“Then let me do my job. After all, that’s why you kept me around, right?”
A flash of emotion flickered in King’s eyes before he rubbed a hand over his face. “Shep…”
“Don’t,” I snapped. The last thing I needed was a pity pep-talk from him.
Damn it, why’d I let him get to me like that? I hated him seeing any cracks in my armor, and when it came to Tyrone Kingston, I had a lot.
Time to change the subject.
“I’ll work on Theo; you work on Alessio. I’ll check in when I have something useful.”
King’s eyes narrowed a fraction. I was ready to be done with this conversation.
“Fine. Why don’t I send Lachlan your way and?—”
I snorted. “Lachlan? I don’t think so. He’d stick out like a sore thumb. I can keep an eye on Theo just fine on my own—I run in his circles, and if I need a second, Lucien’s here. We blend. Lachlan wouldn’t.”
“Okay, then I’ll wait to hear from you.”
And hate every second of it.“I’ll be in touch.”
I was just about to end the call when he said, “Shep?”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful.”
“Will do.”
I sat in the chair a spell after ending the call, replaying the conversation with King over and over again.
God, why did he still have such a pull on me? At work, on my own, during our conversation. Theo was right—I was like a fucking soldier, always getting in line to serve my King.
No, not mine anymore.
Never mine again.
And while I thought I’d gotten over him, my lack of romantic involvement since said otherwise.
I couldn’t remember the last person I’d been with—not including Theo—and wasn’tthatpathetic? King had moved on, and movedin,with his new men, and I was in some kind of Groundhog Day from hell.
One I hadn’t even realized I was in until Theo had pointed it out.
And fuck him for that.Who was Theo to give me dating advice? He hadn’t held down a relationship of any kind since I’d known him. But then again, after one close encounter with him, and having to put up with his mouth, I could see why people would run.
The guy was a lot. And that was before you added in the fact he was royalty and under constant public scrutiny.
The wild card of Monaco royalty. He’d been under as much scrutiny as I had during our teens and early twenties. But where I’d made sure to behave myself, Theo had taken a more rebellious road in life. One that involved drinking and debauchery.
We thought we’d gotten that wild side of him under control. But knowing what lengths he’d gone to in order to stay under Alessio’s radar, I couldn’t help but wonder—could you ever really contain lightning in a bottle?
I had no idea, but sitting around thinking about it wasn’t going to get me anywhere, and if I didn’t come up with something soon, King would be paying us an impromptu visit—and no one wanted that.
It was time to track Theo down and get to the bottom of this. Or at least find him and make sure he wasn’t causing another international incident for me to clean up.
10
THEO
