The Bonds We Break by Becca Steele

THIRTEEN

Jessa’s brother was deep in conversation with Zayde and Creed when I flung myself into the booth. Thank fuck for Cade—my dick was well and truly deflated after that near miss. I didn’t want Austin’s first impression of me to be a bad one. I studied him out of the corner of my eye as I reached for one of the beers that had magically appeared on the table. Both he and Jessa were hot as fuck, objectively speaking, and I could see a sibling resemblance, mostly in the dark hair and green eyes. Austin had a harder look to him, though, the look of someone more ruthless and cutthroat than Jessa was.

Introductions were made, and I managed to charm a smile out of Austin, leaving me leaning back against the booth, satisfied. Or I was until Jessa stormed up to the booth and slammed her hands down on the table.

Everyone stared at her in shock. She kept her gaze focused on Austin, not sparing the rest of us a glance. “Is there somewhere private we can talk?”

He exchanged glances with Creed before nodding. “Yeah, of course.”

“Creed, too,” she said. Then she glanced around the table. “Actually…” Hesitation entered her tone, and she chewed on her lip.

I wanted to kiss her.

What the fuck? Where did that thought come from?

“Everyone who was there that night, I guess.” The way she emphasised “that night” needed no explanation.

It was decided that Lena would stay with Kinslee, since neither of them had been there that night, and Winter wanted to make sure Kinslee enjoyed her birthday. Some more of their uni friends were due to show up at any time, along with Raine, so they wouldn’t be alone for long. We left them with a bucket of champagne and headed through a door into the back offices of the club, past the security room, and into a large, empty space with boxes stacked in one corner and a load of chairs piled on the other side.

“Storage,” Austin said when he caught us glancing around the room. “Probably. Still getting our bearings here, the club hasn’t been open long.” He began arranging chairs in a kind of semicircle, so I went to help him, and soon we were all seated with Jessa the centre of attention.

“Okay. I’m just going to come out and say it because we need full transparency here.” Jessa’s voice didn’t even waver for a second. This wasn’t the Jessa I knew, who’d always followed in her dad’s footsteps, never showing her hand unless she had no other choice. I guess she’d changed even more than I realised. She held her brother’s gaze as she gave a rundown of the situation, somehow finding the strength to get through the whole story, never faltering once. I was so fucking proud of her in that moment.

Austin didn’t outwardly react, casually reclined in his seat, and at first I thought it was because she’d downplayed the story, sticking to the basic facts, but when I took a closer look at him, I saw the hard set of his jaw and the way his knuckles were turning white as he gripped the armrests of his chair. He had one hell of a poker face.

Caiden and Winter both added to the story, filling in the gaps but also sticking to the facts, and when everyone was finally done, a heavy silence fell over the room.

The silence was eventually broken by Jessa. “Austin? Why did he have your number?”

Austin shook his head. “I honestly don’t know.”

“I might have an idea.” Creed tapped his phone against the armrest of his seat. “From my intel, it seemed like he was acting alone… But…the Volkovs—”

“Who are the Volkovs?” Jessa asked the inevitable question.

“Russian Bratva. We’re…negotiating quite an important vodka deal. Petr Ivanov was a known associate of the Strelichevos, who are…let’s say…a Belarusian crime syndicate. In the simplest words possible, the Strelichevos are associates of the Volkovs, and we already knew that there was a connection between them all.” His lips set in a flat line. “Having said that, we’d been assured that everything had been dealt with, but him showing up around this vodka deal—the timing seems suspect. It could be that Ivanov has managed to worm his way into the deal somehow.”

Austin’s expression turned thoughtful. “Could be. They wanted me to fly out to their distillery, but I’ve been too busy with the club opening, so our next step was going to be to set up a meeting with their contact, go through tasting options. If he’s working with them, then maybe…” A darkness came into his eyes. “He’s a marked man now.”

As Creed gave him a brief nod, Jessa’s shoulders slumped in relief, and I was unreasonably annoyed. I should be happy that they were here to save the day. But for some reason, I wanted the gratitude she was directing at them to be directed at me.

“We’ll sort it. He won’t get near you again, Jessa.” Austin was out of his seat now, crouched down next to her and taking her hand in his. His gaze arrowed to Creed, who gave another short nod.

“If it turns out that he’s working with the Volkovs, which is the only connection I can see, then we’ll have to tread carefully. This deal we’re negotiating is worth a lot of money for a lot of people.” He pinched his brow. “The Volkovs are… You don’t want to get on their bad side, trust me. But they have a code of honour. Although Ivanov hasn’t directly disrespected them, by coming after you, he may have sealed his own fate.”

Standing, he squeezed Jessa’s shoulder. “Either way, consider it taken care of.” She nodded, and he flashed her a smile that she returned with a small, genuine one that reached her eyes, and my stomach twisted with something that felt like jealousy but couldn’t be. Maybe I had some kind of undiscovered hero complex.

What would my superhero outfit look like?

“Cass?”

I blinked, finding West waving his hand in front of my face.

“Sorry, mate. Must’ve zoned out for a minute there.”

“Didn’t realise we were that boring.” He grinned as I stood, stretching. Zayde was off in the corner of the room, deep in conversation with Creed, and Jessa was talking quietly with Austin. As I watched, Austin straightened up, kissed the top of Jessa’s head, then turned to me.

“Can I have a quick word?”

“With me?” My voice came out higher than normal, and he smirked.

“Yeah, you.” Walking a short way from where Jessa was sitting, he waited until I was standing in front of him, then spoke again. “I just wanted to say thanks. She says you’ve been looking out for her.” He ran his hand through his hair, suddenly looking frustrated. “I should’ve been there for her.”

“You didn’t know.”

“Even so. I appreciate what you’ve done. If you ever need a favour, I owe you one.” Stepping a little closer, he lowered his voice, discreetly sliding a business card into my hand. “Can you keep an eye on her? Even after she’s gone back to her flat? I’m not asking you to spy on her or anything. Just…just let me know she’s okay.”

I licked my suddenly dry lips. “Yeah. I can do that.”

“Good.” With that settled, he spun away from me, raising his voice. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m off the clock and I need a drink after all this.”

“Yeah. I definitely need a drink.” Jessa got to her feet, standing tall in her heels. She looked…lighter, if that made sense. Like a weight had been taken off. When she caught my eye, a smile curved over her lips, and she looked so fucking beautiful that all I could do was stand there frozen in place, staring at her.

West nudged me in the side. “Don’t be so obvious. Her brother’s watching you.”

“What? Obvious about what?” I played it off, but he just raised a brow.

“I never thought I’d see the day,” he muttered, but I didn’t get a chance to ask what the fuck that comment was supposed to mean because the others were joining us.

* * *

Back in the club, Creed and Austin hung around, Austin bringing out some celebratory bottles of champagne for Kinslee that he swore was the best shit we’d ever taste, although to me it tasted like shit. I grimaced as the drink went down my throat, longingly eyeing the lone beer that remained next to the ice bucket.

Taking a quick glance in Austin’s direction, I noticed his gaze sliding over to where Winter, Lena, and Kinslee were dancing with Raine and the other girls from Alstone College that had shown up. Specifically, to Kinslee. I couldn’t blame him for looking—she was hot, although since Winter had moved in and Kinslee had been hanging out with us more, she’d become like a sister to me. While he was distracted by the view, I swapped out my champagne for the beer, ignoring the smirk Cade gave me.

Once the bottles of champagne were empty, Austin disappeared somewhere with Jessa, and the second I finished my beer, West was sliding over to me.

“I’m bored. Wanna check out the rest of this place?”

“Let’s go.” Following him out of the VIP area and down the stairs, I smiled to myself. When Weston and my sister had got together, I’d been worried that he wouldn’t have time for me anymore. He was my best mate, and I was used to doing everything with him. I’d seen it happen before—couples getting lost in each other to the point where they forgot about their other friends. But my worries were unfounded. Anyone could see that he and Lena were loved-up, but both of them had their own shit going on, and my best mate had made sure that I didn’t feel neglected.

We did a circuit of the main club floor, then ended up in the attached bar. It was packed, but we managed to grab a table and a couple of stools. West headed to the bar for drinks, and when he returned, he looked me dead in the eye.

“Jessa.”

“What about her?”

“There’s something going on between the two of you.”

I sighed. I knew this conversation was coming. “There isn’t, mate. We slept together, once—okay, twice—since she’s been staying with us,” I amended at his disbelieving look. “That’s it, though. You know it doesn’t mean anything. To either of us.”

He sat back, making circles in the condensation on his glass. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet, his gaze fixated on the table in front of him. “You’d tell me if it was anything more than that, wouldn’t you?”

“Course I would.”

“Okay. I—” He broke off, shaking his head. “It’s one thing to be helping her out, but after all the shit that’s gone down, a relationship with her might complicate things. Her history with Winter, with Cade…”

“Huh? Who said anything about a relationship?” I stared at him. “How the fuck did you come to that conclusion? There’s no feelings involved. It’s just sex. Anyway, she isn’t down to fuck anymore. She told me.”

“Whether that’s the case or not, you’ve been different with her.”

“That’s because I feel, I dunno, responsible for what happened. Whatever’s gone down in the past, she doesn’t deserve to be going through any of this shit, either. And she’s trying, West. She’s trying so fucking hard, and I can see that she’s changed, and I’m sure you could, too, if you took the time to fucking notice.” I was almost shouting by the end of my rant, and Weston stared at me, open-mouthed.

“Okay then,” he said eventually. Picking up his pint, he downed it. “Another drink?”

Taking a deep, calming breath, I glanced at my own mostly untouched pint, then shrugged. “Yeah, alright.” When he disappeared off to the bar, I gulped my beer, attempting to avoid thinking about the conversation that had just happened. Closing my eyes, I ran my hand down my face.

An image appeared in my mind, out of the blue and completely fucking unwelcome.

Jessa, grinding all over that stripper guy, both of them lost in their own world.

I gritted my teeth.

There were no feelings between me and Jessa.

None.

“Hey, did I show you this new drone I was thinking of getting?” West returned to the table, sliding a new pint to me. He tapped on his phone screen, and I’d never been more glad for a change of subject. After we’d had this drink, I was going to go back into the club, work my magic on a hot, willing, available woman, and prove to everyone that I didn’t have a thing for Jessa.

Because I didn’t.