Page 15 of Devil’s Snare

It really didn’t make sense.

I’d gone too long without a boyfriend or sex. No guy had interested me in the way that Cin did. I never met anyone with such charisma. No, not quite that as much as magnetism. Wild, animalistic, almost feral. He pushed the edge of my boundaries and made me want things I hadn’t thought about in a long while.

Relationships were a bust for me. I wasn’t the type of girl who seemed to find her forever in someone. Or even a few years. My longest relationship? Months.

Maybe it was my independence. Or my need to be in control. My old therapist would have a lot to say about that. It could also be how things ended with Max after he hit me. I never gave him a chance to do it again. He was in prison where he belonged.

But my attraction to Cin? It was weird and a bit disconcerting because I didn’t know the guy. We just met. What was the insatiable pull I felt toward him? The irresistible desire to get as close as possible?

With a sigh, I rose to my feet, pulled on a pair of sweats, and walked into the kitchen. Filling my electric tea kettle with water, I added a couple of bags of Earl Grey, tapping the button to start it. In only minutes, I had a full pot of hot tea that I could keep warm with just a tap of my finger. For a tea girly like me, it was fantastic.

Right after I finished pouring the hot liquid into a mug, I heard a knock on my apartment door. Only one person ever bothered me in the middle of the night. Well, before Cin.

I didn’t hesitate to walk to the door, peek to confirm my brother’s presence, and then open it. “Hey.”

“You’re up late.” Ethan entered as I backed up, shutting the door and locking it.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“Becka?” He asked as he shrugged out of his coat and draped it over a chair.

“No. Just restless.” And a bit unfulfilled. Not that I would share my sexual frustration with my brother.

“Same. The gym helped, but not as much as I wanted.”

“Tea?”

He shook his head.

“Coffee? I only stock my Keurig for you, ya know.”

His lips curled into a smile that felt genuine. The first I’d seen since we heard about Becka’s death. Correction: her murder. “Vanilla?”

“You got it.” I popped his favorite flavor into the machine and started it. While I waited, I squeezed a bit of honey into my tea and stirred it, taking a sip. Perfect.

Once his cup was ready, I handed him the mug and pointed to the fridge.

Ethan snickered. “Yeah, I know where the creamer is.” He didn’t hesitate to fix his coffee just the way he liked it, but he also remembered to put his spoon in the sink after he rinsed it off.

We settled on my couch with our drinks. Ethan sat on the opposite end, facing me as I lifted my feet and got comfortable. I tugged my crocheted blanket over my body and leaned back against the cushion.

“I’ve been thinking,” he announced after a minute of quiet.

“That’s dangerous,” I teased.

“Funny.” He kept eye contact and didn’t laugh, which meant he was serious.

“Tell me.”

“Becks was murdered.”

I knew that part. “I’m guessing you have more to say.”

“I do. Why, G? Who wanted her dead? Does it have anything to do with Marshall?”

Marshall. The friend she met for lunch the day she died. “I’m sure the police are investigating that as a possibility.”

“Maybe, but we don’t know that because they haven’t told us shit.” His jaw clenched in anger.