Two seconds of silence ticked by. Then her eyebrows shot up, and she slapped her hands over her reddening cheeks.
Xander bit back a snort—and thankfully, so did Wilson.
“Oh my God, that sounded awful,” she murmured. “That’snotwhat I meant. Can we please erase that?”
Chuckling, Wilson ran a hand over his jaw. “I’d totally make an inappropriate joke right now, but I think your man would try to beat the shit out of me if I did.”
“Not wrong, friend.”
Wilson caught his gaze, and amusement danced over his friend’s face. “Notice how the operative word there wastry?”
He and Wilson were evenly matched, that was for sure. “Well,” he began with a shrug, “if all else failed, I’d sic Tash on you for me.”
Wilson held up his hands in mock innocence and gestured to the envelope.
He quickly pulled on the nitrite gloves, opened the top flap of the envelope, and peeked in. He shook the envelope to get a better look at the contents.
Fuck.
Lead filled his stomach. All the teasing and laughter from just seconds earlier was gone.
He met Freya’s gaze and frowned. “You were right to be worried. It’s more photos.” The way the light in her eyes dimmed tore at his gut. “I want you to pack a bag, baby. Come stay with me for the rest of the week.”
Her mouth fell open, and she sucked in a breath. “That bad?”
He’d only caught a glimpse of a couple of the photos, but that had been enough. He nodded. “Do you want to see them?”Please say no.
She worried her bottom lip. “I don’t know.”
He pulled her into his arms. How could he not? “Why don’t you pack first?” As much as he wanted to protect her, he wasn’t going to lie to her. “The photos aren’t good, but we can look at them later. I don’t want you staying here any longer than you need to, and most definitely not by yourself.”
She gulped and squeezed his waist before she let go. “Um, how much should I pack?”
“At least for the week. We can come back this weekend and get you more stuff if need be.”
“Holy crap, okay,” she said on an exhale and hustled to her bedroom.
Wilson was beside him in seconds. “What were the photos of?” he asked in a hushed voice.
“The two of us from yesterday.” With their faces scratched out.
Wilson’s jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed. “What shit have you stepped into?”
Anger simmered in his blood. “I don’t know, but I’m gonna use every fucking resource we have to find out.”
Wilson slapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll round up the troops. Bean and Frazier, for sure. Want me to see if Alvarez is free to join?”
He nodded and handed Wilson the envelope. “Yeah. Tash and Esme too, if they’re available. Between all of us, we’ve got to be able to figure out what the hell is going on.”
Freya’s hands shook as she folded the final black dress, placed it in her small suitcase, and zipped it up. She’d packed enoughwork outfits for the rest of the week, along with toiletries and makeup in record time.
She pulled her suitcase off her bed, set it on the floor, and pulled up the handle. She paused and sat on the edge of her bed, her shoulders sagging.
She should have asked to see what was in the envelope, should have demanded to see the photos. After all, burying her head in the sand was never a good idea. But after seeing the look on Xander’s face, she’d chickened out. The anger radiating off him told her that whatever he’d seen had been bad.
It wasn’t like she wasn’t ever going to look at the photos, just... not quite yet. Because the fact he didn’t want her to stay alone at her apartment said a lot. The fact that she’d gone and packed her suitcase, no questions asked, also said a lot.
She trusted him. Implicitly.
