by Katee Robert
Galen glanced at Theo, but Theo gave a slight shrug. It wasn’t his rodeo, and he’d support whatever decision Galen made when it came to this. Finally, Galen cursed. “You’re with me. You act too much a pain in the ass and I’ll shove you in a closet to wait until we’re done.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
Galen turned away from her, hiding a faint smile. Oh yeah, he liked Meg’s smart mouth just as much as Theo did.
Theo set aside his plotting for the time being. He wasn’t as good with a gun as Galen was—no one could match Galen’s skill—but he was more than decent, and distraction was unacceptable for the task ahead of them. The house wasn’t tiny so it would take time to get through. The upstairs consisted of six bedrooms, each with their own bathroom and walk-in closet. Downstairs was a massive kitchen, another three bathrooms, living room, and a smattering of other rooms for a variety of purposes. Clearing it would be a bitch.
He fell into the old pattern of things, moving several steps behind Galen, keeping Meg between them. He didn’t need instructions to know that if shit hit the fan, he was to take Meg and get the hell out of there while Galen dealt with the threat. “Ready?”
Galen nodded. “Let’s do this."
7
If Meg wasn’t hip to how fucked her situation was, accompanying Galen and Theo while they cleared the house would have brought the whole thing home. They moved as a unit that barely accounted for her presence, as if they had done this kind of thing countless times before. She kept up with them, and in her heart of hearts, she knew that if they came across someone who wanted to hurt them—to hurt her—they would dispatch that person without mercy.
It should have scared her.
It did, in a way.
But it also wrapped around her like the strangest safety net she’d ever experienced.
Knowing that anyone who wanted to get to her had to go through both of these men… Yeah, no one was getting to her. It wasn’t enough to make her forgive them for putting her in this situation to begin with, but it softened something brittle inside her that had spent the last twelve hours on the verge of breaking. She might be on a path she never could have anticipated, but at least she wasn’t alone.
It took longer than she could have anticipated to clear the house, but finally Galen pronounced himself satisfied. He led the way back to the kitchen, and Meg allowed herself to take in the place without the threat of someone being there hanging over their heads. Even knowing Theo had commissioned a renovation inside, she’d still expected to find the place in shambles based on the appearance of the outside.
She was wrong.
It was downright homey. The floors beneath her boots were hardwood that shone in the low light coming from the windows clouded with age. The walls were a strange mix of exposed stone and a soothing off-white color that she couldn’t quite call eggshell. All the accents were a rustic wrought iron that served as a reminder that they were in a modern-day fairytale mansion. The only way it could get more fantastical was if there were turrets and it was an honest-to-god castle.
They congregated in the kitchen. Galen combed through the pantry and then the fridge, and cursed. “I thought he would have been here by now.”
“We didn’t give him much notice.” Theo checked his phone. “Speak of the devil. He’ll be here in ten.” He lifted his gaze and focused on Meg. “Why don’t you go make use of that monster of a tub I paid through the nose for? We won’t be long.”
She tilted her head to the side. “I didn’t invite you up.” Though, damn it, her body tingled with the possibilities to be had in the oversized tub. It could easily fit all three of them and—No, I am not here to let them bang away what little brains I have left.
Theo raised his brows with a knowing smile, as if he knew the direction of her thoughts. “Another time, then.”
“Keep your head in the game, asshole,” Galen muttered.
Cute, but Meg wasn’t about to let them sidetrack her. “Why don’t you want this person to know I’m here?”
They exchanged a look. Galen turned away, obviously lobbing that grenade to Theo, who gave her the charming smile that had her throwing her panties at him three months ago. “Meg—”
“No.” She held up a hand, hating that she had to fight not to clench her thighs together. God, he was good. The man turned on his switch and she had to fight every instinct to keep from panting at his feet. “Answer the question.” She paused, decided being a dick wasn’t going to get her far, and tried a smile of her own. “Please.”
“Alaric is a cousin. While I trust him enough not to betray family, I can’t guarantee that umbrella of protection will encompass your presence.”
Galen gave a harsh laugh. “What Theo’s dancing around saying is that Alaric might not fuck with family, but he’d sell his best friend for the right price. He’d use the knowledge that you’re here with us as a bargaining chip without a second thought.”
She opened her mouth to argue, reconsidered, and closed it. As much as she hated being shuttled to the side, she wasn’t stupid enough to think she understood the rules in this game they played. They were in deep water and sinking fast, and Meg only had these two men to act as her guides.
It didn’t mean she had to trust them implicitly, but fighting them every step of the way just for the sake of her pride was a stupid waste of time and energy. “Okay.”
Theo leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “You gave in too easily.”
“Fuck, Theo, know when to quit while you’re ahead.” Galen jerked his thumb as the doorway leading deeper into the house. “Go take a bath or take a nap or count the speckles on the ceiling for all I care. Just get out of here.”
“You have such a way with words, Galen.” She left the room with a measured pace, heading in the direction of the nearest of the two staircases in the house. Meg casually glanced over her shoulder, but neither of the men had followed to ensure she obeyed. Amateur mistake.
Growing up, her mother had initially tried to hide exactly how bad their situation was. The debt, the repeated loss of jobs, the drinking. When Meg was small, the only way she could figure out what was going on was to eavesdrop. Maybe she should have felt guilty for doing it, but it gave her back a sliver of control in a situation in danger of drowning her. Just like it had when she was a child.
She circled around to the formal dining room with a table large enough to feed twelve on the other side of the kitchen and pressed herself against the wall near the doorway. Theo and Galen spoke in voices so low, she couldn’t quite pick up their words. She inched closer to the opening.
Someone knocked on the back door.
Galen set himself up just inside the door as Alaric strode into the kitchen. Theo had a truly obscene number of cousins spread across Europe—the Mortimore family seemed to have taken it upon themselves to spread their seed far and wide—but Alaric pissed him off just by breathing. Today that feeling was a thousand times worse.
Meg was in the house.
Alaric paused inside the doorway and took in the room with his sharp blue eyes. “Love what you’ve done with the place.”
Theo gave his politician’s grin. “You know I couldn’t stay here without it being up to my exacting standards.”
“Of course not, Prince Theo.” Alaric smirked. “I got your stuff in the car.”
Galen had watched him pull up and back as close to the kitchen door as possible, so it was unlikely that he had any nasty surprises waiting. Still, it never hurt to assume the worst. He nodded at Theo. “I’ll help him.”
“Galen Mikos.” If anything, Alaric’s grin widened. “What are they feeding you Greek boys? You’re positively huge.”
He knew better than to let this little shit get under his skin. Alaric was a spoiled bastard who’d had everything handed to him from birth, the pampered youngest son of one of Theo’s aunts. And he still turned out to be an asshole who fucked over everyone who crossed his path. Theo thought because family didn�
�t number among his victims that it meant he could be an asset.
Galen knew better.
If the price was high enough, Alaric would turn over his own goddamn mother.
He shouldered past the blond man and walked to the car to pop the trunk. It was filled to the brim with groceries. Galen grabbed as many as he could and hauled them back into the kitchen. Three trips and the counter disappeared beneath reusable grocery bags. Theo handed Alaric a wad of cash that would have made Meg shit bricks. “Thanks, cousin.”
Alaric, the piece of shit, flipped through the bills. Counting. He pocketed the stack, apparently satisfied that they hadn’t tried to get one over on him. “Lot of groceries for the two of you.”
Galen went still, but nothing showed on Theo’s face—not even a flicker in his charming smile. “Galen eats enough for four men. As you said, he’s… massive.” He sank enough innuendo into the last word to make his cousin blush a deep red. Theo kept talking, every inch of his filled with a studied casualness. “And the other thing I asked you to look into?”
“I went to the village. It’s old school, so they only have electronic records from ’01 forward.” Alaric hesitated. “It’s like he claimed—it burned down last year. Whole thing. They lost a couple decades worth of birth certificates, including hers.”
Galen crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter. Watching. The truth was there in Alaric’s restless hands and the tension in his back. He couldn’t see the kid’s face, but he’d bet his last dollar that he was having a hard time meeting Theo’s gaze. He lifted his hands and let them drop. “Sorry, cousin.”
“It’s no matter.” Theo pulled him into a quick hug. “If I need anything further, I’ll call.”
Alaric took a touch too long to walk out of the room, and seemed to have some trouble with his car. Theo joined Galen at the window, watching until the man finally drove away—peering out at the house the entire time. “Trouble.”
Galen nodded. “He’s lying. There was a fire—the papers confirmed Phillip’s story—but he’s holding something back.”
“I know.” Theo sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, suddenly looking years older. “We’ll drive down there tomorrow and see what we can find. Even if the clinic burned down, there should have been backup records stored in a secondary location. We just have to find them.”
“Lot of trouble for someone to go through.”
“That’s what I’m thinking.” Theo gave himself a shake. “Looks like we’re on the right track.”
A floorboard creaked just outside the kitchen and every instinct Galen had went on red alert. He held up a hand and motioned for Theo to keep talking.
Theo’s brows drew together but he nodded. “We’ll get the groceries unloaded and figure out the next step tonight.” He kept going, rattling off menu ideas and other nonsense.
Galen crept around the kitchen island. He touched his gun, but he didn’t think for a second that it was an enemy on the other side of the wall. No, it was a nosey little woman who didn’t know how to follow orders. Sure enough, when he burst into the formal dining room, he was greeted with a startled yip and the sight of Meg landing on her ass.
Amusement crept through him as she climbed to her feet, as dignified as a queen, and brushed imaginary dust from her jeans. Meg lifted her chin. “Galen.”
“Meg.” He raised his eyebrows at her audacity. She was just going to brazen through this, and hell if that didn’t have him fighting a smile. “I could have sworn you were ordered to go upstairs.”
She raised her eyebrows in response, a perfect mirroring of his expression. “How am I supposed to know what’s going on if you send me away every time you’re about to have an important conversation?”
“You could ask.”
She opened her mouth, seemed to reconsider, and shut it. Those witchy hazel eyes flashed. “You wouldn’t tell me.”
“Too late to find out now.” He grabbed her and tossed her over his shoulder, enjoying the way she yipped again and immediately started cursing him out. He walked back into the kitchen to find Theo had made good use of his time. Half the groceries were unloaded. Galen gave Meg the tiniest of shakes. “We have an eavesdropper.”
“So I gathered.”
Meg finally managed to finish sputtering. She smacked his back. “Put me down, asshole. You can’t just manhandle me whenever you feel like it. I didn’t sign up for this. I didn’t sign up for any of this.”
He couldn’t argue that, but she seemed to be forgetting one crucial fact. Galen readjusted his grip on her, sliding her more securely onto his shoulder. “Funny, but I could have sworn Theo offered to get you set up somewhere while we dealt with this problem. You chose to come with us, just like you chose to ignore my order to keep yourself out of this. So tell me again how you didn’t sign up for any of it.”
She just cursed more viciously.
Galen met Theo’s gaze, his friend weighing her response. Theo finally grinned, the first real grin Galen had seen on him in months. “I’d say this infraction deserves a punishment, wouldn’t you, Galen?”
“If you try to spank me, I will fucking gut you.”
Galen tilted his head in question, but Theo was focused entirely on Meg. He motioned for Galen to set her on the counter, which he was only too happy to do. They might be tempted to play this game out, but the truth was that Meg hadn’t signed up for the mess she was on the receiving end of. She was a civilian. No matter how he’d warned her, she couldn’t be expected to know the stakes.
Before.
She knew them now.
Theo moved to stand opposite her, just out of reach. “Spanking, princess? Don’t be so pedestrian.”
She looked at him for a second like she might actually try to follow through on her threat, and Galen tensed in response. But just like that, the rage melted away, replaced some irritation. She pointed at Galen. “Don’t pick me up again.”
“Don’t eavesdrop on conversations you’re not invited into.”
She glared, turning that accusatory finger on Theo. “And you—no punishing. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Theo gave a slow smile that had Galen’s pulse picking up. He knew what that expression meant. Meg was playing right into his hands, and he had her exactly where he wanted her. “There’s a reward at the end, so I think you’ll find the punishment is more than worthwhile.”
She blinked. The moment spun out between the three of them, ripe with possibility. Galen should have said something, done something, to put an end to it, but when it came right down to it, he was a selfish bastard. He’d always been one. In the months since the exile, he’d only seen Theo put down his weight of responsibility twice—both times when he was inside Meg. She did something for Theo that Galen was incapable of. Theo looked at Galen, and he saw endless reminders of home. Of what they’d lost. Of the price he’d paid for being caught flat-footed.
Meg was outside it all.
Or at least she had been.
Theo let the silence spin on and on, and then he stepped forward and patted Meg’s knee. “Later, princess. No need to make a decision now. Let’s eat.”
Meg’s body was a traitor. Or maybe Theo was a sorcerer. Or perhaps it was that Galen infected her with lust with just his touch. More likely, it was a combination of all three.
Her eavesdropping hadn’t netted her any worthwhile information. Theo’s cousin seemed untrustworthy, and there was something about a clinic being burned down and records lost, but without context clues, it might as well have been in Latin for all she understood it. And then Galen tossing her over his shoulder and Theo talking of punishment…
Meg prized herself as a smart woman. She wouldn’t have made it to where she was in life without brains and drive and being too stubborn to back down even when the going got hard. The going started hard. It was just life, and she didn’t know when to quit—or at least that was what her mother accused when she got a good drunk going. Girl, you don’t know when to qui
t. One of these days, life is going to kick you right good in the teeth and then you’ll be sitting where I am now, drinking away your pain.
No.
Never.
Meg stared at her glass of wine. Falling into bed—back into bed—with Theo and Galen was a mistake. It had to be. Their strings had already entangled her and tipped everything she knew as truth on its head. They might feel a little bad that she was paying the consequences of their mutual pleasure, but she didn’t get the feeling that either of them would do anything different.
Would you?
That wasn’t fair.
But then, life wasn’t fair. She knew that all too intimately.
She was here. They were here. The danger lurked in the shadows around them and showed no signs of dissipating anytime soon. She’d refused their offer to set her up somewhere until this all blew over, refused to sit on her hands while important things in her life were decided without her presence.
What more could she possibly lose by throwing sex back into the mix?
More than you can possibly imagine.
“Meg?”
She blinked and realized that the conversation had gone on without her. Dinner was long gone, the plates cleared and only the wine left behind. Meg picked up her glass to cover her embarrassment, hoping like hell they thought her blush was about zoning out and not picturing them all naked together. “Sorry, I was thinking of something else.”
Theo lounged in his chair on the other side of the table, a small smile pulling at the edges of his lips. “You’ve been distracted ever since we sat down to eat. Something weighing on your mind?”
You ass, you know exactly what’s weighing on my mind. This so-called punishment. She sipped her wine. “Should there be?”