The Monster (Boston Belles #3) - L.J. Shen Page 0,70
Also, I think it’s time to use your right to remain silent, Brennan.” I bared my teeth, rage humming beneath my skin. “Nothing that comes out of your mouth is worth listening to anyway.”
He directed his gray eyes at me, and they sparkled with open delight. The first time I’d seen him happy since Halloween. Since we shared a sordid night together.
“Is it shark week for the entire Fitzpatrick clan? I hear women who live together get their period at the same time.”
“I suspect you lost all rights to make blood jokes with your track record, Sam.” I arched an eyebrow in his direction.
He threw his head back, full-blown laughing now.
“Touché, Nix.”
Hunter dropped his water bottle. Cillian choked on his whiskey. Everything stopped, my heart included.
“Nix?” both my brothers asked in unison.
For the first time since Sam walked in, I forced myself to cool my jets, interested to see how he was going to get out of it. Becca octopused her arms around Sam possessively, the realization that she stepped into something bigger than her trickling into her system.
I smiled coolly.
“Oh, do tell them the story of how I got my nickname, Sam. It’s a good one.”
The carnival.
The kiss.
The confessions.
You’re a monster and I’m a monster. We’re both demons, looking for our next pound of flesh.
A platinum bullet could kill a Nix, but no, you gave me gold. You want me alive, Brennan. Well and capable of fighting back.
Becca clutched tighter onto Sam’s arm, treating him as a human life preserver, not knowing his job was to make people drown. She had not spoken a word since she entered the ballroom, and I knew it wasn’t accidental. He must’ve told her to keep her mouth shut.
Sam’s silver eyes flashed with malice. “You sure you want me to tell them?”
“Now’s not the time to act chivalrous,” Cillian snapped. “Aisling and you have never exchanged as much as a sentence, yet you have a nickname for her? You’re going to have to give me an explanation, seeing as I pay you extra not to touch my sister.”
A ball formed in my throat, and I knew if I opened my mouth, I would scream.
How dare my brothers interfere with my love life?
How dare they dictate who I could and couldn’t see?
And how pathetic was I that Cillian had no trouble at all saying this right in front of me?
I was Aisling. Sweet, angelic Aisling. The doctor. The nurturer. The good one.
Becca looked agonizingly embarrassed as the pieces of the puzzle started falling into place. She took a step sideways, away from Sam. He didn’t even notice.
Sam turned to look at Hunter and Cillian, his expression grave.
“It was the first time I saw your sister. At dinner when Sailor and Hunter started living together.” Uh-huh. Already, he was lying. That wasn’t the first time we’d met. “I excused myself to go to the bathroom just as she got out of it. Her dress was stuffed inside her underwear from behind, her ass and legs on full display. I told her that she needed to untuck her dress. She cried in horror and said, ‘Oh, no, my knickers!’ She explained to me that underwear are called knickers in British English. Since then, I call her Nix, because she is a goofball who can’t dress properly. Isn’t that right, Nix?” He winked, flicking my nose like some protective big brother.
I felt close to nuclear explosion.
Frustrated.
Humiliated.
Fuming.
Sam stared at me, waiting for me to call him out on his bullshit.
“Since when do you date?” Hunter changed the topic, obviously unamused by Sam’s story.
“Since I changed my mind about marriage.”
“You changed your mind about marriage?” Cillian sneered at him, skepticism all but leaking from his cold gaze. My older brother played with the golden band of his wedding ring as he spoke. “Riveting. I clearly remember you giving me a one-hour speech about the merits of staying single shortly before I married Persephone. Should I bill you for my lost time?”
“People change.” Sam’s eyes turned into slits. “You should know that better than anyone.”
“People, yes. Monsters, no.”
“So is Becca the one?” Hunter goaded, and I wanted to throw up all of a sudden. Because Sam was exactly the kind of psychopath to marry someone else just to spite me. I wouldn’t put it past him. Buy into the idea that he could be happy with a replica of me and forget about the real thing.