault, not really. Doesn’t mean I don’t wish that it were.

“You need to calm the fuck down,” he mutters, tone pitched low but firm. “Carolina dropped food and clothes off to herlike you asked. Eve’s fine.”

I bite back the urge to tell him Carolina isn’t me. She doesn’t know every twitch of Eve’s mouth, every lie in her tone. She doesn’t hear the difference between silence that means exhaustion and silence that means plotting.

“She’s mine,” I growl instead. “Leaving her chained in the bedroom while I play errand boy for the family is not my definition of fine.”

“Fuck’s sake,” my brother grumbles. “First you can’t wait to punish her, and now—”

“Oh, I’m still punishing her,” I reassure my big brother.

“Are you?”

No. “Yes.”

“Whatever.” Nick shoots me a look over his shoulder, sharp and unimpressed. “You think I wanted to drag you here? We’ve got bodies on the docks, Jack. Knights don’t get to pick and choose when business calls.”

I curse under my breath, shoving a hand through my hair as we step into the main space. The stench of salt and diesel clings to the walls, mingling with the metallic tang of blood. Two men are kneeling in the center of the concrete floor, hands zip-tied, faces already swollen from whatever welcome committee Nick sent ahead.

Ned stands to one side, calm as ever, arms folded like a priest waiting to administer last rites. He nods at me, expression unreadable.

“This is the part where you stop thinking about your captive Bride,” Nick says, voice dry, “and start thinking about the family business. We clean up the mess, we send the message, and then you can go back to playing house with your psychiatrist.”

“Don’t encourage him to play hide the pickle,” Ned deadpans.

“More like the salami,” I grin, punching him on the shoulder.