Chapter Twenty

Seven

“Oh my.” Kellum sat with a hand to his chest, eyes wide, mouth gaping at Stone.

Seven was still trying to wrap his head around Hunter and Stone working together, but at the shocked words, he shot a glance toward the end of the table.

Jesus Christ, Hunter was right, there was a lot of drama around here. Granted, the men in the room, minus Kellum and Theo, were killers, but still. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, Seven would have laughed. In fact, if he were being honest, he was having a good time. The camaraderie he shared with Hunter had him coming back time after time. Seven came off as a loner, but he really wasn’t. This beat sitting at a lonely job any fucking day.

His phone buzzed and he pulled it out and turned back toward the door. Stepping out into the foyer, he answered it.

“I got Josh to talk a bit,” Ice said. “He wasn’t at a friend’s house.”

“What?” Seven shouldn’t have been surprised that Joshua had lied to him, but he was. “Where was he?”

“With someone he called Uncle Lark.”

“Who the fuck is Uncle Lark?”

“I don’t know yet. Josh clammed up after saying they’d both gone to this guy’s house before,” Ice muttered.

Seven’s heart stopped. “Both?” he rasped.

“Yeah,” Ice murmured.

Bothmeant both Josh and Lisa…

“Who is he?” And why the fuck had he never heard of this fucking guy?

“I don’t know who he is, but he couldn’t be found when I got there. Josh came out of the house and stood on the porch.”

“And you left?”

“No, I didn’t fucking leave. I went inside and searched the place, but he wasn’t there. I took Josh and left. I wanted to drop him off and go back, but Josh didn’t want to be alone or with his parents like I told you last night, so we went to your place and I let him sleep.”

“Was this fucker keeping Josh there under duress?”

“Well, from what little Josh has said, Lark started acting weird and freaking out when Josh called you. Josh said he lied to you to calm Lark down.”

“That fucker,” Seven growled. he could imagine how terrified Joshua had been. And it sounded like Josh had shared with Ice. Seven needed answers from his little brother that needed to be asked in person.

“So, what do we do, kill him?” Ice suggested.

Seven was prevented from answering by the hard nudge of a gun at the back of his head.

“Hang up that fucking phone.” It was the voice of the new guy, Stone.

Well, fuck.They’d invited an enemy inside their safe house.

“Seven?” Ice’s voice rang out from the phone. “Seven, answer me!”

“You have a death wish,” Seven said and dropped down low.

Maybe it was the comfort of the safe house or Stone had no idea what Seven was capable of. Regardless, Seven had the advantage of surprise, yet, he had to hand it to the guy. Stone’s reflexes were quick, but Seven was fucking faster. As he dropped and swiped his legs out, Stone leaped to avoid them. Seven sent his foot with a stiffened leg into the man’s groin. Stone’s breath gasped out, the gun dropped to the foyer, and Stone slammed to the floor.

Seven stood ready to cream the man when his arm was caught and held. It took every ounce of himself not to put Link down. When Stone rolled to his feet, he came up with the gun, wobbling but determined.

“You do have a death wish,” Hunter’s voice hissed from behind Stone.

The man Seven was falling for had slipped up behind Stone and had a gun aimed at the back of the guy’s head. Stone was looking kind of green, but valiantly kept the gun aimed at Seven.

“What the fuck?” Coming out of the communications doorway behind their room, Jaxon skirted the standoff. Pulling twin guns, Jaxon pointed one barrel at Hunter and the other at Stone.

Stone realized the predicament he was in and lowered the Glock aimed at Seven. Hunter slipped his gun away and stepped back. Link released the grip he had on Seven’s arm, but stayed at his side. Kind of like backup, and it made Seven feel like he really was one of them.

Yet, the air remained thick with tension.

“What the hell is going on?” Jaxon snapped.

“Hunter’s boy here was making a call,” Stone said.

“First,” Seven said very softly, “I’m nobody’s boy, and second, they called me.”

“Who called you?” Hunter frowned.

Jaxon had yet to lower his guns even when the others filed into the foyer to see what the hell was going on. This meeting was going all to shit.

Seven lifted his phone and punched the speaker button.

“You’re on speaker, Ice.”

“Why am I on fucking speaker?” Ice shouted. “What the fuck is going on?”

“I have some people here with me. Can you repeat what you just told me?” Seven asked and held Hunter’s concerned blue eyes as Ice recounted what happened with Joshua, including info about the man who called himself Uncle Lark.

“Uncle “fucking” Lark?” Stone said.

“Yeah, I didn’t stutter,” Ice snapped.

After a moment’s hesitation, Jaxon finally lowered his twin guns.

“You’ve got family problems, dude,” Stone told Seven.

Hunter stepped toward Seven. “You need to go?”

“Ice,” he said instead of answering Hunter. “I need you to do some research on this Lark guy.”

“I’m on it. Get here as fast as you can.” Ice ended the call and Seven swung his gaze to hold Hunter’s.

“We need to talk,” Seven said.

Hunter jerked his head toward the unit they’d shared and they entered together, Seven shutting the door behind them.

“What the fuck? Who is this ass clown and why didn’t the police know about this guy?” Hunter raged with his fists clenched.

Seven stepped forward and pulled Hunter into his arms. A warmth and overwhelming care for this man filled his chest and he returned Hunter’s tight squeeze. When he loosened his grip, Hunter eased back and looked into his eyes.

“Do you think he’s Lisa’s killer?”

Seven nodded. “I can’t imagine why he would freak out after I called Josh. Can you?”

“No. You have to go.”

Seven clenched his teeth. Uncle Lark would be dealt with, but leaving Hunter in the middle of a fucking hitman squabble didn’t feel right.

“Come with me.”

“Okay.”

Just like that, Hunter was willing to help him track down Lisa’s murderer. It really didn’t surprise him; Hunter was that kind of person, a man Seven wanted fiercely to call his own. Seven moved in and took Hunter’s lips in a rough and loving kiss.

A knock at the door broke them apart.

“Yes?” Hunter said huskily.

“Hunter? Malcolm contacted Theo. He said he’d only deal with you,” Jaxon called through the door.

Hunter’s eyes widened and Seven smirked, giving the man a nudge toward the door. Maybe they could wrap this up before heading out.

This was working out better than he’d hoped.