“He saved my life, Shep.”
I stopped in my tracks but then narrowed my eyes. “That’s what guards do.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “He wasn’t on duty. I was young and stupid and messing with people I shouldn’t have been. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but sometimes my mouth gets me in trouble.”
“Oh, I’ve noticed.”
There was a hint of a grin on his face, just that tiny spark of devilishness, but just as quickly it was gone. “Look, Conrad stepped in when I got outnumbered by a bunch of pissed-off guys with more than their fists for weapons, and if it hadn’t been for him, you sure as hell wouldn’t be seeing this handsome face right now. He saved my ass and he kept it quiet. He didn’t have to do that.”
“Why haven’t I heard about this?”
“Because no one knew. Not my family, not King. Conrad never said anything, and I sure as hell wasn’t volunteering that info.”
“So, what, he’s been holding this over your head to use when he needed you?”
“It’s not like that. He asked for my help, I made a choice, and it was the right one.”
I scoffed and gestured back at the laptop. “Really? A bit of blackmail’s not a big deal for you compared to whatever you’re really doing now?”
“Hey, fuck you,” Theo snapped, shoving my chest so that I fell back a step. “I just told you what you wanted to know. No one said you had to agree with it.”
“You’re right about that. I don’t agree with it. You should’ve come to us if you needed help.”
He let out a contemptuous laugh and dropped into a nearby seat, throwing his feet up on the table. “Right, great idea. Let all of you in on it so I can have six people attacking me for doing what was right.”
“And what exactly was that? Post explosives in a building to destroy evidence of something your old buddy did?”
“Fuck. You.”
“You should be so lucky.” I refastened the towel at my waist and leaned back against the table, looking down at Theo’s flushed face, his tight expression. He was heated about this, there was no mistaking that reaction, and I tried to calm down enough that I could listen without wanting to strangle him.
“Okay,” I said before sucking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “What did he need your help with? Why were you there, and whatexactlydid you do?”
The fact that I was willing to keep listening seemed to surprise him, which made me feel like an ass even with how pissed I was. I needed to know the details and the whys before I made any more snap judgments. This was Theo, not some fucking delinquent. We’d had to trust each other with our lives many times over, so I forced my judgment to the back of my mind for now.
No promises it wouldn’t come roaring back, though.
Theo drummed his fingers along the table and met my stare dead-on. “Conrad’s brother was kidnapped a few weeks ago. The reasons why don’t matter, and I didn’t ask. He was being held in the basement of that building you saw, which is actually the old consulate—or was, I guess. He contacted me for any connections I might have, but obviously I know how to get in and out undetected. Keyword beingundetected, which is how I know that bullshit video isn’t me.”
“Because his brother would’ve been with you on the way out.”
“Bingo.”
There was no need to ask if Theo’s mission had been successful. The fact that he was sitting here right now told me that, since he’d never stop until he got exactly what he wanted.
Still…
“You didn’t think it’d be smart to have backup?” I said.
“If I thought any one of you would understand and approve, I would’ve asked.”
I reared back like he’d slapped me, but damn. That stung. There was no one I was closer to on this earth than my Libertine brothers, and that shit was supposed to be no-matter-what loyalty.
“Theo—”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it. I made the call to do it the way it went down, and now we’re even.”
“He said that?”
