Page 23 of Out for Blood
“Then you might not remember that I said I love you too,” she murmured against my lips.
“You did? You do?”
She pulled back a little to look at me. “I did. I do. And before you ask, yes, I love Vigo too, and Hawk, so be a good boy and share.”
I smiled because the joke was on her: I’d have given my left nut to have even a sliver of her love.
“I’m not usually a good boy, but I think I can comply in this one regard.” I reached up to touch her face and looked into her eyes. “I love you, Cass.”
She smiled. “I love you too.”
For a minute, we just stared into each other’s eyes like a couple of lovestruck teenagers, and I had to be honest, I didn’t mind it one fucking bit.
Then she leaned back, still holding my hand.
“Bram’s goons still out in the hallway?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes. “They’re not goons. You know Titus and Jett.”
“They’re goons when they’re working for Bram. I’m half expecting to be shivved in my sleep.”
My heart sang at the sound of her laughter.
“Bram put them there to protect you and Vigo,” she said.
“To ‘protect’ us.” I put the word “protect” in air quotes.
“We talked actually.”
“You and Bram?”
She nodded.
“About what?”
“About everything,” she said. “He apologized.”
“Heapologized?” I lifted my uninjured arm to rub my thumb against my cheek. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same guy here? Giant with a glare that could freeze a wildfire?”
“That’s the one.”
“And? How was it?”
“It was…” She drew a breath. “It was really good actually. And get this: he knew all about Dimitri Kaprolov.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You’re kidding.”
She shook her head. “Turns out we were working the same puzzle from different angles.”
She told me about Ethan Todd’s connection to Maeve. “Ethan Todd changed his name before he became famous, buthe was from Blackwell Falls. He went to Aventine on scholarship even though he wasn’t a member of a crime family.”
“How does that work?” I asked.
“Someone sponsored him for a scholarship. Any guess who?”
“Kaprolov?”
“Yep. And there was something else: a phone was found on the dead guy at the paper mill.”
