You Are Mine Little Sister (by Syra Tucker) novel Chapter 183

He didn't even pause. "Jade, Ethan and Elliot."

Okay. Maybe that was an easy question.

"In a particular chapter, Jade and the boys went to a thrift store. What happened there?"

He tilted his chin. "She met a man from the Wolves. Threatened her and shit."

My jaw nearly met the floor.

No way! He actually read!

I blinked fast as my brain scrambled for something else. I threw more questions at him from different books, other series, and every answer landed clean.

What the hell?

"How did you do it?" I shook my head, half-laughing at myself. "I'd never been able to do that myself despite being here all day."

Plus, I didn't think men read that much.

Pride shone in his grey eyes; his shrug was pure quiet victory. "Let's just say I'm good when it comes to competitions. I love winning."

"Wow. Then it's obvious you'll be the one winning the challenge with your friends."

"I sure will."

I shook my head. That was truly crazy.

I turned back to the shelf, pretending I didn't know what was coming.

‡‡‡‡

VOID

I didn't think my trio could be useful for anything other than bloodshed until today.

Everyone of them had stayed up late, reading the books I'd dumped on them. When I returned to the apartment by morning, they narrated the plots with heavy eyes. I also didn't have any sleep in the car where I'd stayed till dawn.

None of that mattered. What mattered was: I'd bested the challenge, and now she saw me as someone worth listening to. She hadn't flinched away like yesterday. The stutter had eased. Today was better.

"So, when am I getting my hundred bucks?" I asked the nape of her neck as she'd already turned back to the shelf.

She was hoping the topic might evaporate. I was only keeping it alive for the sport of it.

When she faced me, her gaze stayed on the floor. "I... I don't have it. Not yet. But by weekend, I should."

Poor thing. She looked guilty.

"So, you owe me, then." I let it hang, then softened it with a pivot. "Anyway, I need another recommendation."

Her black contacts snapped up to mine. "Wh—Why? I mean, what about the others you got yesterday?"

"I've been distributing most of them already. Besides, you didn't pick those for me. I want something you recommend."

Her teeth found her bottom lip again; that little tic she didn't know she had. I tracked her as she moved to the next shelf, and a cold thought lodged in my mind:

What if Blayne hadn't tricked me that day and she'd truly died in that fire? What would I have done knowing Rali was gone from my life?

I'm not the kind to live inside what-ifs. But with Rali, the thought keeps circling like a hawk: how close I came to losing my mind for good.

It terrifies me. Truly terrifies me.

She returned with three books. "You should try this series. It's good."

I took the books from her and was tempted to inhale the place her hands had touched.

Could do that later.

Rali. Of course.

I nodded once. "Nice name."

I let my cold grey gaze stay where it wanted—on her. All I had to do was open the driver's door and get in. But I wasn't doing that. And neither was she leaving.

"A—And yours?" Her fingers played with her pendant. She was nervous. I bet she'd never asked a man for his name before. For as much as she remembered.

My name. I didn't answer as quickly as she did.

"What?" She let out a thin, nervous laugh. "You don't have a name?"

I smiled at that. "Everyone does."

"So, why aren't you telling me?" Her eyes dropped; the toe of her shoe traced invisible lines on the pavement. "Don't...come up with something fake."

Her statement pulled my brows tight. What gave her the impression I might come up with something fake?

She wanted my real name. A name I hadn't answered in sixteen years. A name I swore I was never going to tell anyone.

Yet, right here, with Rali asking for it, my brain did the stupid thing it always did around her—not think clearly cause it wanted to please her.

I wanted nothing more but to tell the truth. To tell her the very name I'd never told anyone in sixteen years. A name I knew was going to haunt me whenever she called it 'cause it'd always remind me of Dominica, the one woman I didn't want to be reminded of.

Her eyes when they met mine again, were clouded with that small, particular sadness. 'Rejected.'

"It's... It's fine if you don't want to," she said, a small smile stitched to the edge of retreat. She made to leave.

"Dominic."

She stopped again. Her eyes met mine.

"Dominic Belmonte."