Nothing Without Love: Dance Like This -Book I

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Astrid

Holy shit, was the first thought that crossed my mind when I found Sebastian kneeling on the floor with his hand over his eye. My sister was a spitfire, who'd have known? Certainly not me. Last I checked, my sister wasn't capable of bodily harm to another person unless they really pissed her off beyond her own comprehension.

"She got you good and hard, didn't she?" I asked. I don't think he heard me, or he was in too much of a haze from the pain to fully understand what I was saying.

"Yeah," he finally answered dejectedly after a long pause, "She did. Strangely though, it makes me attracted to her even more."

I scrunched up my nose in distaste, "Okaay, I did not nor do I want to know about your attraction to my sister right now."

I'd seen this before. Kaye would often hide away when she didn't want to deal with difficult things. Well, that was gonna change come hell or higher water. Still, I wasn't sure how to go about the elephant in the room, so I went with bluntness, "So you lied to my sister?"

That's when the idiot decided to look up at me. His left eye was a nasty shade of black and purple around the lid, and seemed to be a bit swollen. Yowza, Kaye really knew how to throw a good ass punch, "Since we're being blunt, yes, I did."

"Why?"

He raised his right eyebrow at me, since he couldn't very well raise his left without groaning, the poor fucker, "You're not gonna hit me too, are you?" He grabbed the arm of a chair nearby and stood up, facing me. He was definitely taller than me by a few inches, but that didn't scare me.

I rolled my eyes exasperatedly, "No you stupid load of horse dung. I much prefer interrogation to physical altercation. I want to know why you lied to my sister, and what your honest intentions are for her, because if they're anything but honorable, then I will beat the shit out of you. I'm giving you a chance to explain yourself," I stepped closer so I was right in his face, "So I suggest you don't fuck it up like you did with Kaye."

He sighed, "I wish I had a reason for lying to Kaye about who was, but I don't. I just did. I was concerned she might not want to be with me when she knew who I really was, considering her preconceived notions about the affluent community."

"We grew up in a place where money mattered and allowed you to get away with whatever you wanted, so you'll forgive her for having a past that set her mind in stone about rich people."

"There's something else too....." he trailed off, and I thought I caught a hint of sorrow in his face.

"What?"

He pressed his lips into a straight line before going on, "As a detective for the Brooklyn Police Department, I'm sure you'll understand what I'm saying when I talk about the murder of Benjamin Bridges."

I did know about that, but it was to be kept under wraps in the department. I couldn't even tell Kaye and Toni about it. The Bridges family member who was leading the investigation was keeping everyone's mouth shut, mine included, so he could track down Benjamin's killer. Holy shit, how didn't I realize it was Sebastian who was hunting down the drug lords who killed his......"Your brother I'm guessing?"

He nodded, "And these savages who killed my brother know I'm after them. They've attempted my life more than once."

"I didn't know about that," I narrowed my eyes at him, "In fact, no one knew. Why is that?"

"I paid the media a large sum to keep my name out of the reports. All people know is that a young man was attacked by a conspicuous drug lord he was hunting."