7. Alisha “Kitty” Quinn #2
“What do you really want to ask me?” He questioned.
“I’m just curious.” I shrugged. “Even though I’ve never met him. I know from reading my mother’s journals that he was a dog, I’m hoping you’re wrong. But I can feel it in my bones that chances are, he’s involved in this.”
He set the container with his food on the floor and faced me.
“Kitty, I don’t think you should worry about that.” He told me.
“How can I not worry about it?”
“Your mother fought for you.” Exodus explained. “What you read from her journals—she did everything she could to make sure you had a fighting chance. She stood up for you and put everything she had on the line for you. Even if your father was a waste, your mother loved you before you even got here.
Tears stung my eyes.
“And while, ideally, it would have been nice to have love from both parents, when the die stopped rolling, it landed on one.” He continued. “And one loving parent is better than none—and it seemed you got a good one.”
Unable to stop myself, I tossed myself into his sweaty chest and held onto him—tightly.
“Come on, Kitty.” He hushed me, while rubbing my back. “I’m really sweaty.”
She held me tighter.
“I don’t care.” She sobbed.
“Kitt? Don’t cry.”
“These are happy tears.” I managed to laugh. “They don’t count.
“Fair enough.” He finally hugged me back.
“Can I ask you a favour?” I leaned back to meet his eyes.
“Sure.”
“Can you hold me for a little longer?” I flushed before averting my eyes.
Without speaking, he gently pulled me back into his chest, framing my cheek against his shoulder with his arms around me.
I sighed.
* * *
Another week dragged on like molasses running uphill.
Still, we weren’t any closer to anything.
I was constantly looking over my shoulders while every lead Tha’lab followed up on wound up in a brick wall.
Every angle Exodus and Bambam dug through, fizzled.
“Shit.” Exodus muttered. “Hold on.”
I automatically gripped the handle above my head as he twisted the wheel. Apparently, he didn’t move the truck fast enough for the vehicle behind us slammed into the back of ours.
He didn’t stop and neither did the one that hit us.
We seemed to be moving at a good speed to get away before the damaged vehicle tried side swiping us.
Again, Exodus maneuvered us out of the way, but the danger didn’t go away.
“I don’t have the patience for this today.” He growled.
I was trying not to scream, not to panic.
Tha’lab wouldn’t scream.
It was building up in my chest like a coil, winding tighter and tighter.
When the damaged car slammed into ours again, no amount of closing my eyes helped.
I screamed.
“Yin?” Bambam’s voice filled the interior of our vehicle. “I’m getting an impact alert on the truck. You guys okay?”
“Asshole trying to run us off the road.” He replied.
“I got your location—blocking 9-1-1 calls now.” Bambam worked fast. “Sending the fox?—”
“What?” I blurted out. “Don’t we need people to be calling for help?”
“Incoming.” Bambam announced.
I was barely over that when Exodus peeled to a stop.
“Stay in the truck.” He unclipped his seatbelt and was half out of the vehicle before I could pull it together.
The moment he was feet down on the asphalt one of the men from the attacking car went for Exodus. Sam had always told me how good of a MMA fighter Exodus was. But I’d always thought it was because Sam was biased.
Exodus was his big brother—of course he’d brag.
But seeing Exodus live and in person hit very different.
The man came swinging wildly.
Exodus seemed bored and irritated at having to do this today.
But he was no match for the fighter.
In a blink, he was on the ground, legs twitching in that way that told us his body was out but his brain had yet to register it.
When the other man attacked, Exodus braced himself and swung.
Teeth mixed with blood flew through the air like in an anime.
I winced and though it was hard to watch, I kept my eyes open.
Tha’lab wouldn’t hide away.
She wouldn’t be a coward.
The first thing she would do was have Exodus’ back and made sure he was safe. If I hoped to even try walking in her shoes, I couldn’t allow anyone to hurt him.
A third man hauled himself from the wreckage like a fucking bad smell and was sneaking up behind Exodus. Not knowing what else to do, I scrambled across the center console, slammed my knee painfully into something and gritted my teeth.
Angry and in pain, I shifted the truck into drive and ran the man over narrowly missing Exodus.
“Hey!” Exodus yelled, pointing at me. “What did I tell you? What’d I say?”
“I stayed in the truck, didn’t I?” I stuck half my body out the window to yell back. “What is your problem? And you’re welcome.”
He wagged a finger at me as his face twisted into a frown. I was about to yell at him again when sirens could be heard in the distance.
I flopped back in my seat, huffing.
“Jerk.” I muttered.
Tha’lab appeared like she always did.
She stood tall like some kind of warrior, armed and meaning business. The first thing she did as her people gathered the ones Exodus had taken out was check on him. Exodus smiled, tapped the tip of her nose and nodded.
“Well, mother, I’m still standing.” He told her.
“How do you get into these things?” She asked, glancing around at his back. “Let me look at you.”
He laughed but did a spin for her.
“I’m okay.” He promised. “See?”
She then seemed to realize I was there too and turned in my direction.
I merely shrugged at her unasked question but remained there like an after-thought.
Just waiting.
But I couldn’t stop my body from shaking.
Soon, my knees gave out and as the ground rushed up to meet my face, I merely closed my eyes.
The truth was, I didn’t know if I slept or if I was just unconscious because I couldn’t remember dreaming about anything.
My head was just a void of nothing.
“She’s fine.” Exodus’ voice was down the hall. “Adrenaline crash—keep in mind, she’s not used to any of this, right? Did you bring the shakes?”
“They’re in the fridge—are you sure she’s okay?” Sam’s voice was worried.
“I’m sure.” Exodus replied. “It’s not every day she runs a guy over—right?”
Sam laughed.
“Right—that’s bound to shake her up.” He spoke. “I just—this is getting out of hand.”
“She just needs rest then some sugar.” Exodus paused.
“Some sugar or some sugar?” Sam wanted to know.
I could imagine his eyebrows dancing up and down at the inuendo in his voice.
I blushed.
“Knock it off.” Annoyance was in Exodus’ voice. “Mind out of the gutter. Raising her blood pressure wouldn’t help the situation.”
“Hey, I was just saying.” Sam laughed. “Maybe a lil bit of Yin is just what the doctor ordered?”
A little bit of Yin may not be what a doctor would order but it was what I would want.
“You’re an ass.” Yin laughed before saying something in Mandarin.
“You’re no fun.” Sam groaned.
“But seriously, today was a lot for her.” Exodus spoke up. “Hitting that guy with the truck. She did that for me. That’s the only reason I don’t want the fucker to die. I don’t want her having to live with that.”
“Does my big brother have a crush?”
Exodus’ reply wasn’t in English and I frowned.
How dare he not speak in a language I could understand so I could keep eavesdropping?
So inconsiderate.
But even though I didn’t understand Mandarin, I got frustration from what he’d said.
I passed out again.
The next time I woke up, I was starving. My stomach growled so loudly, I thought for sure someone was going to break into the room to see if I was being mauled by a bear.
I paused.
That’s ridiculous.
After a quick shower, I dressed and wandered out to find food and Exodus. Hopefully, Sam was gone so I could be alone with his brother.
“Exodus, I’m sorry about—you’re not Exodus!” I stopped, fear swirling inside me.
I wasn’t armed—not even close to anything to use as a weapon.
“I’d hope not.” The large man grinned while sticking his hand into a can of salted peanuts. “Hi.”
He had Exodus’ face—the size of his body, the brown of his eyes, the plush of his lips.
But he isn’t Exodus.
“That’s Andros.” Exodus’ voice came from behind me as if he’d had this conversation before. “My other brother.”
I looked back to see Exodus entering through the back door, carrying his laptop.
“The cute one.” Andros tossed some snacks into his mouth. He then bowed slightly. “They call me Yang. At your service.”
My eyes widened.
“There are two of you?” I blurted out.
“Of course!” Andros stared at me as if I’d said something totally outrageous. “God made Yin and thought he’d done something so amazing, he just had to do it again.”
“Healthy ego.” I quirked a brow.
Yang cleaned his palm by dragging it along his thigh then extended the hand to me. After glancing back at Exodus, I accepted the handshake.
“You must be Kitty,” Yang said.
I groaned.
Exodus laughed and shook his head,
“Come eat.” He told us. “Dinner’s getting cold.”
As we ate, I couldn’t help the way I kept staring between the two of them.
They were identical.
Only Exodus’ ears had long gone misshaped because of his fighting career.
They had the same face, only Yang’s eyes were playful—mysterious. He looked like the brother who got in trouble then hid behind his brother when karma hits back.
I hid a smile with my cup and sipped.
But Exodus turned me on—everything about him did it for me. Yang didn’t instill any of those feelings in me.
Yin Yang—I’m an idiot.
“They don’t know who hired them.” Exodus was saying. “They did it for the money.”
“That doesn’t help.” Squirrel muttered.
“Anyone can hire these morons now.” Yang frowned. “This whole doing business virtually thing sucks sometimes.”
“Tell me about it.” Sam sighed. “And they could be hiring an undercover cop! No one ever thinks about that.”