“She’s not a toy!”
“No, she was a gift. You wanted a child, and even after you didn’t want me anymore, it was my desire to fulfil yours.”
“I’ve always—” He cuts off with a curse. “Go to hell, Xavier.”
As if I haven’t been there for a long time now. “Your safety is—”
“None of your business,” Hunter replies tersely.
“And if I want it to be?” It already is, no matter what he thinks. I don’t need his permission to look out for him.
Hunter falters, brows drawing together.
Whatever he might have said is lost to the sound of Miles' phone ringing. The generic tone that every phone comes with.
Miles frowns and puts it on speaker as he answers. “Adam.”
“Hey, sexy thing. Did you know that you have the ultimate sex-phone voice? Does X know how much money he could be making off that?”
My lips twitch. “An avenue I haven’t thought of before.” If I didn’t know him better, and he weren’t one of the men I implicitly trust, I might have been offended at him speaking so freely to Miles and with a flirtatious tone. I’ve shot men for less.
“Hey, boss,” Adam says cheerfully, unperturbed.
“Do you want something?” Miles asks flatly. If he could strangle someone through the phone, I’m certain he’d be doing it now.
“Yeah, found the guy you’re looking for. Well, most of him.”
“Most of him?” Miles’ gaze flicks to me, and I raise an eyebrow. Certainly not the outcome I’d been expecting even if severed body pieces seem to be a running theme thus far.
“He has both hands; I checked. But I think—oh, never mind. Theo found the other half. All pieces accounted for. I assume. He’s dressed, but I could probably check he has his balls and all the other important parts.”
“I doubt he needs them now.” The fact he has all his fingers only further adds mystery to this. It doesn’t answer who the finger belongs to, and for Casey to be in pieces is a brutality I somehow wasn’t expecting. What is going on? “Send Miles the address; we’re on our way.”
“You got it.” He clicks off as quickly as he started.
“I’m going,” Hunter says darkly. “Don’t even think of leaving me behind.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He’s made his stance perfectly clear, and I can only deny him so many times. Besides, it’s easier to keep him safe when he’s close by.
Miles
AdamO’BrienandTheodoreBarbieri are the complete opposite in every single way. Adam is so pale he could light a room by himself, and his long, thick red hair, falling to below his shoulders—and in need of a good brush—doesn’t help. Theodore, on the other hand, is a dark-skinned Italian with zero hair and a no-nonsense attitude. Adam would need something in his brain for him to have an attitude of any kind.
Adam’s sly grin when he spots me makes me wish I’d hit him harder with my car last year. An accident, unfortunately. Next time won’t be.
“Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” His Irish accent comes through clearer than it does over the phone, but I also know he changes the thickness on a whim. I’ve heard him speak in a perfect Australian accent and then other times an Irish accent so thick, no one has any hope of deciphering the words.
Ignoring his ridiculous comment, I bypass him completely and head for where Theodore is standing near a dumpster with a phone to his ear.
“Well?”
Theodore glances at Adam, who’s waving his arms animatedly while he speaks to Xavier and Hunter. “Smells like the handiwork of Roger Vickers, though whether there’s a connection between Hunter’s stalker and him, I can’t say yet.”
Not a name I wanted to hear.
“Left here as a message?” Vickers likes to piss people off as a hobby—among other things—but he never does something for the simple fun of it. If he killed Casey, it was for a reason. We should have disposed of him when I wanted to. Even if he’s not directly involved in Hunter’s issues, this act of aggression has to be answered for. I’ll see to it personally.
“Hard to tell, but it feels deliberate. There are plenty of ways to dispose of a body without getting caught; this isn’t one of them.”
