Chapter 9 Shep
SHEP
THE FIRST CALL from King came when I was getting ready to jump in the shower the following morning. After the showdown with Theo, I’d decided not to get in touch with our leader right away, and not because of Theo’s insinuation about running off to King with every scrap of information I received.
No, I’d wanted to sit with it for a minute. Theo had removed his tracker, something that could have serious consequences once King knew, and though I wasn’t ignorant enough to think he wouldn’t eventually find out, I wasn’t ready for it to come from me.
I didn’t understand Theo’s motivations, didn’t know why the hell he’d been in Istanbul in the first place or why he felt the need to hide it from us, but what I did know was the seven of us needed unbreakable trust in each other.
I had to believe—for now—that his reasons were for good.
The possibility he’d work against us was too much to even consider, and I wasn’t going to jump the gun here.
He’d always been loyal no matter how chaotic he could be—that was part of his strength and charm, after all.
So even though he’d done the unthinkable, even though all the signs pointed to trouble, I hesitated.
Something wasn’t adding up, and until Theo came clean, I wouldn’t add fuel to King’s fire.
As I toweled off, I glanced down at a notification lighting up my phone. Seven missed video calls, and several texts were waiting for me. I sighed before running the towel over my hair and then wrapping it around my waist.
Let’s get this over with.
I glanced in the mirror, noting I needed a shave at some point today, and then reached up to fix my errant strands of hair into something that wasn’t a mess.
Not that I needed to bother looking decent for King—not anymore. This was about self-preservation.
Biting back a sigh, I headed out of the en suite and into my room and hit his number. He answered immediately, the phone barely ringing before that intense face filled the screen.
“Ignoring my calls?”
“I was in the shower.”
“How long are your damn showers?”
Somehow I resisted the urge to say something assholish about the fact that his were probably three times as long now with the company he was keeping, but that wasn’t my business, and I didn’t want him to think I gave a shit.
“What’s the emergency?” I said as I headed to the large windows and opened up the curtains. Even without the view of the water, it was a stunning sight, and a welcome juxtaposition to King’s mood.
“Have you spoken to Theo?”
“Have you?”
“Would I be calling if I had? He’s straight to voicemail.”
“Well, it’s been a big week for him.” I settled into the recliner by the window and forced myself to look at the screen instead of what was beyond it.
“I’ve already spoken to Alessio, and he said the video’s not fake, but Theo was in Monaco. How the fuck does that happen?”
No doubt he had his suspicions, and if I were the good little soldier Theo said I was, I would’ve confessed it all to King right then and there.
But something was holding me back, some instinct, as stupid as it probably was, to protect Theo. Not that he needed it; the guy could hold his own. It just didn’t feel like my place to tell, at least not until I knew more.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I said. “Did Alessio have any theories?”
“Not that he’s letting on, but he’s still looking into a few things.” The rigid set to King’s jaw spoke volumes. He was pissed, and if there was one thing he hated, it was not being in control of any situation.
Theo going rogue? Not a good thing.
The sound of voices in the background took King’s attention away from the camera, and I caught a glimpse of Zac and East in the background of the bedroom.
The same one I’d shared with him, but it didn’t look the same anymore.
The walls had been painted a different color, the bed had been changed to a much bigger one, and the pictures by the bedside had three faces in them now.
“You need to bring him to me,” King said, drawing my focus back to him.
“Theo’s in the middle of royal wedding duties and you want me to bring him to New York now? I don’t think that’s gonna work.”
“That wasn’t a suggestion.”
“And I hear you, but you’re the one who wanted me to make sure he was here. Now you want me to make him leave? The press will have a field day.”
“The wedding’s over.”
“The celebrations aren’t. You know as well as I do that people will start to talk if he doesn’t make an appearance. There’s already rumors he and Jean have a strained relationship. Let’s not make it worse.”
“So you think getting to the bottom of this isn’t more important?”
“I didn’t say that. Give it some time.”
“We may not have time. We still don’t know who sent the video in the first place—”
“And how will Theo help with that?”
King snapped his mouth shut and scowled, but he knew I had a point. Alessio was the tech genius here, the only one of us capable of tracking down the sender. If I were King, I’d have questions for Theo too, but now wasn’t the time.
“So what do you suggest? He just goes on his merry way without answering for his actions?”
“How do you know they’re his actions? Didn’t you just say Alessio is still looking into it?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then don’t you think we should wait until we have a definitive answer as to who sent it and what their motives are? We know Theo, we know his character—”
“Which is half the problem.”
“—and we know he wouldn’t do anything this insane. There has to be some other explanation.”
“Which is why I want to talk to him. You need to work out a way to bring him to me.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I said no. You told me to talk to him, and that’s what I’m doing. Don’t you trust me?”
It was a low blow, I knew that. I was King’s most trusted ear, unless you counted the two who shared his bed.
“You know I do.”
“Then let me do my job. After all, that’s why you kept me around, right?”
A flash of emotion flickered in King’s eyes before he rubbed a hand over his face. “Shep…”
“Don’t,” I snapped. The last thing I needed was a pity pep-talk from him.
Damn it, why’d I let him get to me like that? I hated him seeing any cracks in my armor, and when it came to Tyrone Kingston, I had a lot.
Time to change the subject.
“I’ll work on Theo; you work on Alessio. I’ll check in when I have something useful.”
King’s eyes narrowed a fraction. I was ready to be done with this conversation.
“Fine. Why don’t I send Lachlan your way and—”
I snorted. “Lachlan? I don’t think so. He’d stick out like a sore thumb. I can keep an eye on Theo just fine on my own—I run in his circles, and if I need a second, Lucien’s here. We blend. Lachlan wouldn’t.”
“Okay, then I’ll wait to hear from you.”
And hate every second of it. “I’ll be in touch.”
I was just about to end the call when he said, “Shep?”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful.”
“Will do.”
I sat in the chair a spell after ending the call, replaying the conversation with King over and over again.
God, why did he still have such a pull on me? At work, on my own, during our conversation. Theo was right—I was like a fucking soldier, always getting in line to serve my King.
No, not mine anymore.
Never mine again.
And while I thought I’d gotten over him, my lack of romantic involvement since said otherwise.
I couldn’t remember the last person I’d been with—not including Theo—and wasn’t that pathetic? King had moved on, and moved in, with his new men, and I was in some kind of Groundhog Day from hell.
One I hadn’t even realized I was in until Theo had pointed it out.
And fuck him for that. Who was Theo to give me dating advice? He hadn’t held down a relationship of any kind since I’d known him. But then again, after one close encounter with him, and having to put up with his mouth, I could see why people would run.
The guy was a lot. And that was before you added in the fact he was royalty and under constant public scrutiny.
The wild card of Monaco royalty. He’d been under as much scrutiny as I had during our teens and early twenties. But where I’d made sure to behave myself, Theo had taken a more rebellious road in life. One that involved drinking and debauchery.
We thought we’d gotten that wild side of him under control. But knowing what lengths he’d gone to in order to stay under Alessio’s radar, I couldn’t help but wonder—could you ever really contain lightning in a bottle?
I had no idea, but sitting around thinking about it wasn’t going to get me anywhere, and if I didn’t come up with something soon, King would be paying us an impromptu visit—and no one wanted that.
It was time to track Theo down and get to the bottom of this. Or at least find him and make sure he wasn’t causing another international incident for me to clean up.