by Cassie Wild
“I…shit, what the fuck has that got to do with anything?”
She shot me a dark look. “Everything. I’m all my sister has. We’re half-sisters. My mother died when I was practically a baby. So did Joelle’s.”
That name rang a bell in my mind, but I couldn’t remember why.
“She’s five years younger than me, although it sometimes seems like more.” Suria was no longer looking at me. “She’s…younger than that in some ways. Or maybe I was just older than my years at her age. I had to be. I didn’t have anybody to take care of me the way she did. Papa sure as hell wasn’t interested in it.” A wind kicked up, and she shivered a little, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “Papa taught me how to run a con when I was twelve years old. I’ve been doing it for the family since I was thirteen. It’s how we make our living.”
Her eyes slid my way once more. “We’re Romany. Gypsies. I’ve heard that some clans out there actually make their living honestly, but I don’t think there’s an honest family in my clan. I don’t think one would know how to survive. Every penny we make, the head of the clan gets a huge cut out of it. It took me years just to set aside a couple of thousand dollars. I always planned to leave, me and Joelle, but then…”
She stopped, reaching up to press her fingertips to her eyes. “Why in the hell am I telling you this shit?”
“Right now, I can’t even tell what it is you’re telling me,” I pointed out.
“You wanted to know why,” she said, turning back to me. “I’m telling you. Do you know what it’s like to have to beg to be allowed to go to a regular school? Most of the kids in the clan are homeschooled. The only reason we weren’t is because there isn’t a mother around to teach us, and a few times, social services came by. Papa likes to keep up appearances.” She curled her lip as she said it, the venom so thick, it all but dripped from each word.
“When I graduated, I wanted to get a real job – something where I could work and get a paycheck and have a banking account.” She snorted, throwing her hair back over her shoulder. “I even offered to pay rent, but I was told no matter what job I had, I’d still be responsible for bringing in the same kind of money I always had, and if I didn’t, the family would suffer. We would suffer – Joelle and me.”
“What’s that mean…you’d suffer?” Something uneasy slid through at the look on her face.
“There’s no telling with the clan. They might have kicked us out – Papa, me, Joelle. Or it could have just been me. I’d have to leave my sister alone. Or it could have been…worse.” She shivered a little. “I made the clan a lot of money, so I was given more freedom. But if I wasn’t as much use, they might decide it was time I be married.”
“Isn’t that kind of up to you?”
“You don’t know anything about the Rom,” she said quietly. She lifted her face to the sky. “I could have tried harder, I suppose. I could have left. I would have been okay, I think. It would have been hard, but I can handle hard. I just didn’t want to leave my sister behind. And now…” She laughed bitterly. “Sometimes it seems like it was all for nothing.”
“What are you talking about?” That uneasiness had grown, in spades. It had something to do with the dead look in her eyes, or maybe the bitter edge in her laugh. But something was really, really wrong here.
“Papa has arranged for my little sister to be married,” she said, cocking her head. “She’s to marry a man who is forty-two years old.”
I blinked, not quite following. But as I waited for her to elaborate, or for some sick punch line, she stayed quiet.
“Wait,” I said slowly as I began to understand. “You’re fucking serious?”
“At what point did I ever make you think I was joking?” Her lashes lowered briefly over her eyes, then she looked at me, dead on, and the seriousness of her gaze cut right through me.
“Joelle,” I murmured, and it hit me why the name was familiar. It was the girl I met the day I came out here to find Suria that first time. That was Joelle. She was just a kid.
The young, sweet girl who’d ignored the jibes tossed her way by kids her age, the girl who’d told me that her sister was working on some big project and wasn’t home.
That girl was supposed to marry a guy older than me?
“When is this wedding?”
“I don’t know.” Suria shrugged. “But it will be soon. Papa wouldn’t want to wait.”
“Fuck your papa,” I snarled. “What about the kid who’s supposed to be the bride? She’s not old enough to marry.”
“It’s not up to her,” Suria said simply. “This is how the clan does it. And she won’t say no. She can’t. And she doesn’t have the strength to fight.” She smoothed a hand down her skirt, her face lost in thought. “That’s why we were going to run. I had to get her away, but I couldn’t do it without money. The few thousand I had wouldn’t be enough. I needed more.” Now she shifted her gaze to me. “I didn’t want it to be your mom, you know. She was…nice. I liked her. But I didn’t have time to wait for some rich dirtbag to fall into my lap. I had to make something happen fast. My sister needed me.”
I turned away from her, struggling to take in everything she’d just told me.
Not sure how to handle it, I paced the sidewalk.
When I looked back, she was standing exactly where she’d been. I closed the distance between us, grabbed her upper arms, and hauled her up onto her toes. “Are you serious? This is legit?”
She stared at me impassively. “Yes.”
“If you’re serious, then why are you here? Why aren’t you on the other side of the country?”
“We should be.” Her voice cracked. “We were in a hotel, laying low. I was going to wait a few more days in case Vano had people watching the local bus lines. But Joelle called home to talk to Trice, our cousin. She was…you met her at the club that first night for just a minute. I think Joelle was worried about Trice and she called. But Papa was standing right there, and he heard everything. He came after her and made her come back, and now I don’t know where he has her or what’s going to happen.” Tears glinted in her lovely eyes as she stared up at me, and all the emotion that hadn’t shown in her eyes was now stamped on her face. “Everything I did, every lie I told, and it was all for nothing because Papa has her hidden somewhere and I don’t know where! I don’t know what I’m going to do now, Kian!”
I let her go, then without thinking about it, I hauled her into my arms.
She collapsed against me and to my shock, she started to cry. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said again through the tears.
I had no idea what to tell her, no idea what might make this better.
Because I couldn’t fix it, because I had nothing to offer, I just stood there and stroked her hair as she cried.
Turmoil tumbled inside me as the sobs tumbled out of her.
What in the hell was I supposed to do now?
Eight
Suria
The words poured out of me despite the fact that some part of me was appalled.
How could I be telling him?
At the same time, it was almost…freeing. I couldn’t stop the words that came from me any more than I could stop the air that flowed in and out of my lungs. I felt like I was purging myself, and each layer of the complicated, messy past that I revealed to him was another layer of dirt I was sloughing off.
This isn’t the person I want to be, I wanted to shout at him.
I wanted to make him believe it, but at the same time, I knew who I was, and I knew what I’d done. I told him nothing less than the truth when I said I’d done what I felt was necessary, but that didn’t change the fact that I’d done some ugly, awful things.
Finally, all of it was out, and I stood in front of him, my breath coming in hard pants like I’d been running a race.
He stared at me like I’d sprouted another head, and after a moment, he spun away.
I watched as he rubbed his hands up and down his face, then dropp
ed them to hang loose at his sides. “Are you…are you serious about all of this?” he demanded, still not looking at me.
“This isn’t the kind of thing that people would joke about,” I said, hearing the exhaustion in my words.
“It’s easier to believe it’s a sick joke than to think some bastard would basically sell his sixteen-year-old daughter off into marriage.” He turned to face me. “Is this what gypsies do? Is this normal?”
“I…” Floundering, I shook my head. “No. There are a lot of clans that are more…progressive than we are. Arranged marriages still happen, but the girls have to agree, and they don’t force girls to marry at fifteen or sixteen. Not all of them are con artists either.” Forcing a smile, I added, “I guess my sister and I were the lucky ones.”
He looked at me, eyes unreadable. “Some luck.”
Unable to stand the scrutiny, I went to turn away. My heel caught on an uneven seam in the sidewalk, and I tripped, listing sideways. Big, strong hands caught my arms, steadying me. I found myself leaning against Kian’s chest, staring up into his eyes.
“Damn you,” he muttered. He pushed a hand into my hair. The heat of his hand sank into my scalp, and I had to fight the urge to sink further into him. Fingers spread wide, he started to massage my scalp, and I swallowed back the moan that rose in my throat.
His eyes drifted down to my mouth, then slid back to meet mine.
“Damn you,” he said again, just before his mouth came down to cover my lips.
I opened for him, already so weak for him, so needy. His tongue thrust deep into my mouth, swooping in to steal my breath. Slipping my arms around his neck, I leaned against him, heart racing in my chest, pounding against his. Could he feel it? How could he not?
The kiss was over almost as soon as it began, although he didn’t step away immediately. He stood there, hands gripping my arms as if to steady me. I sure as hell needed it. After a moment, he smoothed his palms down my upper arms, then stepped away.
He didn’t say anything at first.
Neither did I.
What was there to say?
The physical attraction hadn’t faded, but that was obvious.
And physical attraction was…easy.
I couldn’t say I minded that he’d kissed me, but it hadn’t solved anything, and I knew it.
“I probably shouldn’t have–”
“Why did you–”
We both started to talk at once, then stopped at the same time. Feeling awkward, I gestured for him to continue. Had I really been about to ask him why he kissed me? How old was I? Fifteen?
“That doesn’t mean things are…” He hissed out a breath and spun away, shoving a hand through his hair. He paced away a few steps, then turned back to glare at me like it was my fault he’d kissed me. “Things aren’t normal between us, Suria. They can’t be. I don’t know what to think about any of this. I don’t know what I should think. I’m still pissed off. I’m confused. And I’m…fuck, did I mention I’m pissed off?”
How do you think I feel? But I kept the question behind my lips.
“I get that,” I said quietly. A car meandered by, slowing down, and I had the feeling we were getting the side eye, standing out on the sidewalk so late at night. “I…Kian, I’m sorry. I want you to know that.”
“Sorry doesn’t change what you did,” he told me.
“You think I don’t…” I snapped my jaw shut as I heard how high my voice was getting. Sighing, I skimmed a hand back through my hair. “Look, do you want to go somewhere to talk? Is there anything…do you want to talk?”
He stared at me for the longest time, then turned around and headed toward his car. I wasn’t certain if he meant for me to follow until he reached the passenger door and opened it. Maybe it was stupid to get in the car with him after confessing like I had.
But it was just as stupid to go back to my father’s house.
It was just as stupid to confess to him.
I was doing all sorts of stupid things and spending a little more time with him didn’t seem to be the stupidest thing I could do.
Maybe, if I was lucky, we could talk a little more, and he’d at least understand that I hadn’t done any of this out of malice.
Maybe, if I was lucky, he could learn not to hate me.
Nine
Kian
I had no destination in mind as I started the car, but I wasn’t surprised to find myself on the road that led to my house. It was a thirty-minute drive even without traffic. At this time of night, the roads were all but empty. Next to me, Suria was quiet.
She hadn’t said anything since she’d climbed into the car.
I’d started, then stopped myself from asking a hundred different questions. There were so many of them burning inside me, but I wanted to look at her as I asked them.
We finally reached the house, and I came to a stop in the driveway, staring up at my house as all of those questions burned in a hole in me. I got out and waited for her to join me.
“Is this your home?” she asked softly, coming to a stop next to me.
“Yeah.” I looked down at her. “We’re talking.”
She nodded, her chin dipping low against her chest, casting her face in shadow.
She followed me up the steps, then inside once I unlocked the door, completely quiet. The silence was unnerving, and I shot her a look as I closed the door behind her. She didn’t linger there. Without waiting for me, she moved deeper into the house.
It was an old place, one I’d bought with the plan of fixing it up.
I was maybe halfway there. If I spent even a fraction of the time here that I did at the garage, it would probably look like a showcase house, but at least it was mine.
The one room that was done was the living room, and that was where Suria wandered into, pacing over to the big window that faced out over the backyard with a view of the mountains in the distance. A faint smile curled her lips, and she glanced over at me. “Is it as beautiful a view as I think it is?”
“Probably better,” I admitted.
Moonlight showed in through the glass, gilding her features with silver, and my hands itched to touch her soft skin.
But there was too much shit between us right now…and one burning question that had been bugging me ever since she’d started to tell what was really going on with her fucked up family.
“Why aren’t you married?” I asked.
She was quiet for so long, I started to worry.
If she told me she was married…
“I’m more valuable to my family if I’m working,” she said, her tone mocking. She edged closer to the glass, and I had the idea that if she could just escape, make the glass disappear so she could lose herself to the night, she might have done it. But after a moment, she turned her head and met my eyes. “I’m something of a handful. Not exactly the meek and mild girl I should be, so I’m not the great bride some would be. But I’m great at what I do.”
“Conning people,” I supplied.
She shoved her hair back. “Yes.” Her belligerence faded in the next instant, her shoulders slumping as she stood in front of me, looking defeated. “I’ll give your mother’s money back. I still have it.” She laughed, and the sound was so sad, it hurt just to hear it. “I never had a chance to get Joelle away from here, so there was no real reason to spend it. I hurt her, I hurt you, and I knew I would. I justified it because I was doing it to protect my sister, but it was all for nothing in the end.”
It was the most surprising thing she could have said.
It was what I wanted, but it wasn’t what I’d expected.
“Why?”
She met my gaze head on. “What am I going to do with it? It was meant for a purpose, and that purpose is sort of…gone.”
“So, you’re not going to help your sister?”
“Of course, I’m going to help her,” she snapped, her features folding into an angry mask. Defiance lit her eyes, and she took a step toward me. “What kind of person…
no.” She curled her lip and shook her head. “I probably shouldn’t ask you that, but let me tell you, I am not the kind of person who’d let a sixteen-year-old girl get sold off to the highest bidder. And that’s all this is. I was willing to risk everything to help her. That hasn’t changed!”
She was telling the truth. It was stamped all over her face, echoed in every word she said.
And I realized something…I couldn’t turn away from this. Not now.
I thought about the pretty girl I’d met on the sidewalk the first day I went to find Suria and she hadn’t been there. Thinking about that girl being forced to marry somebody older than me – hell, being forced to marry at all – it was enough to make me sick. She should be sitting in the bleachers of a football game and giggling about the quarterbacks, worrying about her SATs and all that shit. Thinking about college, going shopping.
Looking at Suria, I realized she had never had the chance to do any of that either.
Life could sucker punch some people harder than others. I should have already understood that, considering some of the punches my mother had dealt with, but it had taken hearing Suria’s story to really get it.
“What exactly do you plan on doing now that your father has her again?” I asked.
The confidence in her eyes faded, and she looked away. “I’m still working on that.”
“You’re bound to have an idea.”
“I do.” She shrugged and shoved her hair back from her face.
The sight made me think about the times I’d tangled my hands in those wild, crazy curls. I wanted to do it again. And again. This woman had gotten under my skin in the worst way.
“How about sharing it with me?”
Mouth set in a tight line, she turned to face me. With her arms crossed over her chest, she cocked her head to the side. “Why do you want to know? We aren’t your problem. I already told you I’d give your mother’s money back.”
“Let’s just say I don’t like the idea of that kid sister of yours being forced into marriage,” I said shortly. “Humor me.”
