Risk It All (Risqué #2) by Scarlett Finn Read Free Book Online Page B

Just be good. Stay clean and out of trouble.’
    ‘I’ve never been dirty.’
    Now it was his turn to grin. ‘I know for a fact that’s not true.’
    She rolled her eyes. ‘Drugs, I’ve never used drugs. I’ve seen what addiction can do to people and families. It’s not for me, no way. You know that.’
    ‘Then all you have to do is be good,’ he said. ‘Think you can handle that?’
    ‘I guess we’ll have to see,’ she said, rising from the couch to head for the exit. ‘Unit six?’
    ‘Yeah, I’ll take you up.’
    ‘No need,’ she said, but he took his sports bag to her. ‘What’s this?’
    ‘A few essentials, linen, towels, I put in a tee-shirt, soap, a new toothbrush. You can keep it all; I figure that’s not what you’re carrying in your bags.’ Grabbing up all of her things, he let her absorb what he’d said.
    ‘I don’t have household supplies, no. Thanks, I appreciate it.’
    When she opened the door, he followed on after her but she paused to look back at him over her shoulder with a question in her eyes. ‘I’ll see you to your door,’ he said. ‘Given what happened tonight outside the club, I think that’s a sensible precaution.’
    They went outside and up the stairs that ran parallel to his front door. The external walkway extended the full length of the building. Hers was the very first apartment, she jiggled the key in the lock and opened the door to step inside.
    ‘I can get bolts and chains put on the inside if it will make you feel safer.’
    ‘I’ll be safe here… I should call Marshall, he’s been sort of filling in for Gary as a surrogate brother. He calls me a couple of times every day, he called when I was on my way to Risqué. I didn’t tell him that I was going there, but he offered me somewhere to stay when I told him I’d been kicked out of Erika’s. I should let him know that I won’t be going over there tonight.’
    He figured that was supposed to be his cue to split, but he didn’t. ‘Is your phone number the same?’
    ‘As the one you used last week, yes.’
    They’d only been back in contact with each other for a few weeks, but he’d had no idea that she’d been in any trouble. Though when Gary found out they were spending time together and that Blaser had moved her back into these apartments, Blaser would be in all sorts of trouble himself; Colt was just going to love that.
    ‘My cell phone is in my jacket.’ She handed it to him. ‘Do you want me to call Marshall and explain?’
    ‘Explain what?’ she smiled. ‘If you call Marshall, then all hell will break loose and you know it.’
    ‘I’m not scared of your brother, or any shit he might try to bring.’
    Her smile faded and she lifted her chin. ‘Don’t you go acting tough for me, don’t show off. I hate that you and Gary can’t get along, worrying about you both keeps me up nights.’
    ‘You still worry about me?’
    As soon as he asked, he wished that he hadn’t. She took her bags from him and tossed them into the dark apartment. She then leaned on the door frame, holding the door at her back with her foot.
    ‘I worry about you every day, Blase,’ she said. Curling her pinkie around his, he watched as she linked them. ‘You broke my heart, Warner.’
    ‘I was trying to—‘
    ‘I know what you were trying to do,’ she said, lifting her eyes to his. ‘You broke my heart and then for five years I lived without you. But I looked you up last year because… you never went away.’
    He hadn’t expected her to confess any of that. Most of their chats in the past weeks had been quite superficial other than when he’d brought up Lyssa. This was more profound and he wasn’t sure how to respond. ‘We were together for ten years,’ he said. ‘I guess it’s natural that we… care for each other.’
    They’d had bumps along the way and broken up for a month or two here and there in the early years. But he’d wanted her since he first laid eyes on her. She snared him right