Linus continued to march toward his brother like he would start a fist-fight. “I didn’t know what was going on,” he growled. “I thought it was real. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
Lucas tried to laugh, but he backed up the porch stairs toward the house’s front door, looking almost as afraid as Linus had been when I’d first taken him from the conference room. Lucas’s gaze shot to me, and he gasped, “Fuck, you’re the alpha I was supposed to play with.” For half a second, he relaxed and swept me with a lascivious look. “Not half bad. Sexy scar.” He winked at me.
“Do not look at him like that,” Linus snapped. I had to fight down a burst of pride and lust. My omega was defending me. But no, he wasn’t my omega, and he was beyond pissed. “I’m tired of you pranking me and putting me in dangerous situations,” he went on. “What if that really had been a trafficking situation? What if I’d been in real danger.”
“But you weren’t,” Lucas insisted. “You never were. It was all a game.”
“I didn’t know that,” Linus shouted, throwing his arms out as we all stood on the porch, the sound of waves beating against rocks coming from somewhere beyond the house and the cool, salty air swirling around us. “I was terrified! Even though it was fake, what would have happened if Saint hadn’t turned out to be so nice? Things might have gone too far.”
“Saint? That’s an odd name,” Lucas said, aggravatingly clueless. “I should have read the file they sent me about you a little more.”
“I think we should take this inside and discuss boundaries and appropriate behavior,” I said, stepping cautiously forward. “And I think you need to put that gun away.”
“This?” Lucas said, holding up his gun with a carelessness that made both me and Linus flinch. “It’s plastic,” he said, tapping it against the side of the house to prove it. “I can’t get a real gun.”
I quickly thanked whatever authorities had the wisdom not to sell Lucas firearms.
Then again, the fact that he couldn’t purchase a gun meant the omega had some sort of record that barred him from it.
“Can we just go inside?” Linus asked, irritated. “It’s been a long night, and I want to say a few things to you.”
“I get it, I get it,” Lucas said, still not putting his plastic gun down or moving into the house. “But you guys can’t be here right now. No one can be here but me.”
My senses prickled, especially since Lucas suddenly looked extremely nervous.
“Of course I can be here,” Linus said exhaustedly, rubbing his forehead. “This is my house, too.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Lucas said, stepping forward, like he would usher us off the porch. “I mean you absolutely cannot be hereright now. Someone might—er, um, you just can’t be here.”
A few more things ticked into place in my mind, but it was Linus who asked, “Does this have something to do with the stuff you’re storing for your friend?” He glanced over his shoulder to the van. “What are you keeping for them again?”
“You’re involved in something criminal,” I said. It wasn’t a question.
“No!” Lucas insisted, dashing across the deck and standing with his arms outstretched by the stairs, as if he didn’t want us to leave now. “No, no, no. It’s nothing illegal.” He laughed nervously. “I’m just, um, waiting for a friend to come by and pick up the van.”
“Waiting in the middle of the night?” I asked.
“I don’t know when exactly they’ll come for it, they didn’t say,” Lucas said. “I’m on standby.”
“Surely, they won’t come in the middle of the night,” Linus said.
If my guess about the legality of what Lucas was doing was right, they would absolutely come in the middle of the night. They wouldn’t want anyone to see them.
“What are you involved in, Lucas?” I asked, using as authoritative a voice as I could.
Lucas cringed, hunching in on himself a little. “I swear, it’s nothing. Really. Well, not much.”
“It’s something,” Linus said breathlessly. “You’re in trouble again. What are you doing this time?”
“I swear, it’s nothing,” Lucas insisted.
“What’s in the van?” I asked.
“It’s nothing!” Lucas raised his voice.
I didn’t believe that for a second. I headed toward him, grabbing him and moving him easily to the side when he tried to block my way, then headed down the steps and onto the driveway.
“You don’t have to worry about it, please, I swear!” Lucas called out, chasing after me. Linus followed us to the back of the van.
