“What if she got something she shouldn’t have gotten?”Even as I asked that, I wasn’t really sure what I meant by it.Something she couldn’t have?She wasn’t a child.Still, not knowing bothered me.
“You’re being stupid.”
“Well, you’d fucking know, wouldn’t you?”
Kenyon made a show of rolling his eyes and throwing his arms up as though I were just having some sort of hissy fit, which was ridiculous.
Or, maybe he wasn’t that ridiculous.I had to admit, my actions didn’t make a lot of sense to me either.Kenyon left, headed up the stairs, probably to his own room.
“He might punch you one of these days.”Shear’s voice took me off guard.He wasn’t a stealth specialist like I was, couldn’t sneak up on people the way I could.He still managed to mask his presence most of the time.
“He’s welcome to try.”
“You’d deserve it.”Shear had a way of saying exactly what he thought, as though none of it had anything to do with him.He liked to comment on things like they were all outside his realm, as though they had nothing to do with him.He was just an observer, and I found that annoying as fuck.
Sometimes I wondered what it would take to get under his skin.I wanted to see what it would take to get him riled.To see him lose control.In all the years I’d known him, he never seemed to give a damn about anything.Some petty, childish little part of me wanted to see him get absolutely mad about anything.
I didn’t care if it was anger, happiness or anything else.Hell, I would take him on some aphrodisiac-fueled fuck fest if it meant he seemed like an actual person for five goddamn minutes.
After this many years though, I wasn’t holding out hope for at.Maybe the fucker just didn’t have it in him.
“She doesn’t feel good, though,” Shear said.
“You’re sure?”
He looked at me as though asking, ‘really?’It was a fair question.I had no reason to doubt anything Shear said.I couldn’t recall a single time when he’d proven himself wrong.If he said she wasn’t feeling well, she wasn’t feeling well.
I frowned for a moment, something else nagging at my senses.It was something familiar, something…something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
When I figured out what it was, the reason it had eluded me became clear.I knew that smell, but never expected it here, not like this, not from her.
It sent me sailing up the stairs, Shear on my heels even if he hadn’t come to the same conclusion.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Yun
My stomach cramped, and I groaned at how unfair life really was.Didn’t I have enough problems withoutthis?
Heavy footsteps outside signaled the approach of at least two of the men, the rapid rhythm suggesting running.I expected a knock, but instead, the door handle cracked and the door opened.
Which revealed Ingram, looking nothing like he had a moment before.At the doorway, he’d been sure and snarky.Now?He looked downright panicked.He stared at the handle—still in his hand but no longer connected to the door—then pinned his hand to the small of his back like that would erase that I’d seen it.
This sure was a far cry from his normal attitude.
As though he’d just realized it as well, he exchanged his look of worry for one of general annoyance—one far more similar to what he normally wore.“You okay?”He stared hard at me, as if trying to figure something out.
“Yeah, fine.”I held my hands out to prove it.
“You sure?”He narrowed his eyes.
“What’s going on?”Kenyon’s voice from over Ingram’s shoulder had Ingram turning.
“Isaidshe’s walking slow.Maybe you’re even more useless than I thought because you don’t seem to notice a damn thing, even when it’s right in front of you.”
“She doesn’t feel good.”Shear’s voice floated through the doorway even though I couldn’t see him, telling me he was probably just down the hallway past the other two.
“Just come in,” I said and stepped back, not wanting them to end up shoving each other there in the hallway.
