Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

MINA

Caleb put on a pair of reading glasses and looked toward his phone screen. "As far as my contacts have been able to determine, Kurt hasn't made any move to sell Mina's information. Any attempt to trace the phone number he used to call her led nowhere."

"He hid his tracks too well." Parker looked annoyed, as if him not being able to trace Kurt either was personal. "He needs to use more modern technology. Then we'd be all over him. Not literally." He stuck out his tongue in disgust.

"No one thought you meant it literally, Park." Hunter patted him on the shoulder. "If I was him, I'd be going through someone else anyway. Let someone else hang on his behalf. Possibly literally."

"Definitely literally." Reuben sat behind his desk, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips like he had an impending headache.

Hunter and Parker lounged on a couch against the wall. Caleb sat in a chair, his back ramrod straight.

Damon and Gianni both leaned against the wall near the door, glancing at each other occasionally, but looking more comfortable than they had right after they kissed.

I sat perched on top of Reuben's desk and listened, one eye on the view of the ocean behind Reuben, the other on the room. To anyone who didn't know better, I wasn't paying attention.

No one in this room would make that assumption. Even here, surrounded by high walls and abundant security, we were all on alert.

"We have a lead on Leon Graves," Damon said.

Caleb didn't try to hide his scowl. Not because he particularly cared about me, but he clearly prided himself on what, and who, he knew. He didn't want to be bettered by someone like Damon.

Regardless, everyone's attention was immediately on Damon.

"He made contact with one of my contacts two days ago," Damon said, undeterred by the scrutiny.

"We're only hearing about this now? Why?" Caleb asked coldly.

Damon ignored him, his gaze on me and Reuben. "I was just informed about this. She didn't know you were looking for him."

"She, huh? Is she hot?" Hunter asked. He glared at Parker when he elbowed his twin in the ribs. "I was asking for Caleb. He clearly needs to get laid." He gestured towards his older brother.

Caleb turned his glare on both twins. "I suggest you mind your own fucking business. The cliff outside is high. I don't think either of you would survive the fall."

Neither twin looked particularly ruffled, but for once, they didn't respond. Possibly because of the cold death glare all three of them got from Reuben.

His gaze slid from them to Damon. "Where is this contact of yours?"

"Right here in Dusk Bay," Damon said. "I thought we could pay her a visit."

Reuben nodded. "Take Gianni with you."

"I'm going too," I said. "Sometimes a woman will open up to another woman." In the corner of my eye, I saw Parker open his mouth to speak. "Not that kind of open up."

He closed his mouth, but grinned. "A guy could hope."

I rolled my eyes at him but smiled. To be fair, I couldn't blame him. I got off on seeing two men kiss, so why wouldn't he fantasise about two women being together? Or want to watch?

Reuben looked as though he wanted to refuse to let me go, but he finally inclined his head. "Take the twins with you, in case everything goes south."

"We'll be sure to put them between us and any trouble," Gianni said teasingly.

Both twins smirked.

"That would take care of two problems," Caleb muttered.

"He really loves us as much as Reuben does," Hunter said to the room in general. "We're useful to him."

"Occasionally," Caleb said. "I'll keep monitoring the dark web for any sign of Lasalle. There's a lot of chatter about the Sparrow. Mostly curiosity about why they suddenly returned and where they were. I'll keep looking for people asking who they are, or offering that kind of information."

I chewed my lip and looked back at Reuben. He'd still given no indication he'd let me offer up the information myself. I could do it without his help, but I didn't want to go behind his back with this. Besides, it would be easier with him and the other men helping me.

I was tech savvy five years ago, but so much had changed since then. The act of logging onto social media was more complicated than it used to be. Just as toxic though, from the sound of it.

Reuben looked back at me, obviously knowing what I was thinking. He was hoping we'd find Kurt before I had to put myself out there.

I appreciated that on a personal and professional level. Once the world knew what I was, it would be difficult to keep working. Not impossible. The Levin sisters never hid their identity in the way I had. People knew who they were, if not what they looked like.

I didn't even know. They worked and trained with masks over their faces. Zara spoke occasionally, but Paola never said a word in my presence. I could have passed them both on the street and never recognised them.

I supposed I could do that if I was outed. Get myself a mask and a new codename. I'd have to rebuild my reputation from scratch. That would suck, but it wasn't insurmountable.

Reuben seemed to see all of that pass through my mind. Like it or not, we were on the same page on this. For now. If Damon's contact couldn't lead us to Leon Graves, then we might be back to square one.

"I'll bring the SUV around," Damon said. He slipped out of the office, followed by Gianni.

"Be safe," Reuben said to me.

"I will." I dropped down off the desk and walked around to kiss his mouth. I didn't care that Caleb and the twins were still in the room, watching. Let them see. I wasn't ashamed of the relationship between me and their brother.

Fortunately for them, they'd arrived after Reuben tongue fucked me on the couch. I had a feeling there'd be three bodies at the base of the cliff if they saw me naked.

Reuben hooked a hand around the back of my head and deepened the kiss before reluctantly letting me go. "If anything happens to you, Damon, Gianni and the twins better be dead already."

"We'll take good care of your woman," Hunter assured him. He looked like he was about to add something, but after exchanging glances with Parker he closed his mouth.

"Make sure you do," Reuben said.

I stepped back, offered him a smile and followed the twins out of the room.

"How is the?—"

Caleb closed the door before I could hear the rest of Reuben's question.

"In case you were wondering, yes, Caleb is always like that," Parker said. "Every now and again, I wonder who is more uptight, him or Reuben. Then we'll get together and I remember, it's Caleb. If you ask me, I think he tries too hard. He's always trying to impress Reuben."

"I got that vibe," I said. "He seems to be good at what he does."

"He is," Parker agreed. "He wouldn't dare not to be. His reputation, and job with the family, count on it. In his universe, those two are the most important things. In that order."

"He really, really needs to get laid," Hunter said. "I mean, we take our jobs seriously…ish…but we know how to have a good time too. Life is way too short to walk around with a stick up your ass. Where's the fun in that?"

"If you're talking a literal stick, not fun," Parker said. "There are other things I'd rather have up my?—"

Hunter interrupted him. "Too much information, bro. I don't need to know what you want up your ass."

"As if we don't share a sex life," Parker said.

He looked Hunter up and down, a mock frown on his face, as if he was actually offended in any way. It would obviously take a lot more than that to really get to him. Especially when it came to his twin.

"Yeah, but Mina doesn't want to hear it. Right, Mina?" Hunter asked.

I shrugged. "It doesn't bother me, one way or another. In fact, it's refreshing that you're not shy about shit like that."

Sex wasn't discussed in my family, unless you counted Asher's penis jokes. None of which he ever would have told in front of our parents.

"We've never been shy about much of anything," Parker said. "That's another thing life is too short for. We like to grab every day by the balls and ride that motherfucker for all she's worth."

Hunter nodded. "Accurate. Not literal, but accurate."

I couldn't hold back a smile at their obvious enjoyment of life.

It faded when I wondered if I'd be like that if not for Kurt. I had a vague memory of being more outgoing and bubbly when I wasn't sneaking around assassinating people. I might still be like that. I'd never know for sure.

"If we didn't say it before, we're sorry for what happened to you," Hunter said, in a rare moment of seriousness and sincerity. "That was fucked up. This might sound weird, but you're kinda like a sister to us. If someone does something to anyone in our family, we take it personally. Whatever it takes to deal with Lasalle, we're both in."

"Balls deep," Parker agreed. "Once again, not literally. If I meant that literally, Reuben would probably tear mine off. Since I'm attached to my balls, I will stick to speaking figuratively. But like Hunter said, you're like a sister to us, so that would be fucked up."

"You two are crazy, but you're sweet," I said.

They both grinned.

"That's what we keep telling everyone," Hunter said. "It's about time someone believed us." He offered his twin a fist bump.

Parker bumped, then offered him a high five.

I cocked my head at them. "I'm surprised you don't have a secret handshake."

"Who says we don't?" Hunter asked. "If we showed you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore. Although, if we were going to show anyone, it would probably be you. You're the cool, big sister we never had."

"No one has ever called me that before," I said. Tears prickled in the corners of my eyes.

"Which one?" Parker asked.

"Both," I replied. "Cool, or big sister. I'm the youngest in my family."

"You were the youngest," Parker corrected. "Now you're our family and we're the youngest. As far as we know."

If we kept talking like this, I was going to get choked up with emotion. That wasn't something any of us had time for right now. But I admit, this conversation made me feel warm inside. I'd be happy to have the twins as my younger brothers. From now on, I had their backs and they had mine.

I cleared my throat. "If we don't hurry, Damon and Gianni might leave without us."

They'd do exactly that if Reuben told them to. Honestly, I half expected to step out of the front of the house to see the SUV driving through the gates and away.

Instead, Gianni and Damon sat in the front of the dark vehicle, waiting for us with various levels of patience. Gianni looked relaxed, Damon looked on edge. So, the usual for them both.

I slid into the back and the twins walked around the other side to climb in with me.

Hunter clicked his seatbelt and rubbed his hands together. "It's party time."

"We're just going for a chat," Damon reminded him.

"That's where it starts," Hunter said. "We'll see where it ends."

I hoped a chat was all it would be, but I wasn't na?ve enough to think anything would be that simple.

Nothing was yet.