Sins of My Father (Black Brothers #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Brandon stumbled backward a step or two, barely catching his balance before he tripped over the barstool.
    I kept walking, threading our joined bodies through the crowd swaying back and forth in excited waves. She didn’t say a word until I reached the door.
    She halted. “Wait,” she demanded, her voice raspier than usual. “I’m not leaving with you.”
    “Why not? We came here together.” Technically, it was true, but just like right now, I had manipulated my way into the taxi with her.
    In one silken move, she liberated her curvy body from my embrace. “I’m here with Winnie. I can’t just disappear without saying something. She’ll be worried.”
    “So text her.”
    Her mouth opened and closed in quick succession. Then, she folded her arms across her chest, holding her purse in front of her breastbone like a shield. “What about your date?”
    I groaned inwardly. Desperate to get Langley away from Brandon, I had left Leah alone at our table without a word. Generally, Leah didn’t care what I did as long as I apologized later with a gift or a dinner. My money and my connections were all she wanted from me anyway, but that didn’t make her a bad person. She never lied about her expectations, and I didn’t lie about mine. I admired her honesty and her wicked sense of humor about the whole arrangement. Her past made her incapable of more, and I respected her for being up front about it.
    “I’ll text her. She’ll live.” And she would. She’d find someone else within the hour. Leah was resourceful. She didn’t waste opportunities, and neither did I, and in order for my plan to work, I needed Langley.
    “We aren’t friends. You don’t know me.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t get it. Why are you helping me?”
    “Because you look like you needed help,” I said, answering her as simply as possible. The real reason for my interest in her was a maze of perverse and convoluted turns, but she didn’t need to know about any of that…yet.
    She took a step backward and planted both of her hands on her hips. “Lots of people need help.”
    “Fair enough.” I smiled. “I’d like to get to know you. You’re beautiful. You’re smart, and you’re interesting, or least that’s my first impression of you. Stop overthinking my motives.”
    “And I’m related to Senator Wharton.”
    “There’s that, but I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.”
    She gave me a wary look, her forehead crinkling and the corner of her lips curling downward. “You’d be the first to believe that.”
    “And that’s why you should trust me.”
    She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh please.”
    “It’s a taxi ride, not a marriage proposal.” I held out my hand, urging her to come with me.
    “Just a taxi ride? Nothing else.”
    “If I’m lucky, maybe you’ll agree to meet me for lunch or dinner sometime. If not,” I shrugged, “then we’ll both move on with our lives, exchanging meaningless greetings if we run into each other in the future.”
    Langley’s shoulders sagged, and her eyes darted to the side. “Fine. I don’t want to stay anyway. I can’t take another confrontation with Brandon tonight, but I’m not promising anything.”
    Perfect. Mission accomplished. I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the exit. “Then, let’s get out of here.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    Langley
     
    Inside the cab, I immediately cracked the window. It smelled like cigarette smoke. I didn’t think you could smoke in a cab, but apparently, people did, or this driver did, and he tried to cover it up with a pine scented air freshener shaped like a Christmas tree dangling from the rear-view mirror. Instead of masking the odor, it reminded me of the smell of my hair the night after sitting around a campfire.
    “So what’s that guy’s story?” Archer said as the cab darted into traffic.
    “Brandon?” I said. I tapped my fingers on my leg, fighting the exhaustion