I frowned, the sudden exposure unsettling. “How would you know that?”
“Bikes first, right?” he asked, ignoring my question. “I was going to spar with my friends, but you’d make better company. Nicer to look at, anyway.” Malik’s words rang in my ears like a broken bell. I peered over his shoulder, my eyes widening as they landed on the two giants waiting for him by the punching bags.
Viper and Tobias gave lackluster dips of their heads in greeting.
My gaze flicked between the three of them, my mind reeling. But instead of exposing myself further, I adjusted my gym bag on my shoulder and walked to the nearest bike.
Malik waited, giving a smile to an older Black lady as crossed in front of him, before he ran up to the Bureau brutes. He said a few quick words to them and rushed back to me just as I’d sat on the seat.
I adjusted the tension on the bike and began my workout, keeping my gaze down as Malik took a seat on the bike next to mine. “Since when do you have friends?” I mumbled.
“Are you jealous?” he teased. At my silence, he continued, “I’ve known Tobias and Viper for a minute.”
“Do you know who they work for?” My tone was sharp, a lot colder than I’d intended.
Malik finally lowered to the handlebars. “If you knew them, you’d know they couldn’t hide that shit for long.” Even though I dared not look, I heard the chuckle in his voice over the whirl of our bikes.
“Did they target you?” I asked quietly.
“No, believe it or not. They just really like working out. They were usually leaving when I was coming in, or vice versa.” In my peripheral vision, I watched him increase the tension on his bike. “One thing led to another, and here we are.”
I pulled my jacket’s zipper to my collarbone, its collar suddenly too tight. My gaze drifted away from the LCD screen.
Malik sat up wiping sweat from his nose with the bottom of his shirt, like we were really two people merely working out together. The bastard was probably taunting me with how good he still looked.
As I stopped pedaling, I released my clenched jaw and peeled my fists from around the handlebars, allowing blood toflow back in my fingers. “Are you the one who told the Bureau what happened at the warehouse?”
He studied the number of calories he burned, his eyes glued to the little monitor between his hands, but he nodded in time with his pedaling. “Sure did.”
His answer made me grimace. “Why?”
Malik pushed off the handlebars, his head whipping to face me. “Because this shit is getting out of hand.” He glanced around and waited for the two young men walking behind us to get out of earshot before continuing. “A werewolfuprising,” he stressed, venom lacing his whisper. “Are you fucking kidding me? We need all the help we can get.”
My face grew hot. I crossed my arms. “Does James know yourfriendssnatched us off the street because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut?” I fired back.
“The same way we shook hands with monsters because you couldn’t keep your legs closed?”
My muscles tensed, but I rolled my shoulders, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.
This asshole wasnotabout to make me lose my gym membership today.
He went on briskly, “Yes, James and I had a conversation. He wasn’t thrilled, but he understands why I did it.”
I couldn’t explain the crushing weight on my chest.
I’d been calling the old man for two days, and he wouldn’t pick up. But he’d text me minutes later with some unoriginal message like:Hey, kid. What’s up?
He wasthatupset. But I took the high road. I apologized for avoiding him. Thanked him for his discretion.
Not exposing my sister meant he’d given me grace while I figured out what the hell to do with her—and it worked to our advantage.
We had a way into Silas’s party. That would’ve been impossible without Latoya. We were going to get the list of names. Dismantle Silas’s plans from the inside. Then Latoya would receive clemency. From whom? The shady friends of the man I used to fuck? The man I currently fuck, but have no business fucking? How reliable was our Trojan horse, anyway?
I pulled my zipper down, while Malik’s smirk pierced the brain fog.
“Do I still make you hot and bothered, Joey?”
Fuck him. Marcus and I could be walking into an ambush. And Malik was here cracking jokes. Alwayscracking jokes. When my sister could abandon me. Again.
