Shark’s Rise: Shark’s Edge: Book Three

by ANGEL PAYNE

  “Hey,” I murmured, turning toward him. “How long are you staying? Do you have to go back this morning already?”

  I already dreaded the answer. At once, he seemed to sense that. He always did. The man could read me like his own illuminated manuscript. It was why I didn’t hesitate as soon as he held his arms open for me to come to him. I snuggled into his chest and just enjoyed the feeling of his embrace. I hated how much I didn’t want to be sequestered in this house with his best friend. How much I hated not being invited to pack my things and leave with him. Whenever that might be.

  When would that be?

  “So I trust you slept well?” He smirked down at me, heating up the crackle of energy between us. The mutual understanding about exactly how good my sleep really was.

  “I did.” I grinned too. “How about you? What time did you get up?” I leaned in, flattening a hand to his chest. The move was blatantly needy, but I didn’t care. “I didn’t even hear your shower. I would’ve been happy to join you.” Yeah. Needy. Still didn’t care.

  “Hmm, I like that idea. Maybe tomorrow morning?”

  He studied my features closely while we spoke. Shit, maybe the color hadn’t returned as well as I thought. But I liked the intense focus of his attention. A lot. “You’re staying?” I blurted. The happiness in my voice couldn’t be missed.

  “For a few days, if that’s okay with you?” The mischief in his couldn’t be missed either.

  “Well, you better clear it with that one.” I motioned to his buddy with a tilt of my head. “He’s the heavy around here.”

  “That’s not the story I’m hearing.”

  Bas was still teasing, but I wasn’t amused. Not in the least. I jerked out of his arms, planting my hands on my hips. “Oh, really? And what have you heard? Exactly?”

  I started a new ping-pong match of my accusing glare, back and forth between the formidable men in front of me. But not for very long. Elijah’s groan swiftly broke the moment.

  “Oh, dude,” he groused. “Why did you say that? I’m the one who’s stuck here with her.”

  “And it’s such a hardship,” I countered. “I mean, right? I’ve told you before, Mr. Banks”—I all but spat his name—“I’d gladly like to declare your post done. I didn’t ask for this bullshit. You recall that little fact too, yes?”

  Elijah didn’t answer me. Well, not in words. He said enough by raising a brow at Sebastian.

  And that was more than enough of that. “What?” I seethed.

  Sebastian let out a long breath. “Baby,” he finally murmured and held out his hand. “Come here.”

  He turned his hand over and hitched his outstretched fingers. I didn’t move. I just stared at his offering. His damn bidding.

  Until he raised an expectant brow of his own.

  I probably looked like an obedient little dog coming to heel. But the second Sebastian folded me back into his embrace, my spine relaxed. My breathing evened. My ire leaked out through my toes and fingertips. In Sebastian’s arms, I barely had a care in the world. He was the Abbigail Whisperer.

  My boyfriend kissed the top of my head and gently stroked my hair. That didn’t stop my awareness of Elijah’s new assessment. The man’s hazel eyes were practically boring holes into my back. Before long, I was visibly squirming against the confines of Bas’s hold.

  “Hey. What is it, Little Red?”

  I twisted my lips before whispering, “Tell him to stop staring at us.”

  “Huh?” His voice was hushed, as well. “Why does that bother you? He’s interested in the way we interact. He’s never seen me in love with a woman before. He and I have known each other for a long time. Elijah cares about me.”

  “Yes, but he doesn’t care about me. Not in the slightest. Quite the opposite, I’m afraid.”

  “Is that what’s bothering you?” His breath was warm atop of my head. There was a distinct smile in his tone. “You two are like oil and water, aren’t you?”

  “It would seem that way.”

  “And that irks you. Or…confuses you?”

  “Both.” I smushed my nose to his sternum. “I’m not used to not getting along with people.”

  “I know, baby.” But after his tender rebuttal, Bas pulled a one-eighty on me and changed the subject completely. “How about we go for a walk. Would you like that? You and me? Around the property?”

  “That would be nice. I haven’t really been outside all that much,” I said.

  “That’s true,” Elijah said, injecting himself into our conversation again. Sebastian and I both turned to look at him. “You haven’t done anything but hide out in your room.”

  Glaring at the man, I said, “You know I haven’t been feeling well. I’ve told you twenty times. And why are you still standing here? Don’t you have something better to do?”

  “Actually, I do. But because you’re being so sweet around Sebastian, I’m enjoying your company this morning. In fact”—his eyes glittered with mischief—“maybe I’ll go along with the two of you.”

  “No.” Sebastian and I fired it in unison.

  Just as quickly, he added, “Go get dressed, baby, while I finish my conversation with Elijah. I’ll meet you out by the pool.”

  After he kissed me again, I set off to dress for our walk. I considered lingering in the hallway to eavesdrop on their talk but inwardly talked myself out of it. Spying wasn’t cool. Besides, I trusted Sebastian. Just because I couldn’t say the same thing about Elijah Banks…

  Beside the point. At least right now.

  And my ace in the hole? I’d just ask Bas about their talk while we took our stroll. The sooner I was dressed, the sooner I’d have my answers. But more importantly, I’d have more alone time with the man I adored.

  And maybe, just maybe if I was extra charming, I could convince Sebastian to take me back to Los Angeles with him.

  And if pigs had wings, they would fly.

  Chapter Four

  Sebastian

  This walk had been a good call.

  I could tell Abbigail needed some more one-on-one time. While last night had been the hello-again-is-it-me-you’re-looking-for I’d been dreaming of for a week, she and I hardly had time to reconnect anything other than our bodies. From the second she stepped into the kitchen this morning, I could tell she needed some physical distance from Elijah, as well as a chance to unload her version of what had been happening out here.

  And boy, did she ever.

  She talked almost nonstop while we walked, and I let her. It was good to see the color finally returning to her cheeks. Whether her new glow was from the fresh air, the sunshine, or just the joy of getting to vent her frustrations, I didn’t really care. I was just glad to see her looking lively—and even a little saucy. I’d take it all, considering how deeply she’d scared me when I first saw her last night.

  Her discernible pallor substantiated all the claims Elijah had made to me. She’d been irritable and moody, spending most of her time cooped up in the master suite of the house. She hadn’t been eating much. Banks also told me he’d heard her crying. A lot. Though I ensured him that she released her anger and frustrations through tears, he’d been concerned. It was more than what should be expected.

  I hadn’t fully believed him but gave him the green light to turn up the heat about her at least emerging to eat. My decree had been effective in that regard but unfortunately had torpedoed any hopes of the two of them forging a friendship.

  But I needed to try to smooth things over between them. They were two of the most important people in my life, and now they were constantly at each other’s throats. Unacceptable.

  “Bas?”

  Her prod came with a slight squeeze of my hand, nudging me back to the moment. “Hmmm?”

  “I was asking if you’ve managed to find out anything. I mean, anything? At all? About who may be doing all of this.” She clarified the point as we sat down on a wrought-iron bench in the shade of a Palo Verde tree. “I don’t see how anyone, or even a
whole group, disguises all their tracks after pulling stunts like these. It’s not like dead sharks can be picked up on Rodeo Drive. Or a few hundred live piranhas…”

  “You’re right, of course,” I said. “But…”

  “But what?”

  I looked up and gazed across the villa’s extensive grounds. The landscaping on the property was a mix of naturally occurring desert trees, bushes, and cacti. There were so many varieties we didn’t usually see near the Pacific in Los Angeles. The Palo Verde over our heads was an old, sturdy tree. It stood close to eighteen feet tall, its sprawling branches providing perfect shadows against the day’s mounting heat.

  I pulled in a long breath while I twined my fingers with Abbi’s slender ones. Damn it. How much should I tell her at this point? Definitely not everything. If half of what Elijah was telling me was true, she was too fragile for a complete confession.

  “It seems like the deeper we dig, we just come up with more questions instead of answers,” I finally confessed. “It’s very frustrating.”

  “And who are ‘we’?” she pressed. “You and Elijah?”

  “Yes. And his team.”

  “His…team?”

  I couldn’t decipher her reaction as incredulous or impressed, so I just went on. “He has a small but trusted corps that he works closely with in LA.” I phrased everything carefully. “But there’s something that’s happened…beyond what they’ve dug up.”

  Abbi swiveled to face me more fully. Her reaction was surprising. I expected a jolt forward followed by a demand for every last detail. Instead, she watched me closely while waiting patiently.

  At last she asked, “Something…how?”

  “Baby? Do you want to go back inside? Are you feeling okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just tired. Please…just tell me what happened.”

  Mentally, I vowed to call a doctor once we got back inside. My sister, at the very least. Something was definitely wrong with my woman, aside from typical stress about a situation like this. But she wasn’t being honest with me—and likely herself—about it.

  So maybe piling more weirdness on her wasn’t the best call at the moment.

  I was on the brink of vocalizing exactly that, when Abbigail compressed her lips and stated, “Damn it, Bas. Just tell me. Don’t treat me like a fragile child. Please!”

  With a heavy sigh, I gave in. I figured I always would with this woman. “Terryn’s…been acting very strange.”

  A dozen tense lines of her face evaporated. She chuckled with gusto. “Sebastian, that’s not breaking news.”

  “Normally I’d agree with you.”

  “But?” she filled in the word that my tone implied.

  “Yesterday morning, she came into my office acting squirrelier than normal. To be honest, I was actually uncomfortable about it.”

  Abbi narrowed her gaze. “Why?”

  “Well, she had a gift for me.” As soon as I put air quotes around the word gift, she straightened.

  “A gift?” she charged. “Okay, what was it?”

  “A keychain.”

  She knitted her brows. “Like…a souvenir or something? Did she go on vacation? Or make it in some kind of arts and crafts—” She interrupted herself at the start of my “get real here” look.

  “It had some charms dangling from it,” I explained. “Seems harmless enough, right?”

  “That depends,” she said slowly. “What were the trinkets, exactly?”

  “One was a shark’s tooth.” I rolled my eyes. “Really original, right?”

  Abbi barely cracked a smile. She was really invested here, despite my attempt at dry wit. “And what were the others?”

  “The second one…is a carved piranha.”

  “A…what?” Abbi bugged out her gaze. I would’ve been surprised if she hadn’t—but her uptick of distress had me scrambling to play down the disturbing implication of my revelation.

  “If it weren’t so creepy, it’d be awesome. I’m serious.”

  She eyed me like I’d just confessed to liking anchovies straight out of the can. “Oh, I can see that.”

  “The artistry of the thing is amazing.” I held my fingers up to estimate how small the charm was. “Anyhow, Elijah is researching the last charm now.”

  “Which was what?” she prompted.

  “A flatter disk that displayed some sort of insignia…maybe even a corporate logo or a family crest. Neither one of us was familiar with it.”

  “But you think it might mean something? And if so, then what?”

  I squared my shoulders. “The simplest explanation is often the truth, so we’re going for that first. Clearly it’s meant to be some sort of message to me.”

  Abbi screwed her face into a confused frown. “But how would Terryn, of all people, have known about the piranhas? We were the only ones in the backyard that night.” Her throat visibly constricted. There was a new flare of her gaze. “Holy shit, Bas. Did she have something to do with all of this?”

  I maintained calm across my own mien. Fortunately, I’d had over twenty-four hours to sit with this knowledge. “We don’t know,” I told her. “At least not yet. I mean, this is definitely where the woman’s shit gets really suspicious.”

  “And it wasn’t before?” Abbi injected.

  I took half a moment to again steel myself. “She said…she was in the backyard that night,” I explained. “Terryn said she stuck around long enough to watch you pass out. That was when she left.”

  “Long enough?” Abbi spewed. “Because she wasn’t inspired sufficiently to take off before then?” As her voice pitched higher, she went on. “You’ve got to be kidding! Honest to hell! What was she doing there?”

  Once more, I struggled to crank down my blatant surprise. This was the most animated I’d seen my Little Red all morning. I hated that it had taken raw anger to accomplish that.

  “She said she got an email from me asking her to come over.”

  A new flurry of her open agitation. “And now this is getting weird. No, scratch that. It’s getting outright messy.”

  “I know.” I worked on modulating my composure now, since there was nobody else around to help modulate Abbi. There was animated, and then there was outright spun up. “I know, baby, and Elijah’s working on—”

  “So you’ve said,” she snipped, looking ready to break free and pace any second. But she didn’t. Instead, she challenged, “Aren’t you worried about Pia and Vela now? Didn’t you say you were going to bring them here, too? For their safety? Where are they, Sebastian? Are they being secured?”

  Since I sensed she had more questions left, I said nothing. But I sure as hell listened. Her pitch was still escalating, but if I wasn’t mistaken, her angle now seemed…hopeful. Was this the key to the ongoing health problems Elijah kept telling me she was having? Was my sweet, outgoing Abbigail suffering from loneliness? Feeling isolated?

  “Elijah has a detail keeping watch over them, but so far, there hasn’t been a reason to be concerned about them,” I said. “I’ve been trying to have minimal contact with my sister to keep her off their radar.”

  Abbi dipped a terse nod. “Okay. I guess that makes sense. But what’s the plan now? I mean, what’s the new direction, given this development with Terryn? Clearly, she’s involved somehow…in all of this.”

  I emulated her nod but replied, “Yes and no.”

  “What do you mean?” she demanded.

  “Terryn told me that she’d corresponded remotely with the keychain’s supplier. When it was ready to give to me, they had it couriered to her at the office.”

  “Is that how she’s explaining the freaky email too?” Abbi charged. “That all of that was done…remotely?”

  “Of course not.” At once, I hated myself for barking it. My sourness was entirely due to what I had to tell her next. “Apparently, somewhere along the line, my email account was…hacked. Those bastards used the originating address to set up the message to Terryn. The email only looked like it ca
me from me.”

  Abbi absorbed that information with terse lips and a probing gaze. “So what does that mean?”

  “That it seems Terryn is just being used as a pawn. The woman hasn’t exactly been secretive about her…crush on me.” I dragged a hand through my hair. “Or whatever the fuck it is.”

  “Crush?” Abbi pushed out a bitter laugh. “Ohhh, Bas. That woman is more than just crushing.”

  “Like I said,” I bit back, “whatever the fuck it is…the bastards took advantage of it to get directly to me. They leveraged her.”

  “Yes, but she let them.” They were the words, laced with bitterness, that spurred her to pace away. When she turned back to face me, her arms were folded and her shoulders were stiff. “Maybe you should let her go, Bas. Once and for all. They can’t use her to get to you if she’s no longer near you.”

  “Well, I’m waiting to see what Elijah comes up with regarding that third charm, and then I’ll go from there. As much as that woman is a creepy psychopath, I think whoever used her once may use her again. Now that we know that it’s happened, we can watch her closer, too. That was definitely our mistake to not take her seriously.”

  “At what point are you going to get law enforcement involved in this?” The pale shade had returned to her cheeks.

  “I don’t know that yet either.”

  Her scowl warned me of an incoming argument. At the very least, a spirited protest. But by this point, I was looking forward to it. The fire in her fight usually led to one in my loins. But more than that, I needed to know her flames still existed. That my fierce, determined girl was still in there somewhere.

  The conflagration never came. Instead, Abbi simply snuggled back into my side. “Hmmm,” she murmured while resting her head on my shoulder. “Okay, then.”

  What the hell?

  As the thought hit full force, I pulled back. Probed my stare down at her. In return, all I received was the vast emptiness of her huge emerald eyes.