Chapter 16 #2
“I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to her,” he whispers. “We have to protect her, Gable.”
Protect her. That’s not our job. We’re hired to remove life, not preserve it.
And that’s what I want to say. I want to remind Asher that this life was an outlet for every fucked-up aspect of our upbringing, and that hasn’t changed for me.
But maybe it has for him.
Maybe the fire to take out our trauma on everybody else has gone out for my brother. And that’s a good thing, right? He’s looking beyond death. Beyond the killing.
But he’s also leaving me behind in it all.
“It’s okay, y’know,” Asher adds, focusing on Ella as he runs his fingers through her hair.
I watch him. “What is?”
His eyes meet mine, and his smile is small.
“I know you better than you know yourself sometimes, Gable.” He looks back down at Ella, and I do, too.
Her lips are parted slightly, her breathing low and steady.
“This job … it’s such a fucking mess, but there’s one thing I know for sure.
Ella doesn’t deserve to be caught up in it all. ”
I take a breath, swallowing my pride and letting my love for Asher take the lead, because I may not like the girl, but he’s right. She’s innocent, and if we have the resources to keep her safe…
“Then we’ll protect her.”
His gaze snaps to me. “Really?”
I nod. “Together to the end, right?” I hold out my fist, and he grins, bumping his knuckles against mine.
“To the end, brother.”
As the familiar, delicious smell of coffee drifts from the coffee machine, I watch it with greedy eyes and wait.
We all finally slept until about an hour ago, and now it’s closing in on lunchtime.
Asher’s low tones from the bedroom means he’s on the phone trying to figure out who tried to kill Ella last night.
She’s in the shower, using up all the hot water like a selfish animal.
When the coffee is finally ready, I pour myself a cup. I slept surprisingly well, given that the demon neighbor wriggles in her sleep, but I have a feeling I’ll need more than my fair share of caffeine to put up with her today.
The bathroom door opens, and I turn as Ella steps out in a towel.
I pause the cup at my lips, my gaze dropping down her body. The towel reaches mid-thigh, and for a short girl, she has surprisingly long legs. Her toes are painted pink, and she clenches them when she catches me staring. When my eyes meet hers, she’s glaring at me.
“Getting a good look?”
“Yep. And what a waste,” I say, sipping my drink.
Her scowl deepens. “What does that mean?”
“It’s a shame someone so hot is so fucking annoying,” I say matter-of-factly. “It’s like when you see a picture of cake and find out it’s made with carrots or some shit.”
Her cheeks blaze red. “I really don’t know if I should be offended by that.”
“You should.”
The bedroom doors opens, and Asher’s reaction to Towel Ella is similar to mine, but significantly warmer. “Fuck, Ella—” He notices me, then clearly rethinks what he was about to say. “Nice shower?”
“Yes, until your brother called me carrot cake,” she huffs, stomping past him into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Asher arches a brow at me. “Carrot cake?”
“It’s a private joke between us besties,” I say, smiling sweetly. “So, while Carrot Cake is getting dressed, I’ll tell you the plan. You’re gonna take her out. Wine her, dine her, do whatever disgusting things people in love do, and I’ll search her apartment for the drive. I find it, we get paid.”
He takes the coffee cup from my hand and sips. “And what about Ella’s bounty?”
I shrug. “When we hand over the drive, we make it clear to them that she knows nothing.”
“You think that’ll work?”
“I don’t know; my crystal ball wouldn’t connect to the Wi-Fi this morning. How the fuck should I know? I’m guessing. It’s a plan, though, right?”
My brother glares at my sarcasm but doesn’t comment on it. “One problem with that. She has a camera in her living room.”
“Seriously?”
“Her dad is security freaked; of course she does. We can just switch roles. I’ll search the apartment; it’s not weird if I’m at her place. You can take her out and distract her.”
“Nope,” I almost shout. “We’ll do it on a day she’s out with someone else!”
“She doesn’t have any friends here.”
“Big fucking surprise.”
“Hey,” he snaps. “That’s my girlfriend, asshole.”
“Fake girlfriend.”
He sits on the arm of the couch. “Listen, if she’s with you, I’ll know exactly when she’s coming back. All you have to do is distract her for an hour. Maybe two. Three would be preferable.”
“If I am alone with Ella Gibson for three hours, it’s because one or both of us is dead,” I say. “I cannot be around her, one on one, for that long.”
“Then take her to a movie.”
“Right, because she won’t think that’s strange. ‘Hey, Ella, I hate you, wanna watch Barbie with me?’”
He eyes me. “Why did your mind go to Barbie?”
“Because it looks fun. Regardless …” I hold up a hand. “One hour.”
“Two.”
“An hour and thirty minutes.”
“Two.”
I groan. “Fine, fucking two, but if she annoys me enough, I’m allowed to kill her.”
“No.”
“Fuck, why do you get all the fun? You get sex and I get fucking Barbie.”
“You want to watch Barbie.”
“Irrelevant!”