He sat back, his gaze persistent. He didn’t want to let it go. Took him two weeks to finally ask. I guess I should be thankful for that.
“Yes, I mind, Brother. Now get the fuck out,” I said, rubbing my eyes. Ivan sighed, frowning.
He said, “I’m on Kinsley tonight.”
“You? Perfect,” I mumbled, glaring. Not because I didn't trust him or was jealous, but because if he stayed any longer, I’d end up fighting with him.
My brother, one of only four men who knew me better than anyone on earth, stood to leave. I ignored the concern on his face. Kinsley had left me gutted. I’d never felt such intense desire before.
I chalked it up to wanting something I couldn’t have. She had tested me in ways she didn’t even know. The level I’d sunk to on the night of our last fight made me literally sick to my stomach.
It was better I stayed away from her. I would not stoop so low again. So I did the only safe thing. I grabbed my pencils and sketch pad to draw her. My pencil drug across the paper as I began the basic outline, and before I knew it, I was staring at a drawing of her, her face flushed with desire. Her lips were shaded red, swollen from my kisses.
I’d drawn her eyes with a level of desperation. She consumed all of my thoughts. I had several sketches scattered around the desk by the time Nik arrived an hour or so later. If it wasn’t one, it was the other.
“Nikolai, for the love I bear for our mother, you should just leave.”
“We need to talk.” He took a seat. Fuck me.
“Like hell we do. Unless this involves ripping some piece of shit’s throat out later, you can leave.”
After several long minutes of complete silence from him, I caved. “Why are you here, aside from the fact that your asshole brother couldn’t get me to—”
“I take it Ivan’s been to see you. Did you show your ass to him as well?” Calm and cool as always. My head throbbed as he continued, “As I said, we need to—”
“Damn it, this is fucking killing me. I don’t know how else to say this to you, but I want nothing to do with Kinsley Taylor.”
I drug in ragged breaths. That overwhelming feeling of disgust consumed every part of me.
“Well, her case has gotten its first big break, so I’m going to need you to get your shit together. You’ve fucked and drank your way through two weeks.” He picked up one of the sketches. “Damn, these are good renditions,” he said, looking at the one I had just finished.
It was Kinsley in the damn lingerie set I purchased for her. He looked at it hungrily as if she were here in the flesh.
“Can I put in some requests? I’d love to see her in several poses.”
I snatched it from his hands.Fucker.
“It’s time we ask her some serious questions. You should also know she just walked through the doors to The Dove.”
What the hell is she going there for?
I stared at him, waiting. There must have been more.
“She was pretty dolled up. Brian, her coworker, is there.” The reply and tone of his voice let me know he was purposefully egging me on. “Are you coming? I’ll fill you and Ivan in on what Madame Pierce had to say today,” he added quietly.
What the fuck was he going on about? What did Madame Pierce have to do with Kinsley? Sighing, I nodded. I couldn’t fight it anymore. I needed to see her. Every part of me craved her.
Nik and I swiftly made our way to the car. The urgency in my steps matched the intensity of my thoughts. All of this was fueled by the burning need to see her sweet face, inhale her scent, and kiss her neck. The drive to The Dove felt like an eternity as my mind raced with thoughts of Kinsley.
As I settled into the car, the weight of anticipation hung in the air. Nik’s fingers drummed impatiently against the screen of his phone as he dialed Ivan’s number. I glanced at him, guilt filling me over the secrets I had been keeping—the ones eating me alive. Kinsley wasn’t the only reason I stayed at the club, just the main one.
The call connected, and Nik wasted no time, his voice filled with urgency. “Hey, Ivan, are you in a place where you can talk freely? We’ve got something big,” he said, his words laced with determination.
Ivan’s voice came through the speaker. “I’m outside but alone. What’s up?”
Nik filled us in on his visit with Madame Pierce. “I’ve got feelers out on the potential lead for the agency,” Nik explained, his voice brimming with excitement. “I don’t want to celebrate too early, but if it can give us any information at all, we have to try.”
My heart pounded in my chest, the gravity of the situation sinking in. This newfound information held the key to unlocking Kinsley’s secrets and bringing us closer to understanding her, in some small way. I realized I wanted that—to know her, to understand her—and that knowledge frightened me.
