Atticus sighed. “No, we tortured him because we needed to be sure what was happening and whether people were still in danger. We also needed a location.”
“He also kidnapped our sister and allowed her to be held prisoner for eight years,” Felix said.
Avi’s gaze locked onto Felix for the first time, tracking him as he swirled around the room, wrapped in his grandma sweater, looking like a movie heroine with one arm across his trim waist and the other trailing long fingers along his collarbone. Felix seemed to live his life like it was a movie and he was the star and, as such, this whole body disposal ordeal was beneath him.
Atticus’s stomach dropped as Avi’s grin turned shark-like. “So, you’re Jericho’s brother? The fashion major, right?”
Atticus rolled his eyes, begrudgingly mumbling, “Felix, this is Avi. Avi, Felix. There, now can we get to the dead body at hand?”
They both ignored him. Avi let his gaze rove over Felix like he was naked. Atticus had to resist the urge to hide Felix away from his perpetually horny brother.
Avi fixed Felix with a smile Atticus was sure would have dropped even the tightest of panties anywhere else. “Felix, huh? Like the cat?”
Felix’s expression grew haughty, his chin jutting forward as he folded his arms across his chest. “No, Felix like Felix Mendelssohn, the German Composer.”
Atticus sighed, relieved that Felix’s underwear would stay where it belonged, at least for the time being.
But Avi apparently wasn’t done. He stalked closer, stopping just inches from Felix, as if he wanted to drive home their size difference. If anybody else had done it, Atticus would have thought it was an intimidation tactic, but the way Avi was looking at Felix made it clear this was some kind of…mating ritual.
“I hear you’ll soon be working…under me.” The implication in his words had Atticus cringing. This was why Asa did most of the talking.
Felix scoffed, raking his gaze over Avi before flicking his eyes away as if he’d been weighed, measured, and found lacking in anything Felix wanted. “I’ll be workingwithyou. I don’t workbeneathanybody,” he said, boredom bleeding into his tone.
Avi smirked. “That’s okay. I’m sure you’ll look just as good on top.”
Felix flushed, blinking rapidly, as if processing Avi’s words. Atticus was grateful Jericho was out of earshot or Avi would have had his lips ripped off and stapled to his ears.
“O-kay,” Noah said, dragging everyone’s attention away from Avi and Felix. “That was both uncomfortable and highly disturbing, so kudos for that, but how about we get rid of the soon-to-be rotting corpse and figure out what we’re going to do about Dr. McCreepypants and his little shop of hospital horrors? Sound good? Great.”
Jericho returned with an ugly blue plastic tarp that had clearly seen better days. “Will this work?”
When nobody said anything, Jericho looked around at the Mulvaneys and his own boys, zeroing in on Avi and Felix still side-eyeing each other. “What did I miss?”
“I have no idea, but I wish I’d missed it, too,” Atticus said.
Noah dropped down to his knee beside the corpse, taking the photos needed for the retinal and fingerprint scanner before Jericho and Atticus dropped Carlos onto the tarp and tied him up.
“What are you going to do with him?” Seven asked.
“Most likely take him to the meat packing plant and dump him in a vat of acid,” Adam said.
Seven’s brows furrowed. “Are you guys like cartoon villains? Who has access to vats of acid?”
Levi snickered.
“We have access to almost anything, really,” Asa said with a shrug. “This just seems like the most efficient option if we don’t want him turning up where he doesn’t belong.”
Nico pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. “But what do you do with the barrels?”
Asa shrugged. “After they’ve been…soaking long enough we seal them and toss them.”
“Toss them where?” Levi asked.
“That’s classified,” Adam said, giving them a wide grin.
The boys quickly lost interest in the conversation. Atticus looked at Jericho, who was gazing down at the tarp like he was contemplating kicking it a few more times. He would definitely need to find a way to relax him before they went to his father’s house or there was a ninety-seven percent chance he and Adam would end up in a fist fight before the meeting was over, and they just didn’t have time for that.
“Meet us at Dad’s tomorrow. We need to come up with an extraction and elimination plan. The numbers aren’t in our favor. Especially being down Archer and Aiden, but with Jericho picking up the slack, I think the five of us can handle anything that pops up.”
