“Hey, Phoenix,” he said as he gave me a hug. He held me for a long time and I knew why. I’d been tasked with guarding him whenhe, Memphis, and their other lover, Brennan Devereaux had been struggling to figure out their relationship. I’d grown particularly close to Tristan, had even told him things about Amani that I hadn’t told anyone else.
“Hey,” I said. “How are things?” I asked as I followed him into the house.
“Good,” he said with a broad smile. “How’s Amani?”
I nodded. “She’s good.”
Tristan brushed his hand up and down my arm, but didn’t say anything. It was one of my favorite things about Tristan. He was good at giving a person just what they needed.
“Memphis is in the office,” Tristan said as he led me to the living room where I saw Brennan sitting on the couch in front of a big screen TV, a white cat curled on his lap.
“Hi, Phoenix,” Brennan said with a wave.
“Hey.” To Tristan I said, “Thanks,” and started walking towards the back of the house. I saw Tristan go sit down next to Brennan who immediately put his arm around his shoulders while Tristan laid his head on Brennan’s chest. I wondered if I’d ever have that. That need to always be touching another…like you’d become part of them and they you. Even when you were doing something as simple as watching television.
I made my way to the office where Memphis was sitting behind a desk, his eyes on a piece of paper in front of him.
“Come on in,” he said. “Close the door.”
I did as he said, but when he motioned to the chair, I didn’t move. His dark eyes lifted to meet mine and then he leaned back in his chair.
“I was thinking Ronan might be mistaken, but now I’m guessing not,” he said.
“Ronan’s wrong about this,” I said, not bothering to dance around the subject. “We don’t have all the information yet.”
“Phoenix,” Memphis said with a sigh. “Sit…please.” He motioned again to the chair on the other side of the desk. I reluctantly sat down.
“Ronan has concerns that you may be compromised. That you feel pity for the mark.”
“His name is Levi,” I said, trying to keep my anger in check.
“Levi,” Memphis conceded. “Ronan’s shared his notes with me. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve discovered?”
“Does it matter?” I asked. “You’ve made your decision. Ronan’s made his.”
“Think about it for a moment, Phoenix. Ronan could have called any one of his guys tonight and given his order. He could have easily had a dozen guys detain you while one followed through on his termination order. But he called me.”
“Why?” I asked.
Memphis shook his head. “Because I think he’s scared shitless. I think he came close to losing Seth a year ago and that’s not something you can just come back from.”
I watched as Memphis dropped his eyes. I knew he was remembering the moment when he’d learned both his lovers had been abducted by his vengeful ex. Brennan, in particular, had suffered terrible things at the man’s hands.
“He gave that order and I believe he meant it, but I think there’s that part of him that isn’t so certain. That’s the part that called me and told me to find someone else to handle the job.”
Memphis leaned forward and folded his arms on the desk. “So let’s start with you telling me all you know about Levi Deming,” he said. “And then you can tell me why this job is no longer a job for you.”
It didn’t really surprise me that he’d figured out the truth about me. I could deny it, but I found that I didn’t want to. So I told him everything I knew, including the things Levi had told me in confidence about his brother’s sexual assaults as well as what had happened to him in prison. When I was finished, Memphis was frowning. He was quiet for a long time before he said, “So, you don’t know for sure that Levi isn’t colluding with this T guy to try to get to Seth again…besides the gut feeling anyway.”
“No,” I said. “I just need more time. I think Levi’s on the verge of telling me everything. If I can just get him to trust me, I can findout about him and T and their plans. Even if it’s true, T is forcing him into it. I know it. I just don’t know what he has on Levi.”
Memphis nodded. “I’ll buy you time with Ronan…but it will probably only be a day or two. If you can’t get Levi to open up, we’ll need to force the issue.”
As much as I hated the sound of that, I knew he was right. Confronting Levi head on might be the only way to save his life. But that was also assuming his answers were enough to prove to Ronan that if he was in fact targeting Seth, it was because he had no choice. Hopefully, we’d be able to convince Ronan that if we removed T from the equation, Seth would once again be safe.
Fuck, that was a lot ofifs.
My phone rang before I could respond and I felt my insides tighten at the sight of Dante’s name on the caller ID.
