Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
PHOENIX
I wouldn't claim to be the smartest guy in the world, but I knew when something is off. And right now, something was definitely off.
I thought, since she got a lift in with Elenna, I'd surprise Sinclair by turning up at her office to pick her up and take her home. Her home, my home, whatever. Somewhere we could eat dinner and have some time alone.
The moment she lay eyes on me, her smile was— I don't know, forced.
She rallied quickly and chatted about her day, the weather, my practice and all that, but the moment stuck in my head the whole drive. In my experience, ignoring shit like that got you dead.
"You sure you don't want to go back to my place?" I asked. "You'd be safer there."
I glanced around her small cottage and noted the lack of security system, cameras or decent locks. Anyone could smash a window in or kick the door down. That could get her dead.
"I'm perfectly safe here. I mean, you're here with me, right?" She placed her bag down on the table and picked up her phone. "Do you want to order something to eat?"
I closed the door behind me and sauntered over to her, my best cocky smile on my face. "I'd rather eat you."
She responded with a laugh just this side of nervous. A fraction too high to be normal. Was I the cause of that? I could be a handful, but I thought we were past that. Hell, I've been wrong before, it was bound to happen again.
"Maybe we should tell Coast and Javey where we are. They might want to… I don't know. Hang out." She went to touch the screen of her phone.
Without thinking, I snatched it from her. "Don't do that."
I was not prepared for her reaction.
Her eyes widened. She stepped back.
What the fuck?
"What the fuck?" I put a hand out to her.
She backed further away, until she hit the wall with her ass.
"Sinclair?" I raised my hands to either side. "Did I do something? I know sometimes I'm a dickhead, but whatever it was, can we talk about it?"
I'd had people scared of me plenty of times before. I practically made a living out of it. But never someone like her. Not someone I actually gave a shit about.
She blinked a couple of times and forced another smile. "Sorry, I'm just a little twitchy. It's the whole… The thing with the car."
"Bullshit," I snapped. "It's more than that and you know it. Something happened. What is it? Something has you freaked the fuck out."
I might scare her more, but I stepped forward and placed my hands on the wall to either side of her shoulders. I raised my eyebrows at her expectantly.
She swallowed audibly. "It's just…"
"The truth," I insisted. "What. The. Fuck. Happened?"
Shit, I was scaring her. I hated myself for it, but I had to know what was going on.
"The… The list," she stammered.
I frowned. "Aidan's list? What about it? I'm not on it am I?" I almost laughed, until the expression on her face didn't change. "What the hell? Why am I on his list?"
"Because of me," she admitted. "In a manner of speaking."
I narrowed my eyes at her. She better explain, or I was going to choke it out of her. Not in a way she'd enjoy either. Shit, I didn't want to hurt her, but…
I couldn't even finish that thought.
"I was talking to someone on the list," she said quickly. Her voice quavered. "They suggested you might have been working with Geneva Mancini."
Now I did laugh, this time with disbelief. "They said what? Who would say something so fucking stupid?"
Her tongue slid over her lips. "It doesn't matter who."
I slammed the palm of my hand against the wall. "It matters. Who the fuck said that?"
She flinched. "Kylie. She—"
"Kylie was on the list," I said. "Not without reason, or Aidan wouldn't have put her on there. Now he's put me on there?"
"Not exactly," she said uneasily. "Do you want to back off or do I need to knee you in the balls?"
I chuckled and placed a hand around her throat. "How about you don't? Tell me what the hell is going on." I squeezed lightly.
"What Kylie said raised suspicions against you, and by association, Coast." She swallowed. "Now everyone is wondering if maybe we shouldn't trust you two, or Javey."
I closed my eyes and listened while she told me what she and Elenna discussed.
"You think Coast faked the attack on himself?" I could hardly believe what I was hearing. "I helped dispose of the bodies. There was nothing fake about it. But I guess that's what you'd expect to hear if he and I were in cahoots."
Did people really use words like cahoots? Whatever.
"He didn't fake the attack. I was not working with Geneva.
I spoke to her a couple of times over the years, because my brother sent me to deliver a message.
I was in the door and out the door as quickly as I could.
That's the extent of any involvement with her.
If you don't believe me, ask my brother, Ric.
If he had suspicions, he would have had me killed and asked questions later.
He doesn't have room for doubts when it comes to the people around him and their loyalty. "
I leaned my head against the wall beside Sinclair's. "If Coast is working with them, I'll eat my helmet. I can't speak for Javey, but the dude is head over heels in love with you. I don't think you have anything to worry about there."
"I want to believe you," she said softly.
I lifted my hand and looked her straight in the eyes. "Believe me. I'll swear on anything you want me to, I'm not working against you, against the team or against the Brantleys. I am sure as hell not working with anyone named Fiorelli or Mancini."
I exhaled a frustrated breath.
"Does Aidan think I am?" The asshole should know better. Coast and I were right there during the attack on the arena, helping to disarm and dispose of the enemy. Not to mention the fact he was our coach. He should have fucking faith in us.
"I don't know what he thinks. He wants to find out exactly who is working for whom."
Reluctantly, she outlined the plan to give snippets of different information to different people.
"Let him do it," I said. "When I don't act on it, he'll know I'm… Okay, maybe innocent isn't the word for me, but innocent in this regard." The smile I gave her was faint at best. I was still trying to get my head around anyone suspecting me.
I've done a lot of shitty things in my life, but I'd never work against my family or my team. I'd certainly never work against Coast or Sinclair. Javey either, now I thought about it.
"Except that I told you," she pointed out.
"Yeah, you did, but I don't intend to act on any information that would make me look like I'm doing something wrong." That might be harder said than done, but I'd try. "If you like, you can spend twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week with me and see that I'm the guy I say I am."
I wouldn't hate that. I liked spending time with her.
"I believe you," she said finally. "I'm sorry I thought you were… You know."
"I know," I said on an exhale. "I would never do anything bad to you." I shook my head. "I hate this. We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves or pointing fingers at each other. Team unity and all that shit."
I leaned in and roughly kissed her mouth. She tasted like pure heaven. When did she not? She was still trembling slightly, but she kissed me back. I was almost certain I wasn't going to end up with her knee rammed into my cock.
"Should we tell the others?" she asked between heated kisses.
"Naw, let them figure it out when someone is following them around," I said jokingly. "It could be good for a laugh."
Coast would probably find it hilarious.
Javey… He might try to stab someone between the eyeballs.
On the other hand, maybe he was involved. He'd said it himself, no one suspected the shy, quiet guy. He might have been referring to us all along, not the enemy. If he was, I was going to rip his fucking nuts off and jam them down his throat.
"Should we tell them to come over here?" She ducked her head and looked towards the window.
"What?" I asked.
That sense that something was up, tingled in the back of my mind again. "What is it?"
I lowered my hand from her throat and looked around for something to use as a weapon.
I shouldn't have brought her here until I had the security upgraded.
The house wasn't safe for her to be in. If anything happened to her, I'd kick myself for it.
After I kicked the ass of anyone who dared to lay a hand on her.
"It's just that—" she winced. "Javey might already be outside."
"He—" She was trying to tell me something, but I couldn't quite grasp what it was.
"You think he's planning something?" I'd kick his ass if he was. I'd kick it so hard he'd be able to tell us whether or not we won the cup. Now I thought about it, that might be useful. I might do that anyway.
"No," she said quickly. "He likes to follow me. To, you know, keep an eye on me. That night at your place, up against the window, he was outside watching."
Her face was flushed with excitement at the memory. Her eyes were so dark I could have drowned in them. The woman was so hot I was ready to melt on the spot.
I leaned back and stared at her. "He's stalking you?"
"At first he was, but now he just—" She searched for the words for whatever he was apparently doing. "He's trying to keep me safe."
"Sounds like fucking stalking to me." I stomped over to the door and wrenched it open. I looked left and right, but saw no sign of him. Not until I looked out onto the street and saw his car, him sitting in it.
I marched over, yanked the door open and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
"You're stalking Sinclair?" I growled. I yanked him halfway out of the car and got right up in his face.
"I was watching her and making sure no one was disturbing you." He tried to pull back. "Let me fucking go."
I kept my grip on his collar. "You were making sure no one disturbed me and Sinclair? Is that all?"
"No, I also want to keep her safe," he said. "If you were distracted, someone had to be paying attention."
He seemed unsure if he should pull out a knife and stab me in the guts or not. He'd have to move fucking fast to do it. I could break his neck while he was still considering.
Fuck knows I didn't want to. I liked the guy, possibly too much. How well could I trust someone who was stalking my woman? Our woman, whatever. I wasn't going to argue over terminology as long as she knew part of her belonged to me.
I hesitated, then shoved him back into the seat of his car. "All right. I guess I can get behind that." It was screwy but I didn't want to be disturbed either. "I have my phone. Call if you see anything."
I started to turn away, but I turned back and said, "Unless you want to come in and join us."
I thought he might insist on staying outside and keeping watch. I half hoped he would.
My heart skipped when he climbed out of his car and locked it behind him.
"I'd much rather be in there than out here." The shy, awkward look he gave me was genuine. It wasn't about not knowing me well. No, this was all about our attraction to each other and the potential to finally give in and explore it.
My cock throbbed. Before he could burst out of my jeans and make me lose my load out here in the street, I turned and stomped back inside, leaving Javey to follow behind me.