Page 88 of Born for Starlight

Good, I thought, mean and quick and not proud of it. Look at Bruno all you want. Just keep your eyes off Matthew.

Jase stood up.

Figures he didn’t like me standing over him.

"You want to know what I'm standing in? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like the exact same hole. The exact same one. Some man, only really dangerous this time, and my sister who can't see straight when broad shoulders are involved. And here I am, flying all night to pull you out of it before you⁠—"

Something in me let go.

"There are children being trafficked." It came out too loud, and once it started I couldn't stop it. The whole thing tore loose at once. "Little ones. Little girls. Sold, Jase. That's what's down here. That's what I'm standing in. And you know. You know, you of all people, you know what I can't walk away from, so don't you dare stand in my hotel room and talk to me about shoulders⁠—"

The door opened.

Matthew filled it, Simon, Beto, Billy and Deke behind him. His eyes went straight to me, then to my brothers, then back. I watched everything in his face slam shut.

"Trafficked," he said quietly. "Which one of you wants to explain why the whole floor just heard that word."

Nobody moved.

Matthew stood in the doorway with the word he'd repeated still hanging in the air, and I watched everybody change position. This wasn't a stranger walking in on my brothers. This was a man they knew. Bonnie had told me that Jase had threatened to feed Matthew his own body parts in a parking lot back home if anything bad happened to me. Meanwhile, Bruno had brought him to Jasper Creek and stood there groaning while Matthew kissed me in front of half of Onyx. Hell, Simon had drawn up a security plan with Matthew.

They knew him. Every one of them.

Well, maybe not Billy.

Jase found his voice first, and it came out low and flat and aimed straight at Matthew.

"I said not one hair." He turned slowly to face Matthew dead on. "I stood in that parking lot. I said not one hair on her head. You said you'd keep her out of it. Now I'm standing in a hotel in Brazil, listening to my sister scream the word trafficked through a door. So, you tell me, Grainger. Which part of out was that?"

Matthew didn't flinch. "Beto."

That was all he said. One word, not even loud.

Beto lifted his chin, as if he'd been waiting for it. "Senhores. Com licença." He did a sweeping glance at Vargas, Pinto and Deke, then herded them toward the connecting door. Just like that, they were gone.

Simon. Family. Matthew. And a beautiful wildcard.

To hell with Simon, Layla and Billy. It was Matthew, Jase and Bruno that had me worried. So, which was worse, Matthew or family?

Damned if I knew. But sure as sugar, they were going to have it out, so I might as well make myself comfortable.

I sat back down on the sofa next to Layla and crossed my legs.

Damn, I’d missed what Jase had just said to make Matthew turn red. Would have liked to have heard that.

“All we need is some popcorn,” I whispered to Layla.

“Popcorn?”

“They are giving us a show. They’re all in a dick measuring contest at the moment, and we don’t have the equipment to play. So, we just get to sit here and be entertained.”

Layla leaned in and whispered. “You have lots of sayings about men’s cocks.”

“And they’re all true.”

Her eyes sparkled for just a millisecond, but then it was gone.

“I think you are right.” Now she was back to her formidable self. “And the fact that they are measuring because of you?”