Brooklyn Sinners 3 -A Sinner Born (6 page)

Kane stood with his hands jammed into his pockets, staring at his favorite painting in the museum. Simply titled
Sunset
, the painting was awash in gorgeous colors, a purple sky streaked with pink and fiery orange where it sank into a lake of vivid blue. A man stood at the edge of the lake in jeans and a plaid shirt, his back to the audience as he wiped his brow. A beat-up Ford F-150 sat off to the side of the frame, a collie hanging out the driver’s side door.

Bailey had introduced him to the museum, insisting Kane needed culture. He’d groaned but gone along and fallen in love with the painting. Bailey had teased him about it mercilessly.

Now, as he stared at that same painting, Kane couldn’t help remember those times. The reason he was back at the museum at all came rushing back. Not that it ever left; the tension in his shoulders and the knot in his stomach could attest to that.

Why was this the first place that came to mind when he spoke to Faro? This was his place, his and Bailey’s, and suddenly a stranger was intruding. A stranger he’d invited in.

Maybe he wouldn’t show. Kane glanced at his watch. Faro was fifteen minutes late, maybe he wasn’t coming. Maybe a face-to-face was too much and he decided to leave Kane alone.

Good. That would be good. It meant he could breathe again because he didn’t think he’d done so since the phone call yesterday.
The two women next to him, quiet since he came in, started a frenzied whispering. Kane glanced over at them, then to the direction both were trying hard not to look.
Faro stood at the entrance with a phone to his ear, dressed in a dark tailored suit with a shirt almost matching his hair color, one hand in his pocket.
Jesus. Kane stared at him as their gazes met and locked. The left corner of Faro’s mouth tipped up and he ended the call, shoving the phone into his pocket as he strode across the floor and up to Kane.
Trouble. He’d been trained to recognize and stop it, so Kane knew in his gut trouble headed his way. Problem was, he wasn’t sure if he should duck for cover or embrace it with open arms.
“Marshal.”
The women’s whispers grew louder and Kane shot them a death glare. They moved away, but not before the taller of the two, a skinny dark-haired thirty-something, flashed him a knowing wink.
Damn it. “Let’s get out of here,” he murmured under his breath.
“Not just yet.” Faro sidled up next to him and turned his gaze to the painting on the wall. “Why this place?” His voice was low, intimate in the quiet of the museum.
Kane didn’t like it, the way Faro’s tone made him want to shift closer, lean into him to catch his words.
“This is neutral territory,” he answered.
Faro grunted. “Familiar.”
He acknowledged the truth with a nod Faro couldn’t see. “That too.”
They stood in silence, Faro’s gaze intently taking in
Sunset
and Kane doing his damndest not to be aware of the man next to him. He was stunning, his features delicate to the point of feminine, his stature and slender build belying a strength Kane had long recognized in his stance, in his eyes, in his voice.
“Why am I here again?”
“Answers.” Kane cleared his throat and looked around. “I’ve asked before and I’m asking again, who are you and what do you want?”
A throaty laugh drifted to his ears as Faro shifted closer, his warmth right there for the basking in. “You know who I am.”
“I don’t.” Frustration sharpened Kane’s words. “My brother-in-law says I can trust you. He says he does.”
He caught Faro’s nod in his periphery.
“He and I go way back. I watched him change for your brother.”
A muscle ticked in Kane’s temple. “You know my brother?”
Faro glanced at him, the brief interaction enough to make Kane want to be someplace else, anywhere but where he was.
“Gabe and I, we have our moments. I had dinner with him and Rafe a few weeks ago.” Syren grinned with his gaze straight ahead. “Gabe likes to pretend he doesn’t like me, but I know he does.”
“What do you want?” Faro didn’t answer for a long while and Kane gave in to the need to move. He took a step back. Then another. He exited the gallery and made a left in the corridor. The woman behind the desk met his gaze then flashed a forced smile to the two women from earlier. He needed to leave, get away. Balling his hands into fists, Kane spun away and strode to the door leading to the front courtyard.
He didn’t hear Faro approach but he blinked and the other man was there, in stride with him as he ran down the museum steps. He didn’t know why and he didn’t care, but his head, his instincts were yelling at him to get far, far away from Faro.
A hand closed over his as he grasped his car door. Kane froze and stared down at the only place they were joined, his skin tanned and Faro’s pale, unblemished. Soft, but hot, branding him right there, in broad daylight.
“You asked me a question.” Faro spoke from his right side and Kane swung his attention to the left, he didn’t want to look into the smaller man’s eyes.
“Forget it,” he rasped. “Forget this, it was a bad idea.” He tugged his hand but Faro held firm. Kane dropped his gaze again, fascination getting the better of him. He was bigger, stronger, if he chose to he could free himself, but that touch was like a warm blanket he wasn’t even aware he needed until he found himself all wrapped up in it.
“I don’t want to forget it, I want to answer.” Faro squeezed him where he held on to Kane then moved away, giving him space to move, to run.
Escape.
But his limbs had long given up on working right. Kane shifted slowly, leaning his weight on his car as he looked to his right. Faro stood there, watching him with those fucked-up eyes. Kane opened his mouth to yell at him, tell him not to look at him like that. In that way that made him…feel.
In the middle of his chest something gripped him tight, held him immobile, cutting off his words. Jesus. Kane shook his head to clear the fog. “Who are you?” Because surely there had to be another explanation for this, another answer.
“You know who I am.” A curtain fell over Faro’s eyes and his mouth twisted. “Can’t escape that.” He patted his left side, muttering under his breath in a foreign language.
“Then why are you here?” Kane asked. What was he missing? “Why are you here with me?”
A tragic smile crossed Faro’s face. “Tempting fate. Being selfish.” He fished a cigarette from his pocket and held it between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. “Been trying to quit.” The expensive suit moved with him when he shrugged, a fluid motion.
“It’s bad for you,” Kane croaked.
Faro’s gaze snapped to his. “A lot of things are bad for you.” He dragged the cigarette under his nose and inhaled deeply. “Deadlier than this.”
A warning Kane took to heart. He jerked open his car door and slid into the passenger seat then the driver’s. His plan for a clean break and getaway went straight down the crapper when Faro dived after him. Kane gripped the steering wheel and stared ahead, ignoring the man now filling up the inside of his car with his presence, his heat and his musk.
“I will leave you alone if that’s your wish,” Faro said slowly, clearly. “But first we’re gonna have us a nice chitchat.”
Kane gritted his teeth and counted to ten in his head “Get out.”
“I can’t attest to who I was in any past life, if such a thing even exists,” Faro whispered. He lifted his hand, hovering it above Kane’s before letting it fall back in his lap. “Most days I’m not even sure who I am in the present, but I know I’ve never been the kind of person to think I need someone else to make my life complete. Until I saw you. Now all I think is that I need this man. All I know is I need you.”
Kane’s heart leapt, the violent motion yanking a gasp from his frozen lips. He couldn’t make himself look anywhere but at the man seated next to him. Faro wasn’t looking at him, his gaze was trained on whatever was happening beyond Kane’s windshield, but his eyes were unfocused.
“There’s this thing called reality,” Faro continued. “I’m not too fond of it, but it has its uses.” He chuckled dryly. “Like now, reality says I should go, leave you alone. It’s a bitch like that, depriving me of what I want. But I know there are a lot of very good reasons to listen.”
“I’m—I don’t date criminals.”
Faro laughed, a sharp burst of mirth that crinkled the area around his eyes and sent the too-serious orbs to twinkling when he faced Kane. “
Sim, eu sei.
” He shook his head. “Yes, I know.”
“And yet, here you are.” Stood to reason Kane would point out the obvious.
“Here I am.” Faro produced the cigarette again and twirled it around his fingers, gaze glued to it. “Reality, eh?”
“If things were different.” Kane swallowed. “If you weren’t—”
“If only I wasn’t who I am.” Faro met his gaze. “If only.”
“I could’ve—we could’ve tried.” His lips moved, he heard the words, but damn if Kane believed that was him speaking. Yet, they didn’t sound wrong. Only weird.
“Would we?” Faro lifted a brow. “Are you over him then, your dead lover?”
Kane recoiled as if bitch-slapped. “No,” he forced the word out before his throat closed in on him. “Do not. He’s off-limits.”
Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch.
He knew about Bailey.
“Right, so that’s a no.” Faro nodded sadly.
“Don’t you fucking dare!” Kane lunged at him, grabbing Faro by the lapels. “You have no right to him. Don’t ever bring him up.” His chest hurt, the pressure too much. He felt himself slipping into it, the panic, the despair. Breath rattled from his throat while words fell from his lips. “He was better than you could ever hope to be. He was good and kind and decent and he was mine.”
Faro held still beneath him, his eyes like lasers focused on Kane’s face. Alert. No trace of fear on him, nothing to give away his emotions.
“He’s mine and you don’t ever get to bring him up. I earned the memories, not you.”
“I can respect that.” The faint scent of mint accompanied Faro’s words and Kane dropped his gaze to his mouth, watching his lips move. “My tailor will be very pissed if you mess up the suit.” He leaned closer, warm breath washing over Kane’s face and neck.
Kane closed his eyes on a shudder.
“Breathe, Marshal,” Faro spoke against his ear. “You’re no good to me if you expire from lack of oxygen.”
But Kane refused to inhale, he refused to take the scent of Faro—hot and earthy— into his lungs.
Gentle fingers traced his jawline then cupped his cheek. “Look at me.”
Kane did. He opened his eyes to find Faro now leaned back against the car door. Kane shifted, realizing then he lay across the center console, his lower body draped over Faro’s legs. He moved to get off, but Faro grabbed his upper arms.
“Breathe with me,” Faro coaxed. “Stay right there and breathe with me.” His body moved when he took a deep breath then let it out. Kane stared deep into his eyes. “Do it.”
He took a breath in and let it out, matching Faro in his breathing. They were quiet except for the deep breath in and the
whoosh
as it rushed out.
“That’s it. Breathe for me, deeply.” Faro’s hand crept up Kane’s arm and over the back of his head, resting on his nape in a gesture that was more than a little possessive. That touch gave him the impetus he needed to move away and mean it. To drag his ass back into the driver’s seat and away from Faro.
“I need you to leave.” There was no anger in his words, no rage or censure. All he felt was drained.
“I recognize that retreat for what it is, Marshal.”
“Stop calling me that,” Kane barked at him. “You know my name.”
“I do. Are you giving me permission to use it?”
“You can do whatever you want.”
“Then I’ll call you Marshal.”
Disappointment chilled Kane’s insides. Why did he want Faro to call him by name? That would make things more personal and it was the last thing he wanted.
“You were telling me how good we could’ve been together, if I wasn’t who I was,” Faro goaded.
“I said no such thing.” Kane started his car. “Get out, I have to go.”
“Hot date?” Faro flicked a lock of hair away from his eyes. “Are you dating someone, Fed?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Faro leaned over. “Not an answer.”
“For you it is.” Why was he so close? Why the hell couldn’t Kane get away from the smell of him?
“I’ve seen you with your partner,” Faro continued as if Kane hadn’t spoken. “He wants you.”
Kane shook his head. “I’m not going there with you.” He didn’t even bother asking how and why Faro knew about Vince. Some things he was starting to figure he didn’t need to know.
“But are you going there with him?”
“He kissed me.” Shit. He blurted out those three words and immediately wanted to recall them.
“Ah.” Faro glanced out the window. “I’d do the same if I wasn’t halfway sure you’d punch me out.”
Since he wasn’t entirely sure of his reaction should Faro kiss him, Kane chose to ignore that too. “We’re going on a date. Tomorrow night.”
Faro began with the nodding before Kane finished speaking. “Of course you are.”
“I’m sorry.” Christ. His voice cracked. “I can’t give you what you want.”
“Don’t say that.” Faro swung around to face him. “You don’t know what I want.” His gaze softened and caressed Kane’s face. “Ask me what I want.”
Kane licked his lips in a self-conscious gesture. “What do you want?”
“You.” Faro smiled.
Kane smiled back before he caught himself and sighed. “I’m sorry. I can’t give you what you want.”
“Fair enough.” Faro dipped his head then looked back up, the sorrow in his gaze disappearing as if it had never been. “Tell me about the painting you were looking at in there.” He jerked a thumb in the direction of the museum.
“
Sunset
. It’s a favorite of mine.”
“Why?”
Kane shrugged. “It just calls to me, I guess.” He felt stupid saying that. “I don’t know, man, I just like it. Okay?”
Faro held up his hands in surrender. “Okay. Okay. No need to get pissy, I was simply asking a question.”
Kane grunted at that. There was nothing simple where Faro was concerned.
“I have to go.” Faro spoke to him, but was staring down at his watch. “Business to do in Manhattan.”
“Okay.”
“Just for the record, you’re saying nothing can happen between us—even though you really want it to—because of who I am, right?”
“That’s not quite how I’d put it, but the gist is the same, yes.”
Faro nodded slowly. “All right.” He smoothed his hands down his chest.
Kane stared. “Are you ever not wearing a suit?”
“Sure, when I’m naked.” Faro grinned.
Kane cocked his head to the side and Faro’s grin widened, eyes gleaming when he said, “Ooh picturing me naked, are you?”
Wha— Kane snorted. “Get over yourself.”
“And what, get under you?” He winked and opened the car door while Kane sputtered. “Later, Marshal.”
Faro disappeared as if he’d never been there and it took Kane another five minutes before he could gather himself and steady his breathing enough to drive away.