Distraction: An underground kings novel by Aurora Rose Reynolds Page B

the bar rattle. Putting my foot against his groin, I dare him to say anything else.
    “Oh, did you fall?” I ask sweetly as he blinks up at me in shock. “You need to be more careful, Sven. You never know what might happen to you,” I tell him, pressing my foot down as a reminder.
    “Mags.”
    “Do not ever doubt that I have the ability to take care of myself, Sven. I may be a woman, but I have been taking care of myself since I was a little girl,” I whisper the last part then take a step back.
    “I was worried.” He gets up from the ground with his nostrils flaring and the pulse in his neck working so hard it can be seen from where I’m standing near the door.
    “Well next time, instead of coming at me like a crazy person, maybe you could say that instead,” I suggest, going back to the couch and taking a seat.
    “Sorry,” he mutters, but I pretend I don’t hear him as I pull the frames out of the bag, along with the pictures of us skydiving. “I was worried.”
    “Yeah, you said that,” I mumble, not looking at him as he takes a seat on the couch next to me. Finishing placing the picture in the frame and closing it up, I tip it upright and look at the image. “Here.” I hand him the frame as I take the other one out of its box and open the back. Putting together the one I got for myself, I place it back in the box it came in then rest it on the coffee table, chancing a look at Sven. His eyes are on the picture of us in his hands.
    “You,” he whispers under his breath so quietly I almost miss it.
    “Me what?”
    His head lifts when our eyes meet. This time they’re full of a sadness I don’t understand. “I like you, Mags, but I’m no good for you.”
    His words hurt more than they should, so I do what I always do, and joke. “It sounds like you’re trying to break up with me.”
    Shaking his head, his hand suddenly strikes out and wraps around the back of my neck as he pulls me to him. Pressing his lips to my forehead briefly, I feel their sting as his arms wrap around me in an embrace that has tears pooling in my eyes. He says he’s no good for me, but I think it’s the other way around. I’m no good for him.

Chapter 4
    Maggie
    Are you crazy?
    “Y ou okay?”
    Looking up from my cell phone, my eyes lock with Sven’s. I shrug in response, and his eyes go soft as he sets his phone down on top of his desk then walks around to where I’m sitting. He takes the seat next to me, placing his elbows on his knees, getting even closer.
    “You still haven’t heard from her?” he guesses softly, and I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and shake my head as anxiety and worry washes over me. Morgan disappeared the day Sven and I went skydiving, and since then, I haven’t heard from her. Feeling my heart constrict in my chest, I fight back tears. I love my sister, but I hate the person she’s become. Her drug problem has gotten progressively worse over the last three years, and I don’t know what to do anymore. It kills me that I can’t fix this for her, because she doesn’t want help.
    “I thought she would change,” I tell him weakly. I thought for sure she would change when the police called me in the middle of the night to tell me that she was in the hospital. I remember thinking, This is it. This is her wake up call. She will finally understand she is putting her life at risk.
    I was crushed walking into the ICU, seeing her hooked up to machines, covered in large black and blue bruises. When she told the police and me what happened at Sven’s club, I demanded they do something, but they refused. They told me that even though she was beat up badly, her story didn’t add up. They believed she probably tried to steal from a dealer and her injuries were a result of that. That’s when I decided to take matters into my own hands and go to Sven’s club to see if I could find anything out. Looking back now, I honestly don’t know if I believe her story from that night. I don’t know what