Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
At least they’d done as they’d been told. They hadn’t come en masse. And they’d come in discreet cars, not their bikes.
The first car held Ink and Duke. The second car accommodated Markovich and Reyes.
Perfect.
He was shocked that dick, Gray, hadn’t insisted on coming with Markovich.
They moved in cautiously. That was something at least.
“Um, hello? Guys? Ink?”
Ink moved to the laptop set on an old piece of machinery. “Brody? Fuck, where are you? Has someone kidnapped you? What is this?”
“Well, I haven’t been kidnapped exactly. See, I, um . . .”
“Let me talk, Brody! Hi, I’m Autumn.”
Ink stared at the laptop incredulously. Duke stayed by the door, protecting their backs while the others moved closer. Okay, he might have to give the biker more credit.
“Autumn? Are you all right? You had a family emergency, right?” Ink asked.
“Well, the family emergency is a bit of a strange one,” she told him. “See, what Brody didn’t tell you is that I’m the sole surviving victim of Senator Robins.”
There was absolute silence.
“You are?” Ink asked hoarsely.
“Yes. And see . . . what I never told anyone was that there was someone there that night the senator died.”
“We know who you’re talking about,” Reyes said carefully, probably worried about how secure it was to talk over the internet.
“Right, so, my Hero, who rescued me. Well . . . he’s very protective of me. And of Brody.”
“Is he?” Duke asked from the doorway.
“He is,” she said. “So when a threat was made against Brody and me, he got us to safety.”
“Are you saying he kidnapped you?” Ink asked.
“No. Nope. He did not,” Brody said firmly. “I wanted to go with him.”
“Why did you lie to me, then?” Ink asked dangerously.
“Because you all seem to be under the mistaken impression that he’s not a Hero. That he’s a traitor,” Autumn said hotly.
“When all he’s trying to do is get to the truth,” Brody said quietly. “However, he needs to.”
“Are you saying that our mutual acquaintance isn’t playing on the opposite team?” Markovich asked.
The Fox started clapping, and they all looked up at him in shock. “Very good. You finally got it.” He swung his legs back and forth. This was rather fun.
“Fox?” Duke asked.
“Fuck, what are you doing up there?” Reyes asked.
“Well, I could have picked you off one by one. Very careless of you not to look up. It’s no wonder you always need me to rescue your women for you.”
“Fox,” Brody said warningly. “Let’s all try to get along.”
Ink stared at the laptop, then at the Fox. “What is going on? Are you and he . . .”
“Baking the potato? Bringing an al dente noodle to the spaghetti house? Bam-bam in the ham?”
A groan came from the laptop.
“Really, Fox? Bam-bam in the ham?” Brody asked.
“What? I rather liked that one.”
“Did he force you?” Ink asked Brody. “Did he make you go with him? Do you need out? I’ll come for you right now.”
“Like you have a chance of finding him, let alone getting him out of my den,” the Fox sang.
“Fox!” Brody said sharply. “Let me talk to Ink.”
“What am I? Just here to look pretty?” Rude really. Although he was rather handsome.
“Ink, I’m not being held against my will,” Brody said.
“Then why aren’t you here?” Ink asked.
“Because Foxy is overprotective of the people he loves,” Autumn stated.
Love? Huh. Love. He liked that they loved him. But did he love them back? How did one know? He was obsessed with them. Would kill for them. Couldn’t live without them.
Was that love?
Perhaps it was.
“People he loves?” Reyes asked in a strangled voice.
“Are you saying that the Fox loves you?” Ink asked, glancing up at him.
The Fox gave him a small finger wave.
“Do you think you could come down from there?” Markovich asked.
“Love? Did he really say love?” Duke said, sounding dazed.
“Do you promise to listen to him?” Brody asked. “He’s not the bad guy in this story.”
“I still think I might be,” the Fox countered. “I’ve done quite a lot of bad things.”
“Like kill Mr. X and the others in that warehouse?” Markovich asked.
“Why shouldn’t I have done that? They were all evil.”
“What about kidnapping Dahlia?” Markovich snapped.
“It was just a short kidnapping. I let her go.”
“You let her go?” Duke asked. “Didn’t she escape?”
“You don’t think she managed it on her own, do you? I thought better of you, Duke. This game we have going, where you pretend to hate me, and I keep riling you up . . . well, I still thought you had some brains. That you were a worthy opponent.”
“It wasn’t a game!” Duke told him.
“Wasn’t it? I sure enjoyed myself.” He grinned down at the other man who was staring at him in exasperation.
“You told Sunny that she might need to go to a safe house. Is she in trouble because of you?” Duke asked.