Chapter 15 #2
“Hey, fuck you,” Theo snapped, shoving my chest so that I fell back a step. “I just told you what you wanted to know. No one said you had to agree with it.”
“You’re right about that. I don’t agree with it. You should’ve come to us if you needed help.”
He let out a contemptuous laugh and dropped into a nearby seat, throwing his feet up on the table. “Right, great idea. Let all of you in on it so I can have six people attacking me for doing what was right.”
“And what exactly was that? Post explosives in a building to destroy evidence of something your old buddy did?”
“Fuck. You.”
“You should be so lucky.” I refastened the towel at my waist and leaned back against the table, looking down at Theo’s flushed face, his tight expression.
He was heated about this, there was no mistaking that reaction, and I tried to calm down enough that I could listen without wanting to strangle him.
“Okay,” I said before sucking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “What did he need your help with? Why were you there, and what exactly did you do?”
The fact that I was willing to keep listening seemed to surprise him, which made me feel like an ass even with how pissed I was.
I needed to know the details and the whys before I made any more snap judgments.
This was Theo, not some fucking delinquent.
We’d had to trust each other with our lives many times over, so I forced my judgment to the back of my mind for now.
No promises it wouldn’t come roaring back, though.
Theo drummed his fingers along the table and met my stare dead-on.
“Conrad’s brother was kidnapped a few weeks ago.
The reasons why don’t matter, and I didn’t ask.
He was being held in the basement of that building you saw, which is actually the old consulate—or was, I guess.
He contacted me for any connections I might have, but obviously I know how to get in and out undetected.
Keyword being undetected, which is how I know that bullshit video isn’t me. ”
“Because his brother would’ve been with you on the way out.”
“Bingo.”
There was no need to ask if Theo’s mission had been successful. The fact that he was sitting here right now told me that, since he’d never stop until he got exactly what he wanted.
Still…
“You didn’t think it’d be smart to have backup?” I said.
“If I thought any one of you would understand and approve, I would’ve asked.”
I reared back like he’d slapped me, but damn. That stung. There was no one I was closer to on this earth than my Libertine brothers, and that shit was supposed to be no-matter-what loyalty.
“Theo—”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it. I made the call to do it the way it went down, and now we’re even.”
“He said that?”
“Didn’t have to. A life for a life.”
God, I hoped he was right about that, because no way in hell did we need to get mixed up with Conrad Black. We were stretched to the limit as it was.
“Don’t look so worried,” Theo said, interrupting my thoughts before they could start to spiral. “He doesn’t know a thing about us. Or about me, other than the face I show. He doesn’t even know it was me that did the dirty work myself.”
And that was exactly why there was no way Theo had been the one who hit the trigger on that building. We never showed our faces during a mission, especially the two of us. It was too risky, but more than that, it would be really fucking stupid.
Theo may be reckless, but he wasn’t stupid.
And I truly didn’t believe he’d put us at risk.
Himself? Yes. That much was obvious due to the lingering issue of his removing his tracker.
I didn’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if the mission had gone sideways and we couldn’t figure out where he was to get to him.
That alone made me want to strangle him all over again. Or lock him in the closet for a repeat of some oral hate sex—I couldn’t decide which.
“If what you’re saying is true, then there’s a glaring problem,” I said.
“I know.” Theo was already nodding.
“Who the hell sent this video? Who blew up the building? And how the fuck did the video ring true for Alessio?” There was nothing our resident tech genius couldn’t do, couldn’t hack, couldn’t decipher. He’d run the diagnostics. The video wasn’t fake.
Only it had to be for Theo to be telling the truth.
“He’s not all-powerful,” Theo said. “I know he thinks he is, but something’s slipped through the cracks.”
The implications of that were too much to think about. Someone getting one over on Alessio? It seemed impossible.
And yet…
“Fuck.” I leaned my head back and stared up at the ceiling. “He’s not gonna take that well.”
“Not even a little bit.”
“And don’t think you’re off the hook with your goddamn tracker.”
“Noted.” Theo dropped his feet to the floor and stood, moving over until his thighs pressed up against my knees. Just that move—or maybe it was all the adrenaline and pent-up frustration—had my cock taking notice behind my towel.
“Have I fully satisfied the question-and-answer portion of this program?” He walked his fingers up my thigh and over to the semi creeping up beneath his touch. “Can we move on to a more…enjoyable way to end the night? I’ll make up for my wicked ways.”
The way he could flip a switch in conversation and demeanor made my head spin, and I had to halt his hand before my brain cells made an exit.
“On one condition,” I said, and like he knew what I was going to say, he groaned.
“Shep—”
“It’s non-negotiable.”
“You’re an ass.”
“And you’re nothing but trouble.”
Theo’s eyes narrowed, but I’d already won this battle, because he eventually relented.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll go. But tomorrow.”
We were off to see the King.