Choices by Tessa Vidal

Author:Tessa Vidal [Vidal, Tessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
Publisher: Lovebird Press
Published: 2019-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Shell

I had no desire to argue with the twin I'd seen once in eleven years. Not over who was going to drive the fucking Range Rover anyway. Getting in on the passenger side, I handed him the key. If he wanted to fight Los Angeles traffic, so be it.

For a man who learned to drive on the flat, open roads around Tunica County, Ryder turned out to be good at taking advantage of small opportunities to jockey ahead of the other vehicles crowding the busy streets. Relaxed but in control, he had an uncanny gift for predicting what the distracted drivers around him would do.

“You don't drive like somebody who's been locked away from motor vehicles,” I said.

“Thank you for the vote of confidence.” Now he did laugh. “I haven't been locked away anywhere. I've been living very well.”

“When I don't hear from my own fucking twin for eleven years, I tend to assume the worst.”

“I didn't want to bring more trouble to your door. I was protecting you, Rayna. I wouldn't be a good brother if I dragged you into my bullshit.”

“There's no Rayna in this car or anywhere.”

“I can't get used to it. Shell Tate.” Ryder sped up to elude the silver Tesla drifting into our lane while its driver applied a coat of mascara. His hands were steady, his voice calm. Splitting his attention between me and the traffic wasn't difficult for him at all. He was telling me that much of the truth― this man hadn't been in prison, he'd been in large cities where he'd gained experience handling expensive vehicles on busy streets.

“There's a lot we don't know about each other's lives,” I said. “Hard to even know where to start.”

“The lesbian dog whisperer.” This time his smile was real. “It's brilliant once you stop and think of it, but how do you think of it in the first place? I pictured you as a math teacher or something. That card counting stuff, that was pretty cool.”

“After mom passed, I wasn't in the college frame of mind, so being a teacher was kinda out.” And a card counting career wasn't going to happen after Ryder Taylor's immediate family was banned from the area's casinos. “Anyway, college wasn't good then. People were coming out with a hundred thousand dollars in debt, and there weren't any jobs.”

“You were the smart one of the three of us. I thought about sending you money.”

He had no idea how hard I prayed he wouldn't. “You would've caused me a lot more trouble if you did.” Not to mention the trouble he might have caused himself. More money was more links going back to wherever he was hiding.

“I know.”

“If Mom lived, she'd be getting hassles from the FBI for the rest of her life about where that money came from. She'd be followed. You'd never be able to see her again.”

“I know. But, see. She'd be alive. I had to take that chance, Rayna. Shelly.”

“Shell.”

“Shell.”

“And I know you had to take that chance, brother.

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