by Becca Steele
“That’s a lot to process.” Kinslee stared at me when I finally ran out of steam, tucking a strand of caramel hair behind her ear and picking up her hot chocolate. She blew across the top of the mug, dispersing the steam, then took a tiny sip. “Mmm. So good.” Cradling the mug in her hands, she sat in silence for a moment, taking the time to go through everything I’d told her.
“First of all, have you checked your phone today?”
I shook my head. “I’ve hardly had time to think, what with trying to clear out the house, sorting breakfast for about thirty people, and cleaning up. My poor phone has been very neglected. All our phones have, for that matter. We’ve been too busy.”
“Check it.” She looked at me expectantly, and I picked up my phone from the coffee table, where it was lying next to Caiden and Zayde’s phones, unlocking it and scrolling through my social media.
Oh.
Among the many photos of the ball and the after-party, it seemed that my kiss with Cade had garnered quite a lot of attention. I’d been tagged in several photos posted by various different people, showing him holding me in his arms, our mouths fused together, completely oblivious to the rest of the world. The pictures actually gave me butterflies—seeing real, photographic evidence of me and him, how wrapped up we were in each other. I screenshot a couple of the best images, happiness filling me as I thought about the night before, how he’d proved to me that he wanted us to be together.
“You’re falling for him, aren’t you.” Kinslee’s words were a statement rather than a question.
“Yeah,” I said softly, my voice shaky.
She gave me a long, searching look. “I’m happy for you. Just…be careful, okay?”
I nodded, then a horrible thought occurred to me. “Fuck. Kins, what if my mother sees the photos? Or Arlo? Or anyone involved in their deal. I’m not going to be able to talk my way out of this.”
“You’d better hope they don’t see them. But do you really think they’ll care?”
I sighed. “I do. Mostly because of this deal thing Arlo’s got going on, and he doesn’t want anything to tarnish his reputation. Plus, my mother’s already implied how distasteful it would be if anything was to happen with Cade, not that I particularly care about her opinion. I just don’t want to mess anything up for Cade. Or for this deal.”
“Right then.” She put down her hot chocolate and clapped her hands together, making me jump. “Let’s see how far the influence of the Four stretches. Hopefully a few calls, and we can make these pictures disappear.”
“Great idea.” Wasting no time, I jumped up and dashed out of the room, racing into the kitchen. Where were Caiden and Zayde? Basement gym, maybe?
I threw open the door to the stairs that led down to the basement, hearing the distinct sound of gloves on leather. Good.
As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I sucked in a breath, taking a moment to appreciate the sight in front of me, my sexy as fuck man, his gloved hands pounding the set of pads that Zayde was holding up, both of them in shorts with bare torsos. Yeah. I stood there watching them a bit longer than I should have.
“Alright?” Zayde noticed me standing there drooling and raised a brow, and Cade stopped punching, spinning around to face me, his chest heaving from the exertion. Droplets of sweat trailed down the planes of his body, towards his IV tattoo that I could just see the top of above the waistband of his shorts.
So hot.
“What’s up?”
I dragged my eyes away from his abs with an effort, meeting his amused gaze, and told them both about the pictures as Zayde put the pads away and Cade removed his gloves. He came to stand in front of me. “Don’t worry, we’ll sort it.” He dropped a swift kiss on my nose, then leaned in closer. “You’re such a little tease, giving me those horny eyes. You make it really bloody difficult for me to keep my mind on my workout.”
“What you gonna do about it, huh?” I licked my lips, then stood on my tiptoes to press a kiss against his smiling mouth, before staring up at him, waiting for his reply.
“I’ve got a few ideas. But they’ll have to wait for later.”
“Break it up, for fuck’s sake.” Zayde’s irritated voice came from behind Caiden.
“Workout time is sacred,” Cade whispered loudly, making me laugh.
“Sorry, Z. I’ll leave you both to it. Thanks for sorting it, though.” I left them to the sounds of Zayde muttering about putting a pin code lock on the basement door and rejoined Kinslee on the sofa.
A while later, the boys came in, picking up their phones and disappearing off to make some calls.
“All sorted?” Kinslee asked, when they finally returned. Cade sank down next to me and tugged me into his lap, sideways on, so my legs were stretched out across the sofa cushions. I curled into him, his body all warm and freshly showered, and he kissed the top of my head before replying to Kinslee.
“Yeah. It wasn’t as bad as it looked, really. Most of the photos were of the ball, and everyone’s selfies from the after-party.”
“What’s the fucking fascination with selfies, anyway?”
I turned to face Zayde. “Z. Has anyone ever told you that you’re a moody bastard?”
He gave me one of his trademark blank, icy looks, but there was no malice behind it. Still made me shiver, though. Just a bit.
“Leave the poor man alone,” Kinslee said. “Come on, Zayde, show me how to play this game.”
Cade and I both watched, fascinated, as Zayde actually took the time to explain to her how to use the console controller, and once she got the hang of whatever shooting game they were playing, he seemed to relax, more or less, the tension gone from his jaw, and his mouth no longer set in a hard line. We stayed like that for a while, the two of them becoming competitive in the game, while Cade and I spoke about nothing of consequence, just enjoying this bit of time we had before we had to go back to reality.
We didn’t get to relax for long. Around twenty minutes later, Weston and Cassius burst in the door, Weston carrying a cardboard box in his arms, covered in parcel tape. He placed it down on the coffee table.
“This is it. Z, you wanna do the honours?”
At his words, Zayde paused the game, digging in his pocket and pulling out a small object. He pressed it with his thumb and a blade sprang out.
More knives. Why was I not surprised?
He carefully sliced the box open, then sat back, letting Weston take over again. Pure excitement filled his eyes as he reached into the box, bringing out various objects one by one, all packaged in bubble wrap, which he laid out on the coffee table next to the box.
“This is better than Christmas.” His grin was contagious, and I couldn’t help smiling in return, as he began the tedious task of unwrapping all the layers of bubble wrap.
Cassius sat on the floor, leaning against the sofa, his head next to Kinslee’s legs and his own legs stretched out in front of him. “Hey, Kins? You any good at head massages, babe? I’ve got a banging headache.”
She tutted and rolled her eyes, but I saw her smile. “If I must. But you owe me one, okay?”
“Deal.”
Kinslee moved, seating herself with her legs either side of his head, then leaned forwards, dragging her fingers through his hair, across his scalp.
He groaned. “Yeah, that’s it, baby. Your hands are magic.”
“So I’ve been told,” she said dryly.
“You wanna give me a head massage, too?” Cade spoke next to my ear, his voice all low and husky. I was about to reply, when Zayde interjected.
“It’s like a fucking massage parlour in here. Next you’ll be—”
“Happy endings massage!” Cassius exclaimed, drowning him out. “You up for doing that, Kinslee?”
“No.” She swatted lightly at the side of his head before continuing to massage him, and he laughed.
“It was worth a try. Now, West, you ready to show us what you’ve got?”
I made a mental note to ask Caiden what was up
with Zayde, later. Not that he’d probably tell me, but I couldn’t help wondering if something was going on. He’d been more irritable than usual today. Maybe it was me, but something about him seemed off.
Gathering my thoughts, I returned my focus to the items Weston now had out on display on the table, discarded bubble wrap lying around everywhere. I reached for a piece and started popping it absent-mindedly, as Weston shuffled through the objects, inspecting each one carefully.
“Chuck me a bit of that bubble wrap, will ya?” Cass asked in a low tone. I passed him one of the sheets, and he started popping it, too.
Zayde gave both of us an icy glare, and I shrugged, continuing to pop the little air-filled bubbles.
“Focus, Snowflake,” Cade muttered in my ear, then kissed the side of my face, running his hand over my stomach to soften his words.
“Sorry. Here, you have a go. It’s really relaxing.”
He took the bubble wrap from my hands. “I haven’t done this for years.”
“Can. Everyone. Stop. With. The. Fucking. Bubble. Wrap.” Zayde’s voice sliced through the room like a knife, sharp and cutting. He sounded like he was at the very limits of his patience, and my head shot up to see the full force of his icy glare directed at the sofa we were sitting on.
Did I ever mention he had serial killer eyes? There they were.
“Fuck, he’s scary when he does that.” Kinslee shivered, ripping the bubble wrap from Cassius’ hands and throwing it over the arm of the sofa where it fell to the floor.
West just stared between us, a kind of wild, trapped look on his face, like he really didn’t want to be in here with us.
“Okay, enough. We’ve had our fun. West. Tell us what you’ve got there,” Cade commanded, breaking the sudden tension in the room.
“Uh. Everyone ready?” He held up the first item. It looked like a tiny box to me, black and rectangular, reminding me a bit of a car key fob. “GPS tracker.”
“What’s that for?” Kinslee voiced the question I was about to ask.
“This can go on Christine’s car. I have another one for dad’s car.” He grinned at us, pleased.
“West, that’s brilliant! So we’ll be able to track where they’re going?” I beckoned to Weston to pass me the tracker, and I examined the smooth plastic object with interest, before passing it to Caiden.
“Yeah, if all goes to plan. Just got to put the trackers on their cars without them noticing, which I reckon we should be able to do next time we’re at my dad’s house.”
“Nice one, mate. What’s next?” Cass looked at West expectantly.
“Let me see…these.”
“Binoculars? That’s a bit boring.”
Weston rolled his eyes at Cassius’ lack of enthusiasm. “Mate. These aren’t normal binoculars. They’re night-vision ones.” He passed the heavy binoculars over to him. “And they’re really fucking expensive, so be careful.”
“This all feels very James Bond,” Kinslee commented, curled back up on the sofa now she’d stopped massaging Cassius’ head.
“Is this a good time to bring up code names?” Cassius’ eyes gleamed with excitement as he examined the binoculars from every angle.
“No. Please, no,” I begged. “I am not getting into another bloody code names argument with you and West.”
He huffed but said no more, bringing the binoculars up to his eyes before recoiling. “Fucking hell, Z. Will you stop with the psycho looks?” Zayde totally ignored him, and he passed the binoculars up to Kinslee, muttering, “Don’t look at Z through them.”
Weston cleared his throat, shooting Cassius a warning look before returning his attention to the table. “Final item.” It was a small, shiny black oblong-shaped object, a bit like a really chunky retro mobile phone. I watched as West fiddled around with it for a moment; then suddenly the sides popped out.
“A drone? Fuck, yes. I need to see this.” Cade reached for it, and I kind of zoned out as the Four began discussing camera resolution and flight times, Zayde finally thawing out a bit as they talked. I moved off Caiden’s lap, scooting over to Kinslee.
“All this stuff? I really hope it helps us get some answers. I’m so tired of not knowing. I feel like I can’t properly lay my dad’s memory to rest until I know what happened, if that makes sense.”
“Perfect sense.” She squeezed my hand gently. “I’m here for you. Whatever I can do to help, I’ll do it. And I’m crossing everything that my brother will have some useful information about the Argo Navis when he comes home.”
“Thanks. And same, I mean, I’m here for you for whatever.”
“I know.” We both sat quietly for a moment, letting the boys’ conversation flow around us, and then she shifted in her seat, angling herself to face me more. “Did you ever google Andromeda, by the way? It kind of stuck in my mind, so I looked into it a bit.”
“I did, but I never found anything useful.” I sighed.
“You know Andromeda is something to do with space, right?” Her expression was thoughtful. “I might be way off, but I couldn’t help wondering about the whole thing with the Argo Navis being a constellation. I know that was a coincidence, since the boat was actually called the Argo Navis, but what if Andromeda is a code name or something that your dad came up with?”
“You think?” I eyed her doubtfully, but as I actually thought it through, the more I felt like she could be onto something. “You know what? This could definitely be worth investigating. Maybe there’s something I’ve missed.” A thought hit me. “What if his star charts contain answers? Or clues, at least? I never thought to look at them.”
She grinned at me. “Dream team, baby.”
“You know it. Let’s tell the others once we have the charts to hand; I’ll come and pick them up in the week.” Although I’d moved in with the Four, since it was only supposed to be a temporary arrangement, I’d left some of my stuff back in my room in Kinslee’s apartment, including the star charts.
I suddenly realised that the others had stopped talking and were watching us curiously.
“Anything you wanna share?” Cassius stood, stretching, then flopped onto the sofa between me and Kinslee.
“No,” I started to say, then stopped. “Actually, yeah. We need to talk about the ball.”
I gave them a rundown of my conversation with James. As soon as I mentioned his name, Cade grabbed me and pulled me into his lap, tightening his arms around me possessively.
“You really don’t like James, do you?” I murmured softly, while the others were distracted, talking about someone who had got drunk and started a fight at the ball—which I’d completely missed.
“I never liked him, but I have even more reason since you came along. He used you. He’s had his dick in you. I fucking hate him.”
I stared into his darkened eyes, hard and angry, but I could see the vulnerability underneath. “We’ve talked about this before, but you have to know that no one could even dream of measuring up to you, in my eyes. You’re not even in the same galaxy.” Hooking my arms around his neck, I stroked my fingers through his soft, dark hair as he stared at me silently. “You have to know how I feel about you. James is insignificant to me, to us. A blip in my past. You? You’re my future.”
His eyes closed, and he groaned. “Fuck, baby. I—” He cut himself off, kissing me with one of his hard, demanding kisses, gripping my jaw to hold me in place. I kissed him back with everything I had.
“I’m getting a boner just watching you two kiss.” We sprang apart to see Cassius eyeing us with rapt interest, his face far too close for my liking.
“Cass. There’s a thing called personal space.” I unhooked my arms from around Caiden’s neck and shoved at his shoulder. He laughed and moved away, leaning back on the sofa.
“Let’s finish discussing this ball, then you can go do whatever you need to do. And I can go do whoever I need to do.”
“Right.” I rolled my eyes at him and turned to face the others. “Um. The only other thing I
wanted to mention was what happened when I followed Arlo.”
I gave them a brief rundown of the events, trying to recall the snatches of conversation I’d overheard.
“I’m not convinced about dad’s involvement in all this, but at least now we have this new gear, we might be able to watch the docks more, try and work out what’s going on down there.” Weston started carefully packaging everything away.
Cade spoke up. “Tuesdays seem to be our best bet. We’ll aim for a Tuesday—we’ll split up, two of us can go back to Alstone Members Club while the others check the docks, but we need to proceed with caution. Z, you said Creed told you security had been stepped up there?”
Zayde nodded, before swiping the game controller from the floor. Everyone seemed to take that as a sign the conversation was over.
“Kins, you want to help me? You’re a girl. I need to buy a gift for my sister. Right now. I’ve got about half an hour before I need to leave.” Cassius turned to her, giving her his best begging look, putting his hands together in a prayer symbol.
“More favours?” she grumbled. “Go on, then. But you owe me. I’m guessing we’re shopping online?”
Horror crossed his face as he stood, pulling her to her feet. “Fuck, yes. I’m not going shopping in town or anything. Can’t imagine anything worse.”
Their voices faded away as they disappeared from the room. Weston finished packaging up the items and followed them out of the door, box in hand.
“Are you okay?” I asked Caiden. He was shifting restlessly, flexing his knuckles.
He nodded, then shook his head. “No. Yeah. Just a bit edgy after all this shit that’s happened. You wanna get out of here for a while? We can do a drive-by of the docks, see if we can see anything.”
“Sure.” I stood. “We could drive through town and pick up food for tonight on the way back. Maybe Thai?”
“Yes.”