Brothers came by for breakfast. See you soon.
There wasn’t really anything else to say. He’d rather eat crow later, face to face, like a man. Hopefully, by then, he’d know more and could make up his mind.
He was clothed, coffeed, and in his brother’s more-than-likely stolen vehicle, no more than ten minutes later. Kade winced as Anton broke half a dozen traffic laws while yapping on the phone in a jumble of Spanish, English and Russian.
They all spoke a bit of Russian and Spanish. Russian because their family still spoke a bastardized mix of it, and Spanish because they’d grown up in or around Texas.
Neither Anton or Sasha bothered to speak to Kade, now that they’d at least secured his presence. The rest must be up to their boss.
How was Shelby involved? He hadn’t really wanted to hear what they were saying so he’d missed that part. If she’d told him.
Art.
That wasn’t his brothers’ thing.
They were more interested in easily-moved merchandise.
Kade—and by extension, his brothers—would know nothing about art.
Those easels at Shelby’s loft… She’d called herself a contractor. Art security. Was that her in with them?
Kade paid attention to the route Anton took. It wasn’t direct. He wove through the city, going this way, doubling back and even circling a time or two. It was more caution than his brothers normally took. Anton finally parked in an alley behind what had once been a small strip mall, though now most of the old store fronts were boarded up or in need of repair.
Sasha led the way in through a back entrance. He called out something that might have been Spanish, before turning to admit Anton and Kade.
“Not everyone’s here,” Anton said over his shoulder.
Kade paused just in the door, allowing his eyes to adjust to the lack of light.
“This is Shelby.” Anton gestured at the woman sitting in an old, shabby arm chair, tapping at her phone. “She’s cool.”
The hair on the back of Kade’s neck rose.
That was their code.
Always had been.
Saying someone was cool meant they weren’t to be trusted.
Shelby glanced up and met his gaze.
She didn’t speak to him and barely acknowledged his presence.
In fact, she was pretty much turning her nose up at his brothers, not that he blamed her.
He nodded and walked on, following Sasha and Anton up a flight of stairs to some sort of office with a cot on one side. A man with thinning hair, wide shoulders, and a frown permanently etched onto his face sat behind a desk peering at some papers.
“Gil. This is our brother, the one we told you about.” Sasha turned, ushering Kade forward.
Gil finally glanced up, his shrewd gaze seeming to weigh and consider Kade before speaking.
“How much have they told you?” Gil asked.
“There’s a job.” Kade shrugged.
Gil turned his gaze on Anton and Sasha, some sort of silent communication going back and forth.
“Your brothers are in a steaming pile of shit. Simply put, they didn’t do what they said they would, and now I’m stuck with ‘em. You sure you’re interested?”
“If my life is on the line, I’d like to do what I can.”
“You’re a fireman, right?”
“Sort of.” Kade wouldn’t get into the particulars, they were too complicated for most to understand.
“You have access to the Fire Marshal’s information?”
“Know him? Yeah, but—”
“He could do it,” Anton said.
“No one asked you, kid.” Gil pointed at Kade. “I’m talking to you.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“We need someone to scout the place once it’s set up. If we can get someone in the door as a Fire Marshal, it will go well for these guys.” Gil flicked his fingers toward the other two.
“What’s the inside person got to do then?”
“What they’re told.”
“I can’t say yes, if I don’t know what I’m agreeing to.”
“You want to save your own neck.”
“Let me see what I can do.” Kade lifted his shoulders.
He could always go away for a week. He wasn’t worth sticking around to kill because his brothers were fuck ups. But did he want to play with his parent’s lives? Shelby was convinced, and so was Anton. It was hard to tell what Sasha thought.
“You’ve got twelve hours before I send someone to keep you company. If you’re lucky, it’ll be the pain in my ass downstairs.” Gil thumbed through the floor.
Shelby?
Kade had a bad feeling about this.
“Get out of my sight.” Gil jerked his head toward the door. “Sasha, Anton, stay.”
Kade walked out the door, spine straight, and down the stairs.
Shelby sat in the chair, still staring at her phone, and the door upstairs shut.
He had no wheels and hadn’t thought to check his wallet for cash. Neither stopped him from walking out the back door and down the side walk. No one followed, not even Shelby.
Kade checked his phone for the first time since leaving his apartment, praying for something.
Loft. 7PM.
Yeah, he might not like working with people who lied to him, but his options were shrinking. He needed to talk to the guys. Owen was a cop, so he could probably find out something about Shelby and the FBI agent. His other friends had resources through the security firm they worked for. He wasn’t going into anything blind anymore.
8.
Shelby took the stairs two and three at a time.
She should have told Kade seven-thirty.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
After the enlightening meeting with Gil, she’d had to squeeze in time for a face-to-face with Rusty at the FBI office. That was a dangerous and deadly move, but given that they needed to find the needle in the proverbial haystack when it came to Shelby’s target, they needed the entire team of analysts on the job.
And analysts liked to hear themselves talk, in her experience.
The fifth-floor landing came into view, as did a pair of men’s boots.
She groaned inwardly and slowed, breathing deep.
Too late now to pick up, change, or anything. She’d have to face Kade as she was, sweaty, greasy, and starving.
Of course, Kade looked better than he had earlier. His hair was a bit of a mess, but that was probably from shoving his hand through it—which he was currently doing. She didn’t have a moment to prepare herself, either. His dark gaze speared her, seeing far too deep. A deep tremor shook her. Yeah, she kind of hated Rusty for showing up when he had. Now she’d never know what Kade was really like under all those clothes.
She knew better than to hope for more. Why the heck would a guy with his life together be interested in her? She was a train wreck on her good days. The most she could hope for was a night or two.
“Hey.” She dug her keys out of her pocket, juggling her helmet and backpack in the mix.
Kade didn’t respond. He crowded behind her as she wrestled with the finicky lock on the loft.
Sheesh, at least buy me dinner first?
She shoved the door open, stepped in and closed it close on Kade’s heels.
“Is it—can we talk here?” He gestured to the loft space.
“Yeah. Say whatever.”
Shelby dumped her helmet and backpack onto the closest armchair, and wiggled out of her motorcycle jacket. She’d devoured last night’s food after Kade had left, and of course, Rusty had helped himself to the leftovers, which were meant for him. But still. She was too hungry to cook anything, not to mention all the other stuff she needed to do.
“Why?” Kade asked.
“Why—say whatever?” She shrugged.
“No, why this gig? Why me? Why here? Why?”
She sighed and scratched her scalp, mentally sorting through the threads of what he was, and was not, asking.
The problem was, she’d been working on this, off and on for years, with Rusty. Ever since she’d cleaned up her act. A job here, another there. Little things, because it wouldn’t do to show their hand too soon.
“The guy we’re after? He usually deals in expensive, hard-to-get shit. Big-dollar, black-market stuff. But, we’ve noticed a trend. He likes art. So, every now and then, when he can’t outright buy what he wants, he steals it. Best we can guess, there’s something at this art history exhibit that’s going on display during the gala, that he wants.”
“Wait—exhibit? Gala?”
Yeah, the shit I would have told you about, if you hadn’t run out…
Shelby needed food and water, likely in that order. The hanger was real and rising.
“Yes, Gil wants to bring you on to play the role of Fire Marshal, so you can get early access to the gala space, where the art is being unveiled for the Seattle museum’s top contributors.”
“When was I going to be told this?” Kade spread his hands.
“Oh, I don’t know, last night?” Shelby took a step toward the kitchen.
“I want answers.” Kade blocked her path.
“And I’d like a burger, fries, and a shake, but I’m not getting everything I want.” She prodded his chest with her finger. Damn, those were some rather fine muscles he had there. It was all too easy to remember the way he’d felt, how he’d held her. “Right now, our only no-one-gets-hurt option for getting people on the inside is you. Every other plan has a body count. So, not to pressure you, but there you go.”
“If I play ball, no one dies.” The way he stared at her and his cool tone, she might as well be the one slicing throats, instead of trying to save them.
“Pretty much. Now, can I get some food, please?” She had no patience for his self-righteous attitude right now.
“Are our parents really in danger?” he asked.
“Is that what Gil’s holding over your brothers?”
“Yeah.”
“Then—yeah. They are. That’s how this guy keeps people doing what he says wants. He doesn’t just make threats, he carries through with them.”
“God damn it.” Kade scrubbed a hand over his face and glanced away.
Shelby felt for him. Or she tried to. It couldn’t be easy. He’d done everything in his power to walk away from the life he’d been raised in, just to get sucked back in. Even if he was ultimately doing the right thing. He wouldn’t be at her loft if he didn’t mean to join the good guys on this one, would he?
Kade could always rat her out to his brothers or Gil.
It was one possibility with a narrow margin for probability, given his nature.
“If I do this…” Kade dropped his gaze from the ceiling back to her. She felt the touch of it all the way to her bones, rooting her to the spot. “I want my brothers to get a deal. Not off totally free, they don’t deserve that, but…something lighter.”
“I’ll talk to Rusty and see what he can do.” She was willing to bet Rusty would go for it. In the big picture, the two older Tsaplin brothers were small fry criminals the FBI wouldn’t give two shits about. Cutting them loose to get the big fish would be acceptable to them.
“I need to know now. My brothers are probably back at my place, wanting an answer.”
Shelby ground her teeth and took a deep breath. If she didn’t get food soon, she would not accept responsibility for her actions.
“I’ll talk to Rusty,” she said again, slower.
The gig wasn’t for another week.
They had time to get their ducks in a row, to organize paperwork and make it all happen. These things didn’t happen, just because someone snapped their fingers. And her part of this took time. Time Kade’s attitude was eating into.
“Unlike you, I didn’t choose this,” he said.
Shelby flinched.
Where did he get off, making a comment like that about her? What did he even know about her? Who did he think he was, up there on his high and mighty pedestal?
She bit her cheek to keep from replying. She was grouchy. Hungry. Irritable. Having this conversation now, in this state of mind, would lead to nothing but completely fracturing any work relationship they might have had, those kisses be damned. But dang, that stung.
Was that how he saw her?
Sure, she’d made some shit decisions in her life, but it wasn’t like he was perfect.
“You chose this, I didn’t,” he said again, as though he were trying to convince himself.
“It must be nice to sit up there and look down at the rest of us for our mistakes. Get out.”
Shelby might have to work with him. She might have to remember the way she’d wanted him, how he’d made her feel. He might be the only way for them to pull off this undercover gig without a body count. But she didn’t have to let him talk to her like that.
Kade was an ass.
This was what happened when he hung around his brothers for any time at all.
He opened his mouth to say something, take it back, apologize, but Shelby steamrolled him, punctuating every other word with a strong jab to his ribs.
“You know what? No. At least instead of sticking my fucking head in the sand, I’m willing to do something about it. All you want to do is slap a God damn Band-Aid on things and ignore them.”
“Ignore what? My brothers?” He gaped at her, and all the while, his brain was screaming at him: Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.
Shelby’s eyes practically glowed red. If this were a cartoon, there’d be steam coming out of her ears.
“Yeah, and every other color-outside-the-lines thing in your life. You—what? Walk away from your parents because your mom’s a scam fortune teller? Your dad’s pawn shop’s just a front for all kinds of cons, isn’t it? You can’t get over the fact that they aren’t good enough for you, can you?”
What. The. Fuck?
Who did she think she was?
His family’s sins were not his responsibility. He couldn’t fix what they’d done. They were like addicts, and until they wanted to change their ways, he couldn’t help them. No amount of showing them the error of their ways would help.
Kade leaned forward, looming over Shelby.
“I did not walk away—”
“Then what did you do? What do you want to call it?” She just kept talking over him.
“I went into the military—”
“You ran away. I’ve seen it a hundred times from guys just like you. Instead of dealing with your problems, you turn your back on them and find something better to do. So, excuse me if I’m actually choosing to deal with my demons.”
“So, you think you know me now? Because you’ve read some shit about my family you know all about me?”
Okay, so he shouldn’t have said what he’d said. He’d known it was wrong, and he deserved to be called on his shit. But she didn’t have to poke at him. She didn’t have to see through him so easily.
He hated being duped. He hated that his brothers were here, in his hometown, and that his choices were being taken from him. He certainly didn’t like being called on the carpet by a woman who had conned him. Even if she was right.
Shelby glared right back at him.
God, he wanted to…
Kade had the strangest urge to kiss her smart mouth and wring her neck, all at once.
“What? Nothing else to say?” Shelby crossed her arms over her chest. The flame in the depths of her gaze flickered and died.
“You pretty much said it all.” He didn’t like her eyes looking so flat. So lifeless. It wasn’t right. In the short time he’d known her, there’d always been something captivating about her. Last night, when they’d eaten and talked, he’d seen her. He might not have known everything about her, but he’d seen the woman at the core of it all—and she wasn’t this person.
“Well, now that that’s settled—get out.”
“Shelby—”
“What? What could you possibly have left you want to talk to me about?”
>
“Nothing, I guess.” He wanted to see her smile. But he didn’t have any right. He took a step back and ran into the kitchen counter.
“Don’t let the door hit you on your way out. I’m fresh out of Band-Aids.” Shelby stepped back and gestured at the sliding door to the loft.
What was he supposed to say to that?
He’d fucked this all up.
Kade grimaced and headed out of the door. Shelby shut the loft up behind him.
Why did things get so complicated when his brothers showed up? This was why they had their agreement. Anton and Sasha could go anywhere but here. They were supposed to stay far away from each other. So, what’d happened? How had they screwed up?
Shelby probably knew, but after he’d struck a match and lit her fire, he doubted she’d entertain any questions.
He slowly trudged down the stairs.
Kade relished control. His parent’s lifestyle, his brother’s habits, they left him belted into a rollercoaster, and he wanted off. Was leaving, putting distance between them, running away? He’d never seen it that way, but maybe that was how his family saw it.
Fuck.
And what had he said to Shelby?
Unlike you…
God damn it.
Kade paused in the entry to the building and knocked his forehead against the brick.
Under normal circumstances, he’d have a cooler head, a better response to all of this. But having his brothers around changed things. Alienating Shelby was stupid. She might be the only ally he had going into this. No, he might not be able to fully trust her, but she was working with—or for—the FBI.
How was he going to fix this?
His stomach growled, reminding him that he’d only had half his lunch because Sasha had filched the rest.
Food would be nice.
A burger, fries and a shake…
Shelby’s words tickled the back of his brain.
Kade stepped out onto the walk and peered up at her windows.
Her Prince (Twisted Royals #2) Page 7
