by Tiya Rayne
Thankfully, I know all about Ari’s cats, because if not, this would have been a really weird conversation.
“You sure it isn’t Clary’s new medication that has her acting weird?”
She gasps as if this is news to her. “You’re right, I didn’t even think of that. You’re so smart, Lucien.”
I chuckle. “Thanks. What’s going on?”
“Did I call you?”
I pause and shake my head. “Yeah, you called me.”
“Oh, that’s right. A package arrived for you today.”
What the hell? No one should be sending me a package to the Church. First of all, no one knows where I work. And the only people who do know, wouldn’t send me packages there.
“Are you sure it’s for me?”
“It’s addressed to Twin, I figured it’s either for you or your brother since that’s your guys’ code name. I guessed it has to be Twin D or Twin R,” she says.
“Yeah. I’ll be there in a few,” I reply nonchalantly.
However, I’m anxious to pick up the package if for no other reason than to see who could have sent it and why. Yet, I don’t want to leave Malia. It sounds crazy, but I only recently got back.
I feel like I haven’t spent much time with her. Besides, I need to make sure my brother didn’t cause any damage to our tentative relationship. I’m still trying to get her to take this thing between us further.
“Want me to open it?” Ari’s eager voice pulls my attention back to her.
“I can open it when I get there.”
“All right, see you then.”
The line disconnects and I place the phone back in my pocket.
“I’m guessing you have to leave.” Is that a tinge of jealousy I hear in her voice?
“Work thing. I’ll still see you this weekend, right? The MET?”
My question replaces the frown on her face with a smile. “Absolutely. See you then.”
“See you then.”
I head out of the bookstore, leaving behind the woman I want to spend all my time with. I’m playing a very risky game right now, but I can’t stop. Malia is a light in a very dark tunnel for me.
Chapter 19
You Have Dogs?
Lucien
* * *
The moment I pull up to the Church building I spot my brother, Many outside. He’s walking back and forth in front of the glass doors, stopping every now and again to peek in before moving away.
Climbing out of my Maserati MC20, I call out to him. “Hey, Many. What’s going on?”
He stops pacing to look at me head on. “Hello, Brother Twin,” he speaks in his British accent.
“Are you going in?”
He looks through the glass doors and I follow his gaze to see what has him so frazzled. Ari is at the desk, her head bent over a book with headphones on. Today the tips of her hair are a fuchsia color.
“She is there,” Many says.
“Who, Ari?”
He looks up at me and I see it, the spark of desire. Many likes Ari.
“Yes, we are nervous.” He rubs his hands together. “We would like to talk to her, but we do not know how.”
I chuckle. “You want me to be your wing man?”
“What do we think?” he asks himself still in his British accent.
“It seems like a generous offer. We could use the help,” he states in his deep voice.
“But this is the smart twin,” he says with his nasally voice. “He’s not very good with women either. We need the dangerous twin.”
“Hey,” I object, I’ve always hated the nasally voice. “I’m not that bad with women.”
Many narrows his eyes at me.
“He has a point,” he says with his deep voice.
“He must be better than we are,” he offers in his British voice this time.
“We could do worse,” he adds, in that nasal tone.
“Please, brother.” He uses his hollow voice to speak this time. We have a theory about this voice. It’s the only one who doesn’t talk often, we all think it’s his true voice. This voice belongs to Milo Beckett.
“No problem. Follow my lead.” I open the door and walk in, Many is right behind me, nearly stepping on the back of my heels. I walk up to the counter and Ari looks up and smiles.
“Hey Lucien,” she yells so loud I have to cover my ears. I note the moment she realizes she has the headphones on and is talking loud, because she pulls them off her head. “Sorry.”
“How can you read and listen to music at the same time?”
She shrugs. “It’s a gift. Here’s your package.” She rolls her chair to the counter behind her.
I turn and wave Many over. He runs a hand though his hair, pushing it out of his face before stepping up to the counter. When Ari turns back to us, Many freezes in place.
“Here you go, Lucien.” She hands me a small square box.
“Thanks. Hey, Ari, have you met my brother, Many?” I hold a hand out to him as if I’m presenting him.
The awkward toothy smile on his face makes me cringe. He looks like a Pitbull trying to smile.
“Hiya, Milo,” Ari says, using his real name.
Many peers back at her like a deer in headlights. I nudge him with my shoulder.
“We like your hair. We would like to bury our face in it as we push our sex member into you from behind,” he blurts out with his nasally voice. My eyes nearly bulge out of my head.
“Fuck.” I was not expecting him to be that awkward. “Um, I think he means—”
Ari’s laughter brings a look of confusion to both me and Many. This isn’t going how I thought it would.
“You’re so funny,” she says. “Isn’t he, Lucien?”
“Yeah, a natural comedian.”
“We like that you think we are funny.” His British accent comes out. “We also like your laugh.”
Okay, that was a much better response.
“What the hell am I witnessing right now?” We all turn to find Priest behind us. He looks as if he walked in on a murder scene.
“Many was about to see if Ari has plans this weekend,” I explain.
“Does the nuthouse let them out on the weekends?” Priest asks.
I frown at Priest before turning to a blushing Ari.
“Any plans this weekend, Ariane?” I ask.
She twirls her finger in one of her long curls. “I was just going to watch some anime on YouTube and maybe vacuum the dog hair out of my carpet.”
“You have dogs?” Many asks in his hollow voice as if she has promised him the world.
Priest snorts and I have to fight to ignore him.
“Yeah, I have four. I also have three cats, a bearded lizard and two pigeons named Harry and Potter.”
“We would like to know if you give your dogs belly rubs?”
Ari blushes, ducking her head before looking up through her lashes. “All the time.”
“Okay,” Priest says stepping forward. “I’m going to go ahead and stop this shit before I toss my breakfast all over this cheap ass linoleum. Twin, can I talk to you for a moment.”
I step away from the counter, smiling at the conversation Ari and Many are having. She’s describing to him how she rubs her dogs.
“This is good right, I think they are perfect together,” I say as soon as I get close enough to Priest.
“I don’t want to talk about that shit-show over there. You got a new menu?”
My brow lifts at the question. “Yeah. Takar Rasheed.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me this?”
I draw my head quickly. “I haven’t had to get your approval about a menu since I was eighteen.”
“Don’t get smart with me,” he snaps. “This has nothing to do with checking in with me. You saw his files.”
“Okay, I’m not intimidated by it.”
Priest remains silent, taking a deep breath through his nose before letting it out. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Seth was before me right now. Cockiness is
n’t your thing.”
My jaw cracks with the tension. “I’m saying, you’ve never doubted my skills to get a job done before, what makes this so different now?”
“Takar does,” he states without a seconds hesitation. “First this bullshit with Hawk being framed for Fem’s murder, now you’re assigned to one of the only targets the Church has never been able to eliminate. Use your head instead of your ego, Twin. Something isn’t right.”
I won’t lie, I did get a little suspicious about getting this case. Takar Rasheed’s file had been buried long ago. Why take it back out now? And why give it to me?
“So, what are you thinking?”
Priest nods his head toward the door, and I glance back at Many to see how he’s doing. Ari is explaining Naruto to him. I don’t think he knows what the hell she’s talking about, but he’s still smiling.
I follow Priest out the glass doors, back onto the sidewalk.
“There’s something about this Rasheed case,” he says, turning to face me. “It’s like he has the drop on every agent sent after him. What does his file look like?”
“A blood-bath. It reads like a madman.”
“Does it tell you much about where he started?”
I take a minute to think of the file. “No, not really. It starts back in the mid-nineties when the first agent was sent after him. It doesn’t even tell you why that agent was sent.”
“Do you know the agent?”
“Not off the top of my head, but my secured laptop is in the car, I can pull it up for you.” He nods. I head toward my Maserati with him on my heels. “After reading his files, I was expecting to have to watch my back more.” I pull my keys out of my pocket to unlock the door before crossing the street. “He’s been pretty quiet.”
The air is knocked out of me as I’m blown off my feet and tumble to the ground. A bomb just blew up, sending us flying through the air. The ringing in my ears silences everything else around me. I groan as I roll over to my side.
“Brother Twin, are you all right?”
It takes me a few times to answer Many. “Yeah. Where’s Priest?”
“Here, Twin,” Priest answers. My eyes focus long enough for me to find him. Ari tries to help him to his feet, but he swats her away.
“We think someone is really mad at Twin.”
“No shit, Many.” I hold out my hand and he pulls me to my feet.
More and more members of the Church pour out of the building to watch my car burn. Looking around, the damage seems to be contained to my car. No other bystanders were close. Thank God I hit the unlock button when I did and not when I was closer to the car.
“What was that you were saying about him being quiet?” Priest asks as he dusts off his pants.
“You think this was Rasheed?” I ask lowly as I limp toward Priest.
“Well, he did send you a message and a cellphone?”
We all spin around to look at Ari. She shrugs. “I opened your package, but in my defense, you didn’t say I couldn’t.”
I rush over to the box that flew out of my hands during the explosion. I quickly tear the tape Ari seemed to hastily place back over it. The sound of police sirens are off in the distance. Inside the box is indeed a phone and a folded letter.
* * *
Hello, Twin. Don’t waste your time tracking this phone.
Let the games begin.
* * *
The words are scribbled by hand. I crumble the paper up in my fist.
“I swear you and your brothers are the cause of my grays. How the hell did I end up with the responsibility of kids without even enjoying the fucking nut first?”
Ari snorts. “Well, you enjoyed at least one.”
My hands on his shoulders stop Priest from strangling Ari. “Many, get your girl out of my sight, and disappear for the rest of the day,” he says low enough for only us to hear.
“All right, Priest.” Many turns to Ari. “Come, Ari. Tell us more about the young ninja, Naruto.” Ari steps up beside Many, a huge grin on her face. The two walk side by side back into the building.
“I want you to lie low too. Do not go after Rasheed. At least not until this stuff with Hawk is done. We need you focused for the next few days. Tell Seth to stay close as well. We may need him soon too. Do you hear me?”
“I got you,” I lie.
Rasheed just made this shit personal. I understand Priest’s fears, but I’m not going to allow this asshole to scare me. I’m still going to help Hawk and Brooklyn, but I’m definitely going to put a stop to Rasheed.
Chapter 20
A Good Listener
Malia
* * *
“I hope your girlfriend enjoys that new Ivy Harper book,” I say handing my customer his bag.
“I know she will. Thanks for the recommendation.” He waves with a smile before leaving.
I watch the young guy as he walks out my door. Poor sap, he has no idea how dumb in love he is. I shake my head at my cynical thoughts before going back to my cart of new books.
It’s been three days since I last talked to Lucien, when he rushed out of here after his so-called work phone call. Shit, I’m doing it again.
I have no reason to doubt him. Besides, hell, we aren’t even dating. It’s just odd that a guy goes from contacting me at least twice a day to absolutely nothing. Yes, there could be a very logical non-cheating answer for it.
“Yeah right,” I mumble as I shove the newest vampire romance onto the shelf.
“What do you have against vampire books?” I startle, dropping the book from my hand.
“Damn it, Seth, you scared the shit out of me.”
A grin spreads over his face. “What’s got you so uptight?” He picks up my book off the floor and hands it to me.
I quickly take it from him and roll my eyes before placing it back on the shelf. “I’m not uptight.”
“Want me to prove it?” he asks, taking a step toward me. I quickly take one back and hold up a hand. Thankfully he stops.
“I’m not uptight, only a little annoyed.”
He folds his arms over his chest and purses his lips. “About?”
“None of your business. Look, what do you want?”
He shrugs. “I wanted to check in on you, but it seems my presence isn’t wanted.”
I sigh, releasing the tension in my shoulders. I’m being a complete bitch. “I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind today.”
“Like what?”
“Are you a therapist now?” I chuckle.
“People say I’m a good listener.”
“Who the hell are these people and what are they smoking?”
The smile on his face widens. “What time’s your lunch?”
“Whenever I want to take it, why?”
He takes the book I’m about to add to the shelf out of my hand, then grabs my wrist. “We’re going out to eat.”
“The hell we are.” I attempt to pull my wrist back, but his grip is like a vice.
He stops, spinning around to look down at me. “My brother is stressed the fuck out with this new assignment. His boss is on his very unused balls and he’s not doing well with it.
“He’s sitting up in a dark computer room for hours, trying to solve a case and stressing over not being able to talk to you. I promised him if he focused on the work and stopped whining like a little pussy, I would make sure you weren’t feeling left out. Now are you going to make this difficult?”
So, he’s working? Now I feel like an idiot. Here I’ve been coming up with all these crazy scenarios in my head and the guy has been honestly busy at work. I guess that proves my theory about me and relationships.
“I’ll get my purse, but I only have an hour. I have to go pick Emory up from school.”
“An hour is more than enough time.”
* * *
***
“It’s a red light,” I squeal in the front seat of Seth’s big pick-up truck. Riding with him is like being the passenger of a racecar driver
while they are drunk, blind, and not actually on a racetrack. My lunch is about to make a reappearance.
“The light was yellow, not red,” he states calmly over the sound of blaring horns.
“Must you do everything with a blatant disregard of everyone else around you?”
“Yes.”
I shake my head. He has yet to realize what a rhetorical question means. I release the handle on the door, relaxing my fingers.
“Do you like my brother?” The question comes out of nowhere and completely catches me off guard.
“Jeez, you don’t want to ease that in there, apply a little lube first maybe.”
He glances over to me and grins before turning back to the road. “Answer the question.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Make it easy.”
I sigh. “He’s nice, charming, funny—”
“Good looking.”
I roll my eyes and continue on. “Funny, smart, and he likes the same things I like.”
“Well, what’s the problem? Why this no dating bullshit?” he asks.
“First of all, it’s not bullshit.”
“It sounds like bullshit.”
I gasp and squint at his profile. “Everything sounds like bullshit to you except your bullshit.”
He shrugs as if he doesn’t see the problem in that. “Duh. Answer my question.”
“I don’t date because I don’t think it’s necessary.” I look out the window at the cars and the people passing by. “You date to fall in love and find that forever person, the one you want to marry. The one you plan to spend your life with. Since I will never marry again, I don’t see the point in dating.”
The car is silent for a moment, nothing but the sound of horns blaring as we cut them off. I don’t dare to look at him. I can’t say Seth is a good listener, but he definitely encourages conversation because I seriously told him more than I had planned.
My divorce to Trent proved marriage isn’t for me. I gave that man everything and it still wasn’t enough. I have nothing else to give. I have come to the realization I will not be carrying on the legacy my mother and Grams had.
