All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(20)

‘You found me out,’ I said. I held up my arm. As I did this, I became aware of a person across the dance floor, a person who shouldn’t have been there at all. Leo.

‘Jesus Christ,’ I muttered. I turned to Scarlet. ‘Leo’s here. I have to go deal with him. You’ll be OK?’

She squeezed my hand. ‘Go,’ she said.

As I pushed my way through the undulating bodies, I told myself to calm down, act casual and try not to make a scene.

When I finally got to Leo, he was surrounded by a group of sleazy girls, all older than me. I wasn’t shocked. Leo was good-looking and, on the rare occasions he went out, usually had a full wallet – he couldn’t help but attract this sort of thing. If he couldn’t always keep up his end of the conversation, well, I guess a certain kind of girl wouldn’t notice that or even care if she did.

I wedged my way between Leo and one of the skanks. ‘Hey!’ she yelled. ‘Wait your turn.’

‘He’s my brother!’ I yelled back.

‘Hi, Annie,’ Leo said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world that we should run into each other.

‘Hi, yourself,’ I said. ‘Thought you were staying in tonight.’

‘I was,’ he admitted. ‘But right after you left, Jacks stopped by and said we should go out.’

‘Jacks is here?’ I asked, thinking it might be a good time to have a word with my increasingly present, increasingly annoying cousin.

‘Yeah.’ Leo pointed to the edge of the pool, where Jacks was sitting with an oddly tanned redhead who seemed to be laughing at everything he said. Cousin Jacks always had a pretty girl by his side, and in general women seemed to find him attractive, though I personally didn’t get his appeal. He was short and very slim. His legs were too long for his torso. Before Jacks’s mother became a prostitute, back when dancing was something people could do for a living, she had been a professional ballerina, and I suppose Jacks took after her. Jacks’s eyes were green like mine, except his were always darting around the room to see if there was someone better he could be talking to. He had letters tattooed on his knuckles that read VORY V ZAKONE, which I knew translated to ‘thieves in law’.

I looked at my brother. He was sweating a bit, and I wondered if his head was hurting him as it sometimes did in noisy places, or if I was being overly protective and he was just hot from dancing. ‘Leo, are you feeling OK?’ I asked.

‘I’m fine,’ he said.

‘Don’t worry, baby sister,’ one of the sleazy girls said to me. ‘We’ll take care of your brother.’ She laughed and took Leo by the hand.

I ignored her and said to Leo, ‘I’m going to talk to Jacks and then I’m going home. Walk me back, OK?’

Leo nodded.

‘I’ll come find you when I’m done with Jacks,’ I told him.

On the steps of the pool, Jacks was busy groping the redheaded girl. She didn’t seem to mind.

‘Why, if it isn’t Little Orphan Annie Balanchine all grown up!’ Jacks greeted me. He slapped the redhead’s thigh, then waved her away with a flick of his wrist. She didn’t even have the dignity to look offended. Jacks stood up and kissed me on the cheek. I kissed the air somewhere near his cheek. I wasn’t going to let my lips make contact with his flesh. ‘It’s good to see you, Annie.’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘How long has it been?’

I shrugged, but I knew exactly how long it had been. ‘So, I suppose I should be thanking you for helping with Leo’s work situation,’ I said.

Jacks waved his hand. ‘Leo’s a good kid, and you know I’d do anything for your daddy. Don’t mention it.’

I looked Jacks in the eyes. ‘I have to mention it, cousin, because it wouldn’t be right to accept such a favour without knowing what the giver expects in return.’

Jacks laughed and took a swig from a silver flask that he kept in his trouser pocket. He offered some to me, but I declined. ‘You’re paranoid, kid. Not sure I blame you, considering what your upbringing’s been like.’

‘Daddy told me that he didn’t want Leo working in the family business in any capacity,’ I said. (Maybe those hadn’t been Daddy’s exact words but I felt confident that was what he would have wanted.)

Jacks took a moment to consider this information. ‘Big Leo’s been gone a long time, Annie. Maybe he didn’t know what your brother’s abilities were when he made such a pronouncement.’

‘Abilities?’ I repeated. ‘What do you know of Leo’s abilities?’

‘Maybe you’re too close to see it, but your brother’s not the same kid who got hurt all those years ago. You got him cooped up half the day with the old lady and the other half the day at that dumb animal job.’ He pointed to Leo, who was dancing with the same sleazy girls. ‘He’s thriving here. Someone needs to air the kid out once in a while.’

Maybe he was right, but it still didn’t explain what Jacks gained by helping Leo. I decided to put it to him point-blank. ‘So, what’s in it for you?’

‘Like I said, I’d do anything for your old man.’

‘Daddy’s dead,’ I reminded him. ‘Helping Leonyd’s son’s not gonna buy you any favours.’