Chapter Eight
The room spun a little above him. Clay put one foot on the floor, hoping to make it stop.
He closed his eyes for extra effort when that old trick didn’t totally do the job.
Everything about the day flashed through his mind in rapid succession, from breakfast to late-night dancing.
Clay was glad he had let Zeus talk him into spending the day with him.
Every hour had been a lot of fun. For the first time in a long time, Clay had let go of a lot of heavy things in his life.
It hadn’t taken Zeus long to realize Clay saw through his ploys.
From that moment, despite the occasional slip, Zeus had dropped the act.
The man behind the sexual god was actually a pretty great guy.
They hadn’t talked about anything heavy, but somehow, they still managed to spend the entire day talking nonstop.
Even when they had gone dancing, they spent so much time yelling over the music, they ended up in a quiet corner to keep their conversation alive.
For the first time in a long time, Clay felt like he had made a real friend.
No undertones beyond the habits that had been beaten into Zeus.
Honestly, Clay hadn’t wanted the night to end, but he couldn’t stay out forever.
Despite the distractions Zeus provided, Clay hadn’t completely pushed Scout from his mind. The way Scout had looked at him before they were interrupted wouldn’t leave Clay. Too much thinking had him down a dozen rabbit holes. He had made some self-discoveries.
Before giving in to temptation with Scout, even before the first time Scout had kissed him, Clay had felt more for Scout than he had wanted to admit to himself.
They had spent a lot of time together training.
There had been countless nights where they got nothing done from spending the entire time joking, playing, and exchanging stories.
Nothing too deep. Nothing about the past. Every story they told were things that happened after becoming adults.
There had been times when Scout had corrected his stance.
Times when he spoke close to Clay’s ears.
Clay hadn’t wanted to admit how those nights affected him.
It wasn’t until he spent the day with Zeus, doing basically the same thing as he had with Scout, that Clay recognized how different the experience was.
With Scout, Clay had always felt like they were working toward something bigger.
Clay hadn’t realized it because he had nothing to compare their relationship to.
Fabrice had always been someone Clay loved.
He understood now that love jumbled inside him sometimes.
Clay desperately wanted what he saw between Beau and Kylo and the heat everyone felt between Henry and Field.
He wanted something real. But Clay had never been taught how to find that for himself.
He didn’t always understand social cues.
Other people made reading situations look easy.
Nothing about any type of relationship came easy to him.
Until two very different feelings toward people—like Scout and Zeus—had slapped him in the face, Clay hadn’t fully understood why Scout’s kiss had nearly sent him running.
He should have kept going because Clay was ridiculously in love with Scout.
Nothing could come from it but massive heartache, because if Clay knew nothing else, he knew Scout didn’t feel the same.
Clay crossed his arms over his chest, protecting his heart.
He was actually always pathetic. That knowledge hurt the most. Clay had prayed for Fabrice to love him.
He had begged the universe for one night with Zeus.
At the end of the day, here he was: one foot on the floor, room spinning, and physically trying to squash his dumbass heart.
Sometimes, there wasn’t enough therapy in the world.
Clay’s phone chirped. With a groan, he rolled to his side and dug out his phone from his back pocket.
The move reminded him he had fallen across the bed with no prep to go to sleep.
Clay hoped Beau didn’t need anything. It was two in the morning.
He was fucked up. Nothing good could come of that combo.
Jett: Did you make it to your room okay? I saw you come in with Zeus. You looked a little out of it.
Great. He evidently looked like shit. Clay held the phone close to his face and tried to type. He wasn’t sure he pulled it off.
Clay: Yep. I’m in bed.
The phone immediately dinged again. Clay huffed. Jett knew he was drunk. Damn.
Jett: Don’t tease me like that.
Clay snorted and tossed his phone onto the bedside table.
He was surrounded by relentless flirts. Clay gracelessly climbed from the bed.
His legs twisted in the sheets. He didn’t even remember messing up the covers.
Clay barely stopped himself from landing on his face.
The quick movement it took to keep him upright had Clay’s head spinning faster.
“Whoa.” Clay immediately fell across the bed again.
“Damn, beautiful. What have you done to yourself?”
The question barely penetrated Clay’s hazy mind. He wanted to flirt and lure Scout into bed. Instead, he passed out.
Clay looked so adorable when Scout tucked him into bed. Even in his sleep, he looked drunk. The sight was so hilariously cute that Scout couldn’t look away. Scout debated leaving, but he would never forgive himself if Clay died in the middle of the night from alcohol poisoning.
Scout was already dressed for bed. He had lain awake until Clay came tumbling in.
The idea that Clay had spent the entire day with Zeus was more than a little under his skin.
When Zeus arrived, it was like the guy couldn’t see anyone other than Clay.
He hadn’t even acknowledged that Scout was in the room.
Walking away, leaving those two alone, had murdered Scout inside.
But Scout didn’t want to act like a jealous idiot, and Tracker had asked for help to set up his gear.
It seemed that turning his back for two minutes was all it had taken for Zeus to steal Clay.
Of course, Scout wasn’t the least bit surprised.
Zeus was who he was. Unfortunately, it looked as if Zeus genuinely liked Clay.
That meant Scout didn’t stand a chance. Knowing that wouldn’t stop Scout from pursuing Clay.
Scout wasn’t a quitter. Clay was his, even if he didn’t realize it, and Scout wasn’t backing down.
Scout turned the lights out and crawled beneath the covers with Clay. No sooner than his head hit the pillow, Clay’s phone chirped loudly, startling the fuck out of him. He jumped up to silence the device. Scout got to it just in time to see the message on the face before the words faded away.
Jett: Sorry if I went too far.
For a moment, Scout’s eye twitched so hard, he thought he'd lost vision in one eye. How did Jett go too far? Goddamn it. Clay was out of his sight for a single day, and everyone decided to shoot their shot. Scout turned the volume down until the tiny speaker symbol X’d out.
With that done, Scout circled the bed again.
He lifted the covers, and another chirp cut through the dark.
Scout froze. Confusion kept him in place before he realized the notification was his.
He rushed to his phone. It was rare for anyone to text him, much less in the middle of the night.
Tracker: Are you up for a last-minute job?
Scout furrowed his forehead as he read. It wasn’t like them to be spontaneous. Spontaneous got people killed.
Scout: First off, I thought we were on vacation. Second, what happened to training for each job for weeks?
He watched the little dots jump while Tracker typed.
Tracker: There’s no way we could’ve prepped for this. Jay is back in town. He has Commander Kuznetsov with him.
Scout’s blood ran cold. He saw red. Commander Kuznetsov had been the man in charge of the program. He wasn’t the head, but he was the iron grip. Kuznetsov was also the monster who visited Rain almost nightly, forcing him to do the worst of things. The time had come. He was within their reach.
Scout: Give me five to get dressed and I’ll meet you.
Tracker: Sounds good. Let’s end this.
Scout forgot everything but his mission. The time had come for retribution.
Tracker chewed the side of his fingernail, waiting for the guys to gear up.
He hated pulling everyone out of bed. More than that, he loathed jobs that had a high chance of going sideways.
This rush wasn’t their M.O., but this job was different.
It was personal. If there was a single chance they could get to Kuznetsov, they had to take it.
They deserved to watch the life leave his eyes.
“You’ve got this.”
The sound of Zeus’ voice startled Tracker.
He had forgotten Zeus was there. Zeus had likely never had that happen to him before.
He was probably used to being the greatest god in every room.
Zeus had been created to be perfection, and he was.
That was why Tracker was one of the rare people who wasn’t attracted to Zeus like that.
They were friends. They had a hell of a lot in common.
In fact, Zeus had found them after their escape from the program because he was such a huge computer nerd.
He had set up a computer program, one he had created himself, to let him know if anyone searched online for anyone in or from the program.
A couple of years after they ran away, Tracker had hacked some systems, looking for people like them.
Zeus had shown up on their doorstep ready to kill them to keep his freedom.
Of course, what he found was a bunch of guys just like him.
Now, they had come together to create a DNA database.
They had all been genetically engineered before the fertilized eggs had been dumped into a group of women.
Whoever stuck was the next generation of super spies.
When Zeus and Ridge decided they wanted to know if they were twins, since they were practically photocopies of each other, they had uncovered a whole warren of rabbit holes to go through.
Tracker flashed Zeus a tight smile. “Why do you look so unbothered? I imagine you have a bone or two to pick with that sadistic bastard too.”
Zeus’ current calm demeanor with zero artifice was a rare sight. “Your plan is solid. He won’t get away.”
While sitting in a dark van in the garage, with nothing but a lit computer screen highlighting them, it hit Tracker how close they had become over the years.
During the past week of studying the odds of how many of them were related—while waiting on DNA results—their friendship had truly grown.
They had geeked out together several times over the years, getting together to share their work.
But this project was different. This was about their past and their future.
The waiting was an exercise in patience neither of them had on this matter.
He had been with his brothers for decades, and—somehow—Tracker felt closer to Zeus than any of them. Zeus was his best friend.
Tracker leaned back in his seat, settling in to draw some comfort from Zeus’ presence.
Before he said a word, the side door slid open, and the guys poured in.
It wasn’t their specialized vehicle from back home.
The van was just wheels in Beau’s garage that Tracker had hurriedly made his own while waiting.
With Zeus’ help, of course. Still, they could make it work.
Edge stuck his head between the front seats. “Tidy, Crisp, and Scout are already headed that way. They’ll drop Scout a street over so he can walk the block. If anyone can tell if this is a trap, it’s him. Tidy and Crisp will park nearby and wait for the cleanup call.”
Tracker nodded. Everything inside him wound tight.
He wondered if he would hyperventilate before they even made it to the small rental house where their target slept.
Tracker was damn glad Zeus was at his side.
For some reason, Tracker believed to his soul that Zeus would never allow anything bad to happen to him. He supposed time would tell.