Love Bug (The Prescotts Book 3) by Tara Wyatt (electric book reader .TXT) 📗

God he and Lucian had gotten to them in time.

Thank God his older brother was a scary as fuck badass who’d handled everything.

Lucian took a sip of his scotch and shook his head slowly. “No, I think everything here’s finally settled. Bastian’s debt is paid. But still, it’s probably for the best that he’s starting fresh on the other side of the country. Safer that way, for both him and Kayla.”

Max eyed his brother. “Can I ask you something?”

Lucian grinned. “I have a feeling you’re about to ask me the same question Sebastian did several weeks ago.”

“I try to stay out of your business. I try to stay out of everyone’s business, mostly because I sure as hell don’t want anyone in mine.”

“I’m aware.”

“Are you in the mafia?” he asked quietly, glancing around to make sure no one was paying any attention to them. He knew about the rumors that swirled around his brother, but until the night Kayla and Willa had been in danger, he hadn’t truly believed them. Sure, he’d known his brother was shady and colored outside the lines when it benefitted him, but he’d still been shocked to watch Lucian calmly pull a gun from his waistband and stride into that apartment as though he did that kind of thing all the time. It had made Max think that maybe he did.

Lucian laughed. “Short answer is no. I’m not.”

“And the long answer?”

Lucian shrugged slightly and tipped his head. “Is more complicated.”

“So you’re not mobbed up?”

Lucian took a bite of his steak and shook his head. “No. I’m not part of any organized crime family. But I operate in shades of gray, and sometimes they include working with the mafia. They help me, I help them. It’s all about money and power. Sometimes I owe them a favor. Sometimes they owe me.”

“Jesus.”

Lucian scoffed. “Don’t look so shocked. I don’t exactly hide my lifestyle. And I’m not sorry that I was able to save my brother’s life.”

“And Kayla and Willa.”

Lucian nodded. “And Kayla and Willa.” He sighed and leaned back in his seat. “How is Willa? Sebastian mentioned that Kayla still has nightmares sometimes. About the invasion.”

Max set his fork down slowly, absorbing Lucian’s words like a punch in the gut. His hand shook a little as he rubbed the back of his neck, guilt and disgust with himself making the contents of his stomach churn sickly. Did Willa have nightmares about the invasion? Did she wake up alone, scared and shaking in her bed with no one to comfort her? The thought was enough to make his insides twist into a hard, painful knot.

He forced himself to shake his head. “I think…I think she’s fine,” he said, when really he had no idea how she was. Because he was a selfish asshole who should’ve never touched her.

“You don’t sound so sure,” Lucian commented, sipping his drink. “I thought you’d be keeping an eye on her given your feelings for her.”

Max set his glass down on the table hard enough that a bit of amber liquid sloshed over the rim, splashing onto the tablecloth. Anger burned through him, hot and dangerous, not at Lucian but at himself. Because Lucian was right—he should’ve been keeping an eye on Willa. And doing that would’ve been a hell of a lot easier if he hadn’t lost control with her. “I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about.” His tone was pure ice, but it didn’t seem to faze Lucian in the least.

“Don’t you? I noticed the way you looked at her at your birthday dinner. I also noticed the way you were fighting back the urge to pummel that friend of yours who was flirting with her.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Am I? Because I’m willing to bet my bottle of 1937 Glenfidditch Rare that something happened between you two that night. You’ve been even more of a surly bastard ever since.”

“Nothing happened.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Lucian,” Max said, his voice a low warning. He didn’t want to fight with his brother. He didn’t want Lucian digging into all of this shit. “Leave it alone.”

“Did you fuck her?”

Max’s fist thumped against the table, making the silverware clang against the thick white plates. “You shut your fucking mouth, Lucian.”

“Ah. So I’m right.” His brother smirked at him, apparently oblivious to how close he was to getting punched in the mouth. Or maybe he knew and just didn’t care.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“See, but that’s the problem, brother. You never want to talk about anything. So you shove it down deep where it festers and eats at you and makes you even more fucking miserable than you usually are. And guess what? You’re not exactly a ray of goddamn sunshine even on your good days, Max.”

Max sighed, his shoulders slumping as all of the anger ebbed out of him. He scrubbed a hand over his face and forced himself to look at his brother. Forced himself to own up to what he’d done.

“Yeah. I slept with Willa the night of the invasion.”

Lucian’s face remained neutral as he nodded. “And then what happened?”

“And then she left the next morning. End of story.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Maxwell. Come on.”

“Why do you care?”

Lucian took a long sip of his drink and leveled his dark gaze on Max. “Because I want you to be happy. I want all of you to be happy. And Aerin, Theo, and Sebastian are. But you…God, you’re still such a fucking mess.”

“My happiness isn’t your responsibility.”

“Someone has to care, Max. And it sure as fuck isn’t going to be our parents. So yeah, maybe your happiness isn’t my responsibility. But it is my business because what happens to you matters to me.”

Max closed his eyes against the onslaught of emotion churning through him. “I pushed her away. I didn’t want to, but I had to.”

“Why?”

Max’s throat burned. “Because if she knew what kind of selfish asshole I really was, she’d run screaming in the opposite direction. It was for the best.”

Understanding dawned on Lucian’s