Handcuffed by Her Hero by Angel Payne Read Free Book Online Page B

I’ve given you enough credit. ‘Half-dressed
sister fucker’ hasn’t made the list yet.”
    “Trevor!” Rayna
yelled. “For God sake!”
    Z dragged a hand
through his hair. Shockingly, the comment didn’t nearly torque him to the
depths that it did Rayna. He didn’t always understand the depths of love
between siblings, but that didn’t stop him from wanting them. Envying them.
    “Ray-bird,” he
said, “catch an iceberg for a second. Your brother only cares about you.” He
turned and cocked a more direct stare at Trev. “Though if he has half the brain
I think, he’ll watch the landmines he’s jumping while he does so.”
    A nerve jumped
in Trevor’s jaw. “What the hell does that mean?”
    “I came out here
half-dressed because I heard Rayna talking about a year of captivity as a
preferred choice to your asshole behavior.”
    “You came out
here half-dressed because you had your dick in my sister last night.”
    Rayna stomped
forward and bared her teeth at her brother. “You are not helping your
case, counselor.”
    “You think I
care about ‘winning’ this one, Rayna?” Trevor spread his arms. “I care about you ,
damn it!”
    “Me? You mean
your sister, the child who can’t tie her own shoes, or your sister, the grown
woman capable of making decisions about the men who share her bed?”
    Z had to give
the guy props for getting to his feet with steady calm. “I mean my sister, the
woman who has a heart full of compassion and care…and love. I mean my sister,
who would willingly give her incredible heart away to a guy like that,” –he
jabbed a finger toward Z—“only to find he’d ground it up and spat it out.”
    Zeke sloshed
some cream into his coffee and swished the shit around. The action was purely
for show. If he took even a swig of the liquid, it’d come back up in a second.
    The man was right.
Down to the last syllable. He’d avoided the truth of it last night in the name
of “being there for her.” In a thousand ways, even Rayna had avoided it, too.
There was no escape hatch anymore. The truth, spoken by her brother with nothing
but love in the words, forced both of them to listen. 
    If only Rayna
had gotten that memo, too.
    “Get out.” Her
dictate punched the air like acid. She yanked away Trevor’s coffee cup, marched
across the kitchen and hurled it into the sink. The mug shattered, spattering
her Provençal trim tiles with black coffee stains. “You heard me,” she spat
when Trevor froze in shocked silence. “Get the hell out, Trevor!”
    The guy
attempted a snort. It came out more a geeky sputter. “Are you kidding me?”
    “’Kidding’ left
this conversation a long time ago. Get out of my house. Now.”
    “Rayna!”
    “Now!”
    “ No. ”
    Z hadn’t meant
for the command to sound like a boot camp order. Or maybe he had. Maybe he knew
nothing else would get through the fury that dominated her face, her stance,
her voice. Hell. The last time he’d seen her like this was the moment after she’d
shot King in the head.
    He stepped and
caught both her hands in his. “Bird, listen to yourself. You’re practically
declaring war on your own brother.”
    Rayna’s lips
screwed together. “Because he’s being a dickwad!”
    “I won’t refute
you there.” He shrugged at Trev. “Sorry, man. That part’s true. I think Big
Boss Creator Man just had it in for you and slapped it on your DNA.”
    She wriggled her
grip in his. Zeke clutched her tighter. She needed to know serious he was about
his next statement.
    “What’s your
point, Zeke?”
    He looked down
at their clasped hands. Shit. Now that the moment was here, he really did feel
like hurling.
    “He’s a dickwad,
honey. But he’s also right.”
    Every inch of
her body stiffened. He hated being the one who’d caused that shock. His remorse
was so great, he forgot about holding on to her. When she wrenched her hands this
time, she stumbled free with awkward momentum and crashed into the