by Nana Malone
"He's not missing anymore?"
She shook her head. "Nope."
My pulse hammered, and my mouth went dry. "Where has he been? We were worried sick."
She lifted a brow. "So worried you decided to bang his twin brother?"
I opened my mouth to say something and then had to shut it again because she had a point. I'd been oh-so worried about him. "Where was he? What has he been doing?"
"Well, it seems that the billionaire royal decided he needed to take a little trip to Ibiza, to recover from, you know, his previous kidnapping."
I blinked. "What?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes. We tracked him down. He's been having a grand old time."
"All this time? We've been worried."
"Yes, we all have. But as it turns out, he's perfectly fine."
"I will kill him myself."
"Oh, yes, I understand the feeling, but you will do no such thing. We’re going to monitor the situation and keep a very, very close eye on him."
"Jesus Christ, he's an idiot."
Ariel grinned again. "Oh, yes, he is. But he's your idiot now. Your entire job now is to keep him safe. Keep him from coming to harm or pulling another disappearing act. You think you can manage that?"
"You're serious about this?"
"As a heart attack. You're in charge of watching him now, making sure he doesn't get dead."
"Jesus."
"Yeah, so go ahead and find Theo. Cuddle all you want, because in the morning, you're on a whole new detail."
"Theo is still in danger."
"I recognize that, and I wouldn't just leave him uncovered. He just won't have coverage from you."
My gut clenched. She had every right to be angry. I had screwed up. And there was nothing I could say about it.
"Where is Derrick now?"
"Oh, that's the best part. Seeing as I know what it's like to be in love and just want to be with your boo, I'm putting Derrick with Theo right here in this suite, just adding him to the mix. They’ll be rooming together. Easier to keep track of. Good luck figuring out which brother is which."
With that, she stood and walked away, leaving me to stare behind her. I was going to be rooming with both brothers. Bloody fantastic.
Theo…
What.
The.
Fuck.
The only thing keeping me from kicking my twin brother's ass was the presence of King Sebastian, Prince Lucas, Roone and Lex. I’d been called to Sebastian’s office while Ariel was giving Zia the dressing down.
"Where the fuck have you been?"
Derrick waved a hand drunkenly about. "Oh, mate, cool your tits. I had a previous engagement in Ibiza, and I wasn't going to miss it for anything. You guys are going to make me return to work. Ugh. God, does anyone have anything for this headache? The hangover coming down from Molly and McClelland is epic."
Sebastian stood there with his arms crossed.
Lex gave me a wink. "Yeah, Sebastian called Xander and I and said there had been a hit on one of his aliases. I was the closest, so I went to confirm. Ariel and Roone were the extraction team."
Sebastian gave him a nod of thanks. Lex just shrugged. "He might be a twat, but he's still our cousin."
I chuckled. "That seems to be the prevailing thought."
"Xander is sorry he couldn't be here. He had a gig in New York."
I liked Lex. He hadn't talked much about his mom, but now that I knew a little bit more about him, all the lines made sense. One big happy family. I turned back to Sebastian. "What does this mean? Am I off the hook? Can I go back home?"
Sebastian rubbed his jaw. "Mate, I don't fucking know. He wasn't kidnapped, but there is still a threat to you, both of you. Even though this one is an idiot and doesn't seem to know it. I'm not sure what to do with you right now."
Roone rolled his shoulders. "God, why can't shit ever be easy with us?"
Sebastian laughed. "Who wants easy?"
Lucas raised his hand. "Me. I want easy. Jesus Christ, every time I turn around someone is trying to shoot at us, steal our thrones, or literally steal our crowns."
Sebastian rolled his eyes. "You are usually the only one trying to steal anything."
Lucas rolled his eyes. "I haven't tried to steal anything in months. God, one time I tried to steal something."
Roone coughed and laughed at the same time. "One time?"
"Ugh, but Lord Tressel had it coming."
Lex didn't bother trying to hide his laugh. "I know him. I'm glad you got his watch."
"Sebastian made me gave it back though," Lucas mumbled under his breath. “But then I got engaged to his daughter, so I came out the victor in the end.”
"Oh, for Christ's sake, can we get back to the problem at hand?"
We all turned our attention to Sebastian, who was glaring at Derrick. "Do you understand the amount of man hours that I've had to spend looking for you?"
"I'm not sure why you bothered. You had a replacement."
"I'm not a fucking spare," I growled. "You just fucking took off."
"Sorry, bro," he said with an affected American accent. "We still had a week on the contract."
"I'm going to fucking kill him." I lunged for him, but Roone stepped in my way.
"Easy does it. No twinicide here. Or what is it called?" Derrick asked flippantly.
"Fratricide," Sebastian mumbled. "And we'd have to clean up the blood, very messy. You can't kill him. He's got to go back to work."
I lifted my head hopefully. "Does that mean I'm off the hook? I can go back to my life then?"
Sebastian shook his head. "Technically, you're not one of my subjects, so I can't force you to stay. But until we figure out what the fuck is going on, it's safer if you stay at the palace. But you don't have to go back to work at Arlington. That would just be confusing. But we do need to figure out who's after you, and the sooner we figure that out, the sooner you can safely go home."
The thing was I wasn't exactly in a hurry to go home anymore. I needed to go home and check on my mother, yes. But Kyle said she was safe for now, and there was Zia to think about. God, Zia. Very unhelpfully, my brain offered up the sight of the moonlight on her golden skin, my hands grabbing her ass as I filled her deep. Jesus Christ, I went a little dizzy as the blood rushed to my dick.
Let's not forget that you could have been killed out there.
If Ariel had meant for us to be dead, my blood would be splattered all over that pretty garden. And just like that, my dick deflated. Thank God. "I'd like to see this through. When I leave, I want to know there's nothing hanging over my head."
Lucas eyed me. "Are you sure you want to go back?"
"I have a life. I need to get back to it."
Sebastian nodded. "But for now, your mother is being taken care of. Her medical bills are covered."
I shook my head. "I don't want you to do that."
"Like it or not, you're my cousin, and there is a trust for all of us. You’re entitled to a share that you've never received. Or maybe you have, through Arlington. I don't know. But your share of the royal trust has been placed in an account for you. I personally paid for your mother's care until we could get it set up, but now you'll have access to it. You can do what you want. You don't have to stay here, but you don't have to necessarily go back to your old life. If you want to stay, you could."
“Why would I be entitled to the royal trust? Even if I’m your cousin, I’m not a Winston.”
Sebastian smiled. “My mother’s line. Dad was progressive. The laws read that all direct relations to the King and Queen shall draw from the royal fund since it was grown by the love, care, and attention of both royal lines. Some fancy wording was put in to cover my mother’s siblings and their children as they were all from a deposed line themselves.” He shrugged. “A certain percentage is allocated to the Nomea line.”
This was too much. I couldn’t even process all the words he was saying. "I don't really know what to say to that."
I frowned. "He's kidding, right?"
Roone shrugged. "Hard to tell with him."
Lex laughed. "I should come to the islands more often. Or you guys should come to London more often. I haven't laughed this much in years."
"We still haven’t decided what to do with him," I reminded them.
Sebastian gave me a sheepish smile. "Well, about that, since he has a tendency to disappear when he’s on his own, we're going to put him in a suite with you."
My brows popped. "What?"
"It'll just be easier to keep track of him. Besides, you might not have heard from Ariel yet, but he's going to have a dedicated guard."
"Jax or Trace?" I asked.
He scrubbed his jaw. "Actually, Zia."
I frowned. "But Zia is my guard."
He shrugged. "I got a text from Ariel before we had this little shindig. Zia has been reassigned. To Derrick. Trace will be on you."
I cursed under my breath. So that's how she was going to do it. I knew the moment she’d found us in the Rose Garden that Ariel was going to punish Zia for what we’d done. And this was how she planned to do it.
17
Theo…
Zia's irritated groan/shriek from the window told me she was in no fucking mood. I was out of the bathroom in a flash and quickly wrapped a towel around my waist before running out into the living room to see what was going on.
I found my brother, naked as the day he was born, leaning against the kitchen island. Zia was at the French doors, with her back turned. Hands in her pockets.
I knew for a fact she liked to keep her gun in her pocket. "Listen man, if you want to keep your balls intact, leave her be."
My brother laughed. "Fine. Fine. Fine. I’ll be a good boy. I won't tease her about my man parts even though she's already gotten a good look at them."
Zia turned to face me. "Seriously, I swear to God if you do not do something with him, I will. He will die."
"Yeah, yeah. I know, he's a pain in the ass."
"This goes beyond pain in the ass. He's a prick."
Derrick couldn’t resist. "Correction, I have a big prick. Come on, just turn around and tell me how I am compared to my brother. It seems like he's shy."
Zia turned around then, and I knew it. She was going to murder him. She took three steps in his direction, and it was going to be over soon. "I'll kill you."
"Okay, okay. Easy does it. Fine. I'll put it away." He grabbed one of the hand towels from the kitchen that he used to cover his dick.
That only made her groan more. "Jesus Christ, Derrick, we cook with that one."
He grinned. "What? You said cover up. I covered it up. You can't be mad."
She stared at me. "I swear to God."
"I know. He's an asshole. I got you."
"He's more than an asshole. He is deliberately doing this."
"You know what? I don't doubt it. I don't doubt it for a minute. But still, relax, okay? He's just trying to needle you."
Derrick winked at her. "And by needle, I mean," he moved his hips again, and I sent a scowl in his direction. He put up both hands and the towel dropped.
I groaned. "Dude, come on."
He chuckled, grabbed the towel, and headed for his room. Zia turned to face me then. "I quit. I'm going to quit my job. I don't need this job. I can do anything. You know what? I would rather be in the Royal Guard with my ex-boyfriend than deal with his shit."
She stormed out of the room.
He was a pain in the ass, but he was my brother, wasn't he? I had to refrain from killing him. I just hoped that Zia could eventually see it that way and could manage not to murder him at the office.
Zia…
“I hate him.”
"It's fine. Go to work. Do what you have to do. Just pretend he's me." Theo kissed my shoulder as I slipped on my jacket.
"Except he's not you.”
"I’ll talk to him, tell him to behave."
"Don’t bother. I think he gets off on it."
"Look, I'm sure it's only temporary. I'll be working with Sebastian and Ariel today, and we'll try to track down any leads we've got. You're only on first shift anyway, so it's just through the day. You just have to survive and do what you've been doing."
"I'm going to kill him myself."
"I offered last night, but Sebastian said no."
I chuckled then. "Would you really kill him for me? I'm pretty sure that would be tantamount to treason, considering he has royal blood and all."
“Fucking royal blood, blah, blah, blah.”
I gave him a soft smile. He still didn’t get it did he? "Technically, you have royal blood too."
Theo frowned. "I never thought of that."
"I mean, it's true. Queen Mother Alexa comes from the Nomea line."
"Nomea? That’s the tiny country off the coast of France, right?"
She nodded. "Today you can probably brush up on some of your history too. I mean, your other history. The history you don't know. Three generations ago, your great-grandfather and his family were deposed by their version of the Royal Council. His cousin took the throne by force and exiled the whole family. They managed to take their offshore wealth and grow it, becoming titans of business and refusing to give up their titles. The deposed king and his wife had two children. The son died in a car accident, but their daughter, your grandmother, was married to an English Duke. Anyway, it's a long, complicated history."
"Yeah, sounds like it."
"When King Theodore and Queen Sara were exiled, their daughter, your grandmother Delena, was with them. Even though King Theodore's cousin sat on the throne, the people still wanted the original ruler back, but they were never allowed to return. Delena eventually married a businessman, James Arlington, a Duke of England. And they had your father, Queen Mother Alexa, and another daughter, Stephanie, who is Lex and Xander’s mum."
"Well, you know my family history better than I do."
I shook my head. "Only because we all had to learn both Queen Alexa's and King Cassius’s histories in school when they were on the throne. King Cassius was insistent that women's history should not be erased, and she does come from a royal line herself. So, that makes you some kind of long-lost prince of some sort, I guess."
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, fantastic. I'm a royal."
I laughed. "Most people would be thrilled by that."
"I'm not. Sure, it would have been cool if I had known any of this growing up, but right now it's hard to process."
"I get it. If it makes you feel any better, technically, you wouldn't be in line for the Nomean throne. I think that would be Lex or Xander since Stephanie was the oldest. But you and Derrick are in that mix."
"Well, that's promising then. So, I'm not actually a prince."
I shrugged. "Well, they were deposed, so no, not a prince. But if they ever get their throne back, you're welcome to be a prince."
"Trippy, I guess."
I sighed. "Look, take your time. See what you can figure out. I need to go to work with Satan's spawn out there."
He laughed. "Considering I’ve met Timothy Arlington, that is remarkably accurate."
I laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry. That makes you Satan's spawn too. But I like you. Maybe you're just part Satan's spawn, and your mom is part angel?"
He laughed. "Oh, I'm no angel. I think I already showed you that last night."
His fingers hooked into the belt loops of my skirt, and he tugged me closer. Instant melting. God, all I wanted to do was climb back into bed and sit on his face. But no. No. I was not going to do that because I had to go to work. And if I didn't get to him any second now, Derrick Arlington was going to do something stupid.
But Theo was kissing my neck, running his nose along my skin with his li
ps as the chaser, teasing me, making me want to quit my job so that I wouldn’t have to babysit the dumb fuck.
But then, what would you do? Who would you be?
That was a very good point. So reluctantly, I groaned and stepped back. "I can't. I have to go to work."
"Well, you look beautiful. And I know you're going to be badass."
"I certainly hope so."
When I stepped out into the main living area, Trace was barring the door, stopping Derrick from leaving. He gave me a nod when he saw me. "This asshole tried to leave?"
Trace's lips tipped into a crooked smile. "Yup, sure did."
Derrick shook his head and placed a hand on his chest over his heart as if that would mean anything to me. "Moi? I would never try to do that. I was going to see my cousin."
I nodded. "Okay, then we'll go together. Until this is over, we are attached at the hip."
“You make that sound so dirty.” As I passed him, and a hand smacked at my ass. Just like his father had done that first day.
I whirled on him, really wanting to go for a face shot. But I knew that could be seen, so instead, I counterstruck with my left to the gut. He doubled over and muttered, “Motherfucker.”
"You put your hands on me again and you'll come up missing a couple of digits, do you understand?"
He was still bent over, clutching his midsection. "You realize I can have you removed from my detail, right?"
"Yes, God, please. I beg you."
He scowled up at me then finally stood. "Okay, so you don't punch like a girl. And you've got some steel behind you. I like that, so it's not all bad."
"How are your insides? Are your intestines still there?"
He nodded and gave me a grin that was so familiar it made my stomach clench. Jesus, they really did look alike. Well, except for the eyes. To me, it appeared Derrick was just a wee bit cross-eyed, and he didn't have the same easy smile that Theo did. I would always be able to tell them apart.
"Let's go."
"What, you're not going to scurry back there and give my brother a big smooch? Or am I a good stand-in?"
