Yale
“How’s it going?”
I remain focused on my laptop as Zayden enters the bedroom.
I’m sitting on the bed, propped up on my pillows, and Xavier is beside me, his face buried in the duvet as he sleeps on his front.
Our parents’ bed was this big, and when we were kids we’d lie on it all day reading comic books and talking about girls.
“He’s still alive,” I say, nodding at our brother.
Zayden smirks as he approaches. “Remember when he got that tooth pulled just before Halloween and the morphine went to his head then, too?”
“Yes. He went missing in town for like, three hours.” I grin and shake my head. “And you wanted to take bets on how long it’d be before he showed up.”
He nods. “Mom said I was being cruel, Dad bet me twenty bucks it’d be at least another hour.
” He stands at the end of the bed, arms folded, and I keep working.
I haven’t found out anything more about Ryker, but I’ve fired off a message to Charlie Callahan, and I’m looking into places we can arrange our meet.
We need somewhere with high rises so we can keep a close eye on Silence, somewhere busy where Ryker causing a scene would hurt him more than help him.
Zayden remains quiet.
“Spit it out,” I say, and he raises his eyes to me. “You’re hovering but not speaking, and it’s not often you’re too shy to say what’s on your mind, Z. So whatever it is, no judgment, no laughter from me. Just say it.”
He scratches his chin and looks at Xavier. “I wish he was awake so we could—”
“I’m awake,” Xavier mumbles. “You’re both too fucking loud.” He groans and pulls the covers over his head. “And I can’t believe Dad bet twenty bucks against me, the fucking traitor.”
Zayden clears his throat. “I need you awake for this, Xavier.”
“Is it important?”
“… Semi-important.”
“Then I’m semi-awake. Hit me.”
Still, Zayden falters. I close my laptop, placing it beside me, because this is clearly something big. Zayden has always been the one to deliver news, and he does it with confidence.
His uncertainty throws me back to the day Dad died.
We were seventeen. Broken, and suddenly, totally alone.
Our mom didn’t cope well, locking herself away in her room until one day we knocked and no one answered.
All that was left was a note with an apology, and documents that signed the Silver empire over to us—as if we’d ever want it in those circumstances.
As it turned out, the businesses were in so much debt, we had nothing left. At one point we were the richest family in our county, but a series of poor business decisions left us with nothing.
It was a stark, painful reminder that our parents were human, not these all-knowing, pillars of strength that guided us and never judged when we fucked up.
And we fucked up a lot.
Of course, it was easier for Xavier and me, because it was instinct to look to Zayden.
We didn’t know what to do, but he always did.
He was the one who stepped up, selling items around the house to pay the bills that needed to be paid, and he made sure we finished school.
He was the one who kept our mother’s vanishing act quiet from the authorities until we were old enough to legally take care of ourselves.
And when the money officially ran out and we were on the verge of being kicked out of the only home we’d ever known, he was the one who found the Agency.
Although back then, I don’t think we were prepared for how much it’d change our lives.
It’s why he needed Silence. She was his reward for being our stand-in parent, the brother we’d die without. He was our anchor—now she’s his.
“The dream we discussed,” Zayden begins.
My heart stalls. Xavier grumbles from underneath the bedding, “What dream?”
“Silence had a sex dream about us.”
Xavier snatches the covers off his head. “And no one gave me a play-by-play?”
“I need you to not joke right now, X,” Zayden says. Our brother sits up so we’re shoulder to shoulder. Z clears his throat. “For a while, Silence and I have discussed expanding … our lives.”
Xavier frowns and leans close to me. “Is he asking us to get her pregnant?”
“Xavier,” I snap. “Shut up and let him finish.”
He mimes zipping his mouth closed.
“I mean our sex lives,” Zayden adds. Xavier tenses, and I know why, but I say nothing. “We want to bring in someone else. Or … in this case … multiple people.”
My throat goes dry. “You want—”
“I want to know if you’d be open to having sex with Silence,” he says, and gestures at us. “Both of you.”
The silence that follows is heavy and close to comical. There are words in my mind, in my throat, hell, on the tip of my damn tongue, but they don’t materialize. We all sit in the quiet, but of course, the first person to speak is Xavier.
“Is this a trick question?”
“No,” Zayden says. “It’s fine if you don’t want to, but if you do, we’d have ground rules, obviously.
Firstly, we’d have to explore whether it’s a good fit.
Silence would need to know if she’s comfortable crossing that line with either of you.
Which is why I’m talking to you now. If you don’t want this, we shut it down.
We either all agree or it doesn’t happen. ”
That’s fair. And understandable. Still, I’m struggling to speak. “I have a small issue with this.”
Xavier looks at me. “Don’t you fucking ruin this for me, Y.”
“How does Silence feel?” I ask, ignoring him. “About us individually?”
“Silence feels that the progression from brother-in-law to more with Xavier will be relatively easy. She’s more concerned about her friendship with you,” Zayden says gently. “She doesn’t want to lose that.”
My heart warms, because the thought of losing Silence in any capacity would break me in two. She’s been too important to me for too long to let sex fuck that all up.
“So she wants to take it slow?” I ask, and he nods. “How?”
Zayden shrugs gently. “Honestly, we haven’t gotten that far. I wanted to check if you were even on board first.”
Xavier and I exchange glances. His bravado has slipped because this conversation has crossed into reality.
Sex. With Silence.
“Would it be a one-time thing?” I ask.
Zayden shrugs again. “Again, no clue. If it doesn’t go as planned, then yes. If it does … and we’re all able to remain adult about it”—he looks at Xavier, whose response is to grin—“then yes, maybe it could happen more than once.”
Fuck. This is big. Huge. It could change everything, or it could just be a one-time experience that we never discuss again. There are so many variables, things that could go wrong …
Things that could go perfectly.
“I’m in,” Xavier says, though he’s far less cocky than before. “No clue how this would even go, but I’ll follow your lead, Z.”
Zayden nods, then moves his attention to me. “How about you, Yale?”
I run my hand across my mouth. “I’m in, too. But if at any point it feels weird, I’m backing out. I’m not risking what I have with her.” I expect Xavier to make another joke, but surprisingly, he remains quiet.
“That’s fair.”
“Okay. Okay … good.” Zayden takes his phone out and taps the screen. Mine and Xavier’s phones ping. “A group chat, if you have any questions. Silence’s idea.”
Yale chuckles. “Of course it was.”
“Why don’t we just use our existing chat?” Xavier asks.
“Because I don’t want to discuss our sex life in between your selfies with targets’ bodies, X. And by the way, stop fucking doing that.”
He rolls his eyes. “It’s called enjoying my job.”
“Well, a court would call it evidence.”
I cackle, and as I’m about to rename the group chat to something amusing, my phone vibrates with a call.
I lift my eyes to Zayden. “It’s Envy.”
Envy runs the Agency for us, specifically the training program, and lives at the property full time. It’s intense, and bloody, and I wouldn’t trust anyone else to do it. She was in the recruitment group after ours and spent years travelling the world, eliminating targets with deadly precision.
I answer. “Envy, you’re on speaker with all three of us.”
“I don’t care. You need to get here. Now. One of the lights has gone out.”
Code for: a trainee is dead.
“And? We have bad electrics,” Xavier responds. Code for: What’s the big deal? It happens all the time.
“Guys,” she says, her voice low. “You all need to get here right fucking now.”
“I don’t like you going alone,” I say as I follow Zayden out of the bedroom. Xavier is on my heels, pulling on a T-shirt, still a little unsteady on his feet.
“Yeah, fuck that. I’ll go with you.”
Zayden shakes his head as he takes the stairs. “You’re hurt, and I’m not leaving Silence alone without someone who can defend her.”
We all pause at the bottom of the stairs as Zayden snatches his jacket off the banister and pulls it on.
“I’m fine,” Xavier insists. Z pokes him in the ribs and he winces, slapping his hand away. “Fucking ow. Cheap shot.”
Zayden looks at me, his point proven. “You’ll need to drive me to the airstrip, otherwise you won’t have a car. Xavier, take Silence to the—”
“Take Silence where?”
My head whips around. Silence is in the kitchen doorway, head tilted, Bullet at her feet.
Zayden strides over to her. “I have to go to Seattle.”
Concern flashes across her expression. “Now?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.” He cups her face and kisses her. “Yale is going to drive me to the plane—”
“What plane?”
“Our plane.”
She gapes at him. “We have a plane?”
“We did have two,” I say. “But Xavier broke the last one.”
Xavier grimaces. “They land in water all the time in the movies; how was I supposed to know it’s not ideal?”
“Common sense, brother. Common fucking sense.”
Zayden continues, “You and Xavier will need to stay in the panic room with Bullet until Yale gets back. It’s the safest place.”
It is, but I also don’t like the idea of two of the people I love most in the world being locked in a small room when no one else is here. Ryker won’t know where we are, and even if he did, Zayden is right, it’s the safest place, but it doesn’t sit right with me.
“How long?” Silence asks.
“A few hours.” He kisses her, whispers something, and she nods, brows furrowed. “Love you, baby.”
“Love you,” she whispers, and tracks him as he walks out of the door.
The conversation from the bedroom is hanging over me, and maybe Silence senses that, because she meets my eye and her cheeks flush.
There’s so much going on that this should take a back seat, but after living this life for so long, I’ve learned if you don’t multitask, very little gets done.
There’s always an enemy lurking, a target that’ll fight back or the chance we’ll get caught, so putting life on hold is pointless. Live it, or lose it.
“Come on, Bullet,” Xavier says. “Meet you upstairs, little Q. Bring some cards. We can play strip poker.” He squeezes my shoulder as he passes, and his playfulness vanishes. “Be careful.”
I nod, and he heads up the stairs, leaving Silence and I alone.
She glances once more at the door. “I don’t like that we’re splitting up.”
“Me neither. But Zayden has to go.”
Silence and I have always shared an easy energy. I’ve never shied away from telling her anything, and I hope she hasn’t, either. We’re tactile, and relaxed, and we always have been.
Now, though, something else crackles between us. A sharp, exciting thing that ignites an excitement in me that I haven’t felt in years. A gate has opened, and we have to decide if we’ll step through it.
“Zayden spoke to you?” she asks quietly, and I nod as I close the space between us. She tips her head back to maintain eye contact. “It’s weird, right? For me to ask this of you.”
“No, it’s not.” I gently take her chin and angle her face to look back at me. “It means you trust me.”
She searches my eyes. “I do.”
“And you know I’d do anything for you, love.”
“Anything?”
That single word packs a punch that steals my breath, and my gaze drops to her throat and the gentle throb of her pulse. “I’d die for you.”