Page 41 of A Devious Arrangement
“You’re a dead man.” I run through the ways I can flay someone alive without my brothers noticing.
“What are you muttering about over there? You know you haven’t seen me for six months, right?” Xander says from where he’s sitting on the club chair across from me.
“Those glasses make you look like a stuck-up douche. I can’t get used to them.” I huff out a laugh as I check him out. He hasn’t been away that long, but he looks different. He’s sharper, his back rigid, and a pompous seriousness taking over his face. It’s the fucking glasses. He may be eleven months older, but he’d always let me set the pace for the two of us. Thick as thieves for our entire lives, it stings that he’s changing. No matter what though, he’s the closest person, the one who knows me better than anyone. It doesn’t matter if he’s different. He’s still my brother.
“I missed you.” There’s no shame in admitting it. I know he feels the same. Since we were kids, neither of us liked to be apart, but this past year has shown that we can operate on our own, and just maybe, our relationship was a little too codependent.
He tilts his head, scanning me. “Don’t get all sappy on me.”
“Fuck you.” The second the words are out, I remember Stasia spitting them at me. Her soft lips and the sweet taste of her moans. My cock’s getting hard just thinking about it.
He laughs, used to my shit, and changes the subject. “You’d enjoy it too much. I don’t want to ruin you for everyone else.”
I nearly choke on my drink and slam it on the table as I try not to cough up a lung. “Man, could’ve warned me.”
“This is way more fun.” His eyes glint the same way they always have when he gets one up on me.
I relax, the buzz of unease that’s been hovering over me dissipating with that look. I wasn’t lying when I said I missed him. Life’s fucking sucked since he’s been gone. It’s like every day dragged into the next before I was trapped in some twisted version of hell.
Not now though. Not with the fiery redhead stealing every ounce of my attention until she owns every thought.
As if he knows what I’m thinking about, his knuckles drum on the armchair. “So…what’s up with the uptight ballerina? Why have me look into her?”
A coldness settles over me, one that has every muscle tensing. “Careful, Xander. You may be my favorite brother, but you’re on thin ice.”
His head falls back as he collapses into the chair. “Damn. Not you too.”
“You better get used to it. You’ll be calling her sister before the year’s up.”
His brows reach for his hairline. “Jesus.”
“Stop saying my name in vain and get on with it. What did you learn?”
He shakes his head like he’s done with me, but he still gives me what I want. “Your girl and her brother went to the Russians for something. I haven’t figured out what yet, but what I do knowis they’re keeping him there as collateral to get Anastasia to do something for them. Any idea what?”
The tiara. Well, that makes sense.
I nod. “What else?”
“They want her to get married to some Russian guy. I couldn’t find much on him.”
I sit forward, elbows resting on my knees. “Like fuck she is.”
Xander holds his hands up in surrender. “Just the messenger. Don’t kill me.”
Even the idea of her being tied to someone else has my blood boiling in my veins. I’ll just have to take care of this guy before that can happen. Hell…the entire family can go.
Xander clears his throat, a seriousness carving his expression. “There’s something you should know. It’s likely the Russians killed her mother.”
“Uncle Wander!” Tucker screams as he pushes his way through the front door and throws himself into Xander’s lap.
His grubby little fingers hold his uncle’s face on both sides. “Where you go?”
Xander lifts Tucker into the air until he’s squealing with laughter.
“Sorry, kiddo. I’ve got work to do.”
Tucker pouts. “No work. Work swucks.”
