DarkestSin by Mandy Harbin Page A

because the only thing he watched last night was the
disappearing act of his liquor.
    He parked his bike and grunted his greetings to the other
guys. Roc had his nose inside the hood of a car. Bear was talking to Colonel.
Gage and Hunter were standing to the side, tinkering with tools, not really
doing anything, and Blade was texting, laughing and stuffing his face with the
donuts Colonel usually brought in, procrastinating, the little shit.
    “I need to talk to you,” Brody said as he approached the
Colonel and Bear. “Alone.”
    “I’ll just, yeah,” Bear mumbled, walking off, apparently not
even attempting to come up with a parting excuse.
    “What’s up, Brutus?”
    “It’s about this plan of yours where Xan Bradley is
concerned.”
    Colonel narrowed his eyes. “Look, you’ve made your feelings
on this known—”
    “No, I haven’t. Not really. There’s a reason why I want to
stay in the shadows.” He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. This was harder
than he thought it was going to be. He shifted his weight and took a deep
breath before looking at his boss again. “I-I know her, man. I mean, I remember
her from my past. I just can’t place her. She hasn’t acted like she knows me,
but that could just mean it hasn’t clicked for her yet . I don’t want to
take the chance of her recognizing me when I don’t even know how I know her.”
    Colonel took a slow breath and hiked his leg over the corner
of the table he was standing beside. “I see. Well, your stubbornness makes sense.
But, Brutus, you didn’t exactly have a stellar life before—”
    “That’s what I’m afraid of,” he growled. “If I know her
because of my previous line of work, then that can’t be good.”
    “You’re jumping to conclusions here, son. You might remember
her from when you were kids. It’s a known fact she was a foster care kid. And
you… You lived a life of crime, so chances aren’t great you were born with a
silver spoon. You could have crossed paths in the system as kids.”
    “No.” He shook his head jerkily. “I clearly remember her
dressed nicely, long hair, very polished. Granted, she seemed pretty young, but
no kid in foster care would dress like that.”
    “Okay,” Colonel said slowly. “But she doesn’t recognize you,
and she’s the one without a brain injury here. If you had some association with
her, she would recognize you. With the exception of longer hair, you don’t look
much different than when I found you. Who’s to say you don’t remember her being
connected to the mafia? You could’ve seen her and remembered her. She’s a
beautiful woman. Maybe you just liked what you saw,” he said with a smirk.
    Brody’s muscles tensed, ready to attack the bastard
for…what? Saying she was beautiful? Apparently, his boss saw the anger flaring
in his eyes because he scowled at him.
    “You need to take it down a notch, Brutus. I’m just trying
to tell you there could be any number of reasons you recognize her. Do you have
any memories of actually talking to her?”
    His shoulders slumped. “No.”
    “Being in the same room with her?”
    “No.”
    “Has she said anything to you about you looking familiar to
her? Or anything else that might suggest a connection?”
    “No, damn it.” He rubbed his forehead, shaking his head. “I
just don’t like this.”
    “Tell you what.” Colonel stood and patted him on the
shoulder. “I’ll see what I can find out. I’m not promising anything. You’re
already a ghost, but if the connection is out there, I’ll find it. In the
meantime, nothing changes. I still want you watching her and getting to know
her. If Marco Collins gets out, she might run, and we don’t want that. She’s
less likely to do that if she thinks she can turn to you for protection. But
she won’t do that if you stay in the shadows.”
    Even though this didn’t go exactly like he’d wanted, the
thought of Colonel finding out his connection to Xan brought Brody a sense