The Scotch Queen (Scotch #2)

His fingers stopped moving in my hair. Instead, he grabbed the back of my head with his fingertips and gently shifted my face toward him. “You could never bore me, Lovely. Tell me.”

He never told me anything, but I didn’t bring that up. I got him to stop seeing other women, which was already a big gesture, so I couldn’t be too picky. “I guess I miss my brother. It’s his birthday…and I always call him on his birthday.” That was all bogus. It wasn’t his birthday, but Crewe probably didn’t know that. I kept looking over the fields without expressing any expectation. I didn’t want to outright ask if I could call him. It’d be much easier if Crewe showed some compassion and made the offer on his own.

Crewe didn’t say anything at all. His fingers moved through my hair again.

Damn. Was it stupid of me to actually think it would be that easy? “How was work?”

Crewe moved to the back of my neck and massaged the muscle, his thumb and forefinger powerful. Anytime he touched me, he always made me feel good. When his touch was sexual, it always lit me on fire. When it was comforting, it made me feel incredible. “You can call him.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled the number on the screen. Then he handed it over to me.

Oh my god. It actually worked.

I stared at the phone without taking it, my eyebrow raised. “What?”

He continued to hold it. “I’ll give you ten minutes. Here.”

I finally took the phone, feeling my hand shake. “You’re being serious?”

“Yeah. It’s not like there’s anything either of you can do anyway.”

I stared at my brother’s number but didn’t press send. Now that I actually got my way, I didn’t know what to do. “Can I have some privacy?”

Crewe stared me down, his expression unreadable.

“You just said neither one of us can do anything…”

Crewe considered my words before he finally nodded. “Ten minutes. Not a second longer.” He leaned into me and kissed me on the mouth before he left the bench, his shoulders tense and his posture rigid. He carried himself with perfect grace every second of the day. Even if he went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he still held himself like a soldier.

When he walked inside, I was still frozen in shock. That went over way easier than I expected. It almost seemed like a trick, but there was no way it could be unless Crewe had expected me to do this from the beginning.

I remembered my ten minutes were running, so I hit send and press the phone to my ear. It rang as I realized the balcony of our bedroom overlooked this courtyard. Crewe could be watching me, and if I spoke too loudly, he could hear me.

Joey answered. “Crewe.” He spoke with a voice pregnant with hate. I’d never heard that tone in his voice before. Even when we fought as kids, that kind of unbridled rage never made an appearance.

“It’s London. He said I have ten minutes to talk to you.”

“London?” His voice completely changed when he realized it was me. “He let you call me?”

“Yeah. He’s not around. I can speak freely.”

“Don’t be so sure. He’s not stupid.”

I was certain I really had the privacy I asked for. I think Crewe trusted me, on some level. “No, we’re alone.”

“Why would you let you speak to me alone?”

“Because I’ve been working on what we last talked about.” No need to spell it out if Joseph knew what I was talking about. “I think I’ve made a lot of progress. Things are different. I don’t know how much longer this is going to take me, but we’re definitely on the right track.”

This was awkward for Joseph. No easy way to discuss the fact that his little sister was being fucked every night by the guy who captured her. Joseph had always been protective of me since we lost our parents, and I knew he felt all the guilt of the entire situation. “Well…that’s good. You think he’ll eventually let you go?”

“I don’t know…maybe.” I wasn’t sure how long that would take to happen. Once I asked for my freedom, all my cards would be on the table. He would know everything between us was just a lie. “But I think I could at least ask for him to turn off the transmitter in your head for good. That wouldn’t be unreasonable.”

“London, I don’t care about that. I care about you.”

My eyes immediately watered at the sincerity in his voice. My captivity was killing him every single day. We were ripped apart when we were all we had left of our family. “Well…that’s the best we can do for now.” I did my best to keep the emotion out of my voice.

“We’re gonna have to do something else, possibly a takedown.”

“A takedown?”

“I’m going to have to round up all my men and any extras I can find and ambush him. Kill everyone, including him. That’s the only way we both walk free.”

It sounded logical, but the idea of all the bloodshed made me uneasy. And as lame as it was, I didn’t want Crewe to die. He deserved to be killed for what he’d done to me since I was an innocent person, but I still couldn’t do it. “I’ll keep working with him and see if I can make it happen. I’d rather do that than have you risk your life.”

“I don’t care about that either, London. I’ve got to get you out of there. It kills me…”

“I know,” I whispered. “But it’s really not that bad. He treats me well.”

“You would say that even if it weren’t true.”

“But it is true,” I said. “I’m not defending Crewe because he’s a bad man…but he does have compassion, empathy, and a heart. I’ve seen it myself. If he really were evil, he would have given me to Bones. I prefer Crewe any day.”

Joseph stayed quiet, still not believing me.

I couldn’t come out and say Crewe and I were having amazing sex, that our chemistry was scorching and I trusted him to take care of me. So I didn’t say anything more about it. “Crewe is having a grand opening for his distillery in Edinburgh. It sounds like there’s gonna be a lot of people there. Maybe we can cross paths.”

“I can make it happen. I know the area you’re referring to. Shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“Don’t get caught. If you do, it’ll blow everything for me.”

“I won’t,” he said with confidence. “I’ll think of a plan over the week. Maybe I can get you out of there that night.”

“Out of there?” I asked. “There’s no way you can take me away without him killing you.”

“But you said he’s been falling for you.”

“Yeah…so what?”

“Maybe he won’t do it. Maybe he won’t have the balls to hit the trigger.”

In most instances, Crewe was an honorable guy. He was helping Crow and Cane get their sister back even though he didn’t owe them anything, and he took care of me every single day. There was a good chance he wouldn’t do it. But when Crewe was pissed off…there was no telling what he might do. “I’m not willing to take that chance.”

“Well, I am. I’d much rather die than let him keep you any longer.”

Maybe this phone call was a bad idea. “I’m not going with you, so don’t bother.”

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