“No, no.” I choke him harder, glancing down. “Playtime is over for your little yogurt rifle. You’ll resign today. You’ll leave the park and fire that pathetic thing somewhere, far away from her, or I’ll share with HR and Reddit the damning video I just took of you. Think I’ll call it ‘Forest Ranger Caught Wringing His Worm in the Wild.’”
“Fuck you.” He tries to squirm.
Lowly, I laugh. “You want to fuck with me, Carter? Be smart. We both know I’m not who I say I am either.” He tries to elbow my ribs, but lucky for him, I don’t want Alena to catch us; otherwise, I’d break him in half. “I have a friend who’ll pay you a visit tomorrow. He’ll make sure you’re gone. Dead or alive: you’ll never put your eyes on Alena again. You decide.”
He stops fighting me, his lungs heaving.
“Good boy. Now tell me who you were with in that RV an hour ago.” He stiffens in my arms. Like he’s more afraid of that RV than me. “Was it a woman? A man?” He’s frozen. “A couple with strap-ons? I don’t give a shit, Carter. Get your kink on, but you were up to some shady shit, weren’t you?”
“Please.” His muffled beg sounds desperate.
“Please, what?” I fume. “Whisper, so Alena won’t know I busted you, or I’ll toss you over a cliff.”
When I lift my hand, he whimpers, “Alright, man. I’m gone. Tonight. Please, just let me go.”
I choke his neck with my biceps. “Tell me about the RV first.”
“I can’t.”
I squeeze tighter. “Wrong answer.”
“I mean it. If I tell you, I’m dead as well as my girlfriend, after she’s put through hell.”
A dozen guesses fire through my mind. All of them evil. “Oh, Carter. What have you gotten yourself into? You’refucking around and letting someone threaten an innocent woman? Which, by the way, say goodbye to your girlfriend. She doesn’t deserve a piece of shit like you.”
“Yeah, yeah, man,” he splutters. “I’ll leave her tomorrow. Whatever you say.”
I could torture him. Could play with painful pressure points on his body until he pisses himself and passes out. Or I could beat the shit out of him and drag him away. All of which would make Alena turn her head and see us across the clearing.
And I don’t want to take her innocence.
I want her to read books in the sunshine, even if I’ll always have to protect her from afar.
“Little bro,you’re on to something.” Grant chomps his usual gummy bears while we’re on a call. “That Tennessee tag is registered to an LLC out of New Mexico.”
“New Mexico? Why the fuck?”
I talk on my Bluetooth, winding my way up the mountain, staying a half mile behind Alena.
Carter left, and I stayed to watch her finish her book before she hiked back to her truck. Of course, she got her usual Slurpee fix after she went to the grocery store, and now she’s headed back to her cabin.
“New Mexico is a rare state that allows anonymous LLCs,” Grant explains. He’s the expert on intel. “No names needed for the paperwork.”
“But that’s over a thousand miles from here.”
“And now they’re right under your nose,” he confirms. “It’s not coincidence. Put a tracker on that RV.”
“Can’t right now. I’m tracking Alena.” I pull into my gravel spot beside her truck.
“How’s it going?”
I already confessed to Sire and won’t burden another brother with my forbidden love. Grant’s not a good liar, particularly to Mom. Hell, who is?
“She’s predictable. Makes the job easy.”
“Makes Nash happy. Axel too.”
Still, I gotta know. It always bothers me. “Ever wonder why Axel cares so much about Alena?”
