Tempest’s Legacy by Nicole Peeler Read Free Book Online

stroked my sides. He was very obviously ready for round two, but I realized I needed to know who was on the phone.
    “Were you talking to Iris?” I asked as he nipped at my neck.
    “Hmm?”
    “Iris. Were you talking to her on the phone just now?”
    Ryu pulled away, glancing up at me with an unreadable expression.
    “No, it wasn’t Iris,” he said, taking my nipple between his fingers and rolling it gently. But I was not so easily distracted.
    “Then who was it?” I asked. “You were talking about me. Unless you have another woman stashed about here somewhere.”
    “Jane, let’s just enjoy our time together.”
    I didn’t understand why he was being sketchy. Then again, now that I was fully awake and had had some time to recover from the shock of learning about my mother, I didn’t understand a few things. How had he known tocome to Iris’s? Why had he been in Maine at all? How had he known about my mother’s death?
    Grimly, my mind racing, I pulled away to sit facing him with the sheet in my lap.
    “Yeah, Ryu. We do have to talk. Who was on the phone? And how did you know what happened?”
    “Anyan. It was Anyan on the phone,” he finally replied begrudgingly.
    “Oh,” I said. “What did he want?”
    “He was checking to see if I was with you.”
    “Right. Why did he think to do that?”
    “You weren’t anywhere else so he checked with me.”
    “But why would he assume I’d be with you? You live in Boston.”
    Ryu leaned back against the headboard, sighing. He didn’t respond. A cold flash of realization went off in my head and everything fell into place.
    “Ryu, how did you know about my mother? How did you know to come looking for me? What aren’t you telling me?”
    “Do we have to talk about this now? I haven’t seen you in forever; I just want to enjoy being with you.” Ryu leaned forward to run his hand under the sheet, up my thigh, toward my sex.
    My hand snapped down to his wrist to stop his forward advance.
    “Tell me,” I ground out between clenched teeth.
    “You weren’t at Grizzie and Tracy’s, and you weren’t home, so I figured you were with Iris.”
    “Yeah, but why were you even here?”
    His jaw clenched, and suddenly I knew everything. But I wanted him to say it.
    “Ryu?”
    “I’ve been helping Anyan with his investigation,” he said eventually.
    My breath faltered. I had thought as much, but hearing him say it shook me to the core.
    “So you knew my mother was dead.”
    His only answer was a silence that screamed in response.
    “Were you there when they found her?”
    Again, only that telling silence.
    “That’s what you meant on the phone yesterday. When you said you’d be there for me. It’s because you knew my mother was dead.”
    He reached for me. “Jane…”
    “You bastard,” I hissed, springing away from his touch. “Tell me you were going to say something but you chickened out. Tell me you didn’t just say those things, knowing the truth.”
    “Jane, Anyan and I had already talked. We thought it was best…”
    “You asshole,” I breathed, seeing the truth about his actions, and realizing how perfectly they’d played out… and what a stupid bitch I’d been.
    “So you let Anyan take one for the team,” I said, my voice cold. “You let him come and tell me this awful thing, and then you swooped in to pick up the goddamned pieces. My goddamned pieces. And I fucking fell for it.”
    “Jane, it’s not like that. He wanted to tell you. I didn’t think you needed to hear it from both of us, but I knew you’d need me after you heard.”
    “Bullshit, Ryu.” Anger seethed within me, but it was aimed mostly at myself. I could see the entire scenariowith brutal clarity. The fact is, I knew that Ryu could not have helped his actions. Everything he’d done was quintessentially Ryu.
    “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me,” I said finally. His face brightened, but what followed wiped away his smile, as did my angry tone. “I know you