Guilty As Sin (Sin Trilogy#2)

Her fucking cousin . . .

Rango stepped up, cracking his knuckles. “Bad move, motherfucker. Karma sold your ass out.”

“Karma?” I looked from Rango to Gable.

“Oh, you thought you gave it to Cricket?” Rango laughed. “Easy mistake since both those bitches look exactly alike.”

“Ricky, don’t call my cousins bitches.” Gable stepped toward me. “I told you to leave my sister alone, and instead you try to draw her out here to the woods? You know what I have to say about that? Fuck no. Ain’t happening. Not on my watch.”

His boots crunched in the gravel as he stepped forward, flexing and clenching his hands.

I knew I was going to get my ass kicked tonight. It was on both their faces. They weren’t leaving until they delivered a beating. I wouldn’t go down without a fight, though.

“Just so you know, Gable, nothing you do to me will stop me from trying to get to her. Nothing.”

His grin carried no humor—only derision and violence. “I guess we’ll see about that.”

His fist flew out and caught me in the gut before the other busted open my cheekbone. I struck back with a combination, and he grunted as I connected. The Green Beret sent two more punches flying, one to my solar plexus and one to my liver, but I stayed on my feet, more than willing to trade. Then Rango jumped in, catching me in the side of the head before I realized he was moving.

Normally, two against one, I could hold my own . . . except when one of them was trained in hand-to-hand combat by Uncle Sam.

Gable didn’t need Rango’s help. He delivered a beatdown unlike one I’d ever experienced before.

I dropped to my knees as he landed punch after punch. I kept my guard up, swinging and missing over and over. He connected with a wicked uppercut to my jaw, and my body flew back onto the gravel. My fingers clawed the stones as I tried to push myself to my feet, but white spots dotted my vision. I couldn’t focus and find my balance.

My ribs screamed as someone kicked me in the stomach.

“Get the fuck back, Ricky.”

I blinked up to see Gable shoving his friend behind him. Whitney’s brother stood over me, knuckles busted and blood dripping from his cut eyebrow.

“You learn your lesson yet, rich boy?”

“Go fuck yourself, Gable.” I spat out a mouthful of blood.

He crouched beside me. “Watch your mouth or I’ll bury you out here.”

Before I could reply, another pair of headlights cut through the darkness, and Rango squealed like a little bitch.

“Someone’s coming! They’ll fucking arrest us. I can’t go to jail. My label will be pissed.”

Gable looked around and spotted a two-track in the woods that led out to the field we hunted in. “Come on, we’re out of here.”

I pushed myself to my knees as they slammed the doors. The tires spun as they hauled ass around the side of the cabin.

The headlights of the newcomer stopped right in front of me, and I closed my eyes to avoid being blinded.

“Lincoln, that you? What the hell happened? You get robbed?” It was Commodore’s voice. His footsteps crunched in the gravel as he came toward me. “Jesus fucking Christ. You got your ass kicked.”

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was his hand. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet.

Commodore looked over my shoulder in the direction Gable and Rango had gone. “Who was it? We’ll bury them.”

“I don’t know, sir.”

“Now, that’s a damn lie and we both know it.” My grandfather’s brows dipped into an angry V. “This is about that Gable girl, isn’t it?”

I said nothing, but Commodore didn’t need me to tell him anything. He had it all figured out himself, just like he usually did.

“You can cover for that brother of hers all you want, but I’ll still have him court-martialed for it.”

As soon as he said court-martialed, my entire body tensed. Any retaliation by Commodore would only succeed in making Whitney hate me more, and I couldn’t let it happen. I straightened my shoulders and looked at my grandfather through the slit of my swollen left eye, since I couldn’t open the right one.

“Sir, I respectfully request that you let me handle this myself.”

My grandfather studied my busted face. “Give me one good reason.”

I was silent for several moments while I thought of anything I could say that would persuade him. Finally, I went with the truth.

“I brought this on myself. I’m going to fix it myself too.”

Commodore’s eyes narrowed, and I could tell he wanted to argue. “Those Gable women are nothing but trouble. We know that. Don’t repeat your mistakes. You’re better off without her, boy.” He jerked his chin toward the cabin. “Go inside and clean yourself up. Get some peas from the freezer for the swelling. I don’t want to explain to your mother why you’re going to have two black eyes tomorrow, so you’d better stay here until you heal up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Commodore took a deep breath and released it slowly. “If you change your mind, I’ve got the sheriff on speed dial. He’ll have Asa Gable in cuffs before he makes it back to his aunt’s house.”

“Not necessary, sir.”

He shook his head. “Come on. I need a drink. Your mother’s wailing is driving me out of my goddamned mind.”

I followed my grandfather into the cabin. Even though I was battered and bruised, body and pride, I still wasn’t giving up. I would find a way to get to Whitney.

But I learned an important lesson tonight. Don’t trust anyone in the Gable family.





35





LINCOLN





Present day

“SECURITY JUST REMOVED a reporter from the VIP floor,” McKinley says when I answer the phone.

“What?”

“You heard me. Whitney called it in. The woman was escorted off the premises.”

I bolt from my chair and head for the door to my office. “Is she okay? Was she upset?”

“I haven’t talked to her yet, brother dearest, only security. I imagine she wasn’t thrilled, and neither am I. I don’t know how the woman got through, but I’m going to find out.”

“Fuck. I’m on my way over.”

“Make sure you come in the back way; the front gates are a circus today. Before it was just press, but now there’s a mob of angry fans out there with signs about Whitney. Someone definitely leaked that she’s here.”

“Shit. We’re going to have to call in more help. If angry fans are here now . . .”

“They’ll be all over town before long. I’m worried they’ll try to vandalize Jackie Gable’s house, so I’m sending more people over there too.”

“Good idea.”

I hang up with my sister and use my private exit to leave the office. I don’t give a damn about the meetings and calls I’m going to miss this afternoon. They can be rescheduled. My only concern is Whitney—and the promise I broke.

I told her she’d be safe. I promised her she wouldn’t have to worry because no one could get to her.

The ten minutes it takes me to drive, get through security, and get up to her room is ten minutes too long.

I knock on the door and wait, but there’s no answer. I knock again.

“Blue, it’s me. I’m so sorry.”

The bolt turns, and she opens the door. Her dark hair is wet, and she’s wrapped in a hotel robe.

“Why didn’t you call me?” I ask her as she steps away from the door so I can enter.

“I handled it.”

I want to shake her when she shrugs like it’s no big deal.

“You shouldn’t have had to handle it. Someone got to you, after I promised you were safe here.”

Whitney swings her hair over her shoulder, and droplets splatter my shirt. “I don’t think you get it. This isn’t something you can make go away. People will always hunt down a story, and right now, that’s me. You can’t promise me that no bad things are going to happen, Lincoln. That’s not how life works.”

“How am I going to prove to you that you can trust me if I can’t even follow through on that?” I step toward her and wrap my hands around the terrycloth covering her upper arms.

Whitney’s blue gaze meets mine. “I should probably take a page out of the Riscoff family playbook and not trust anyone. Blood included.”