Carter (Bourbon & Blood Book 3) by Seraphina Donavan Page A

town on your back was something he understood on a fundamental level. He’d been living that way all his life. Every time someone said to him that he was just like his father, it meant one thing. He’d come to a bad end.
    Josie was broken inside. It didn’t matter that she looked whole and pristine on the outside. Inside, she was still a scared little girl who didn’t believe that good things would last.
    His phone dinged. Looking down at the screen, grinned.
    You took your damned time.
    Carter smiled. If she texted him back that quickly it meant he wasn’t totally screwed. She’d make him pay. That was her nature, but he wasn’t sure he minded. Watching her get worked up and pissed off was one of life’s greatest joys, as far as he was concerned. Thoughts like that would have made him panic at one point in time. He didn’t get attached, but from the moment she’d thrown that first shoe at him, everything with Josie had been different.
    Carter heard Bennett cursing from inside. He’d discovered he was out of beer. He started to turn and go back into the house, to face the music and to bust Bennett’s balls a little, but through the rain he saw something that stopped him.
    Mia Darcy was walking down the road, barefoot, and she looked like hell. Something was very, very wrong. “Bennett!”
    He could hear Bennett curse from inside the house, “What the hell do you want?”
    “Bennett! Get your ass out here! Now!”
    Bennett appeared in the doorway. “What the fuck is it?”
    Carter ignored his shitty mood and pointed to the disheveled woman walking down the driveway. “You’ve got company.”
    Carter stood back as Bennett crossed the expanse of the porch and headed into the yard. He looked at Mia, really looked at her. The girl looked broken, like maybe all the pieces would never go together again. But he also saw the way Bennett held onto her. Whatever was between them, whatever ugly history and hurt feelings, they had something that defied all of it.
    For just a second, Carter was jealous. What would it take for Josie to come to him that way? She wouldn’t, he realized. There was nothing, as far as he could figure, that would ever be as important to her as the way this town saw her.
    The wind picked up and the rain that had been falling straight down slashed inward, plastering his shirt to him. The cold hit him like a knife. Another glance at Mia and he realized she was absolutely blue with cold, but whatever she was saying to Bennett seemed to be more important than getting warm.
    Carter stepped inside the house and grabbed a blanket off the couch. Carrying it into the yard he passed it to Bennett and watched him wrap it around Mia as she stood there tearfully confessing everything.
    He didn’t hear it all, just enough to know that Samuel Darcy was as big a bastard as he’d always thought he was and then some. Not wanting to intrude and feeling more than a little uncomfortable with the whole situation, Carter retreated to the house.
    In the kitchen, he hopped up on the counter and checked his phone again. There was another text from Josie.
    That’s it? I want to see you and then radio silence?
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    C arter thought about for a second before replying, just trying to get his thoughts in order.
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    S hit hat the fan . Mia Darcy is here. In full view of everyone. I’ll come to your house after dark. Leave the back door unlocked.
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    T here was a pause of about two heart beats and those damned annoying dots on the screen as he waited for her reply. Her saying yay or nay seemed like a life and death decision.
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    Y ou’re telling me every detail when you get here.
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    I t didn’t escape him that she was more interested in what was going on with Bennett and Mia than with whatever was happening with them. Good God, but she was hell on his ego.
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    F ine . After typing the single word response, he pressed the send key. Getting up from the counter, he opened the cabinets until he found one lonely bag