Rafe (Inked Brotherhood 5)

Chapter One

Megan

Friday evening, and I’m standing outside Asher and Audrey’s apartment, clutching the gift I’ve brought like a lifeline.

It’s Audrey’s baby shower. Tessa and Audrey invited me, and I should be glad to finally be included in the girls’ group, after being on the outside for more than a year now.

Honestly, I am glad. Since I moved to Madison a year and a half ago, I’ve barely made any friends. I don’t have much time and energy to spend on socializing, and I consider myself lucky I at least have Zane, who’s looking out for me. And Greg, of course, but Greg… Yeah, he’s out of the picture now.

So, let’s recap. I’m glad to be here. Zane is great, but having some girlfriends would be awesome.

But I’m also nervous. Audrey is pregnant, and pregnancies… make me nervous. Very nervous. Just the thought sends flashes of red through my mind. Memories of blood pooling on the floor, dread and ice-cold fear. My heart beats too fast. Sweat trickles down my back, and a chill runs through me.

More than a year has passed, and I still can’t shake the images. Can’t shed the terror of that day, and with it the fear that Carson Ames, Mom’s ex-boyfriend, will find me and finish me off one day.

Oh God… Stop it.

Maybe this is a bad idea, after all. Besides, although I’ve met the girls a thousand times over the past year, we never really got to talking. Except for that one time with Tessa a couple of months ago, when she was trying to figure out Dylan, and boy was that a disaster. I bet she invited me tonight because she still feels bad about reminding me I’m pining for someone I probably will never have.

Rafe Vestri.

Not that I could ever have him. That’s ridiculous. It’s just that he’s so gorgeous a girl can’t help but look, right?

So gorgeous and so damaged. And if it’s his pain that attracts me to him, that reminds me of my own, more than the beauty of his face and that sculpted body, well… That’s something I don’t want to think about—and in any case, why am I thinking about him now?

I’m outta here. This was a mistake.

After a moment’s hesitation, I place my wrapped gift—baby clothes, and even buying those almost sent me into a panic attack—on the doormat and turn back to the stairwell, prepared to make my getaway.

Fate has other plans for me tonight, though. A familiar slender figure is climbing up the steps, blocking my way.

“Megan!” Dakota grins widely, her arms full of a huge package. Her dark hair has pink highlights, and she has a nose ring I’m pretty sure is new. “I wasn’t sure you’d come by.”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” I say, my lips numb. I force a smile.

Her big blue eyes narrow. “Girl, are you okay? You don’t look so hot.”

“I’m fine.” I back away from her, letting her pass, and step on the package I left on the mat. Damn.

“Megan…”

“I said I’m fine.” I pick up my package. The paper has torn, allowing a glimpse of powder-blue baby clothes.

“You got her blue?” Dakota’s brows lift. “What if it’s a girl?”

Audrey has refused to find out the sex of her baby. She wants it to be a surprise for everyone, including herself.

“I think it’s a boy,” I say.

“You don’t know that.”

“I have a feeling.”

She doesn’t look convinced. Why would she? She barely knows me, and even I don’t know why I listen to my gut. I just know it often proves right. Call it intuition or sixth sense, whatever. Grandma Anouk’s fault, according to Mom. New Orleans magic.