“No, I fucking don’t.” I could practically hear him grinding his molars as a long, tense silence stretched between us.
“Do you think it’s real?”
“It looks pretty real to me, but I’m going to speak to Alessio. I swear…” King let out an aggravated sigh. “If Theo did this, if he went off on his own, I’ll…”
King didn’t have to say what he was thinking, because I was thinking it too. If Theo had gone and pulled this shit off on his own, I’d kill him myself.
“Leave it with me,” I said, watching the video one more time. “I’ll talk to him.”
“You do that. And Shep?”
“Yeah?”
“If Theo’s involved, you are to report directly back to me. Got it?”
Theo’s taunt of my being King’s lapdog flashed through my head, but before I let it push me into a response I’d regret, I answered, “Got it,” then quickly ended the call.
6
THEO
IWOKE TO a sound I’d never heard before—someone banging on the door to my private wing within the palace.
What the hell? No onebangshere.Not unless I brought them to my room, of course, and I hadn’t done that last night. I wouldn’t have minded a repeat had Shep been down for that, but all our quick fuck had done was wound him tighter than before.
Too bad. He was actually pretty damn hot working me over.
When I didn’t hear the noise again, I figured I’d imagined it and rolled back over in bed. Yesterday was the longest day in the history of ever, and I didn’t have anywhere to be until later, so unless the palace was burning down or someone had died, I was getting at least another hour of shuteye.
Just as I began to drift off again, my sheets were ripped from my body. The rude awakening sent me into an adrenaline rush, and I had the knife I kept in my bedside table in my hand and at the intruder’s throat before they could lay a finger on me.
“Good to know you’re prepared in case someone wanted to kidnap your ass for ransom.”
I blinked through the haze of sleep at Shep, who didn’t flinch even with my knife at his throat.
“Shep? What the fuck?” I lowered the knife and blew out a breath as I tossed it back in the drawer. “I could’ve killed you.”
“You would’ve tried.” He shrugged and threw my sheets back on the bed. “Can’t say you would’ve succeeded.”
“Let’s not test that theory.”
“Fine by me. I—” His words cut off as he looked at me, his eyes widening slightly when he realized I was naked.
Instantly, the tension in the room changed to something else entirely as he dropped his gaze down my body, lingering on my morning wood. There had been times in the midst of shit going down where we’d all quick-changed in front of each other, but there had never been a time I’d stood fully naked in front of him, and that included yesterday’s unexpected activity.
Shep liked what he saw. I could see it in the hitch of his breath, the flare of his nostrils, and the way he couldn’t take his eyes off me.
“If you wanted a repeat, you could’ve just joined me,” I said, smirking as I took a step toward him.
Instantly, Shep’s shoulders tensed, and though he didn’t move away, that wall of his was firmly back up.
“Put some clothes on. We need to talk.”
“I’m fine like this.”
“Theo—”
“Is this too tempting for you? Can’t concentrate while you’re ogling my dick?”
