“You’re here because the boss says so,” Parker says with anod toward Hayden. “But if you touch Reid, that one will kill you”—he points toward Dante with a severe look, then he points at me with the scariest smile I’ve ever seen—“and if you touch him, you’ll die twice, because I’ll kill you, bring you back to life, then kill you again to make sure you end up in the very last circle of hell.”
Claude holds up two fingers in a Scout salute, which is laughably unbelievable for some reason. “No touching.”
“Actually,” Parker amends, “don’t look at Mason either. You can speak to me.”
“Okay, you are all children. I am not touching any of you. Puke. Gross. Nasty children. I am here because your benefactor has hired me full-time! I am now on the payroll like all of you.” Claude does jazz hands and grins like a maniac, sending a shiver of fear rolling through me. “I am here because one of you is in jail for bad crimes, yes?”
Hayden stares at Claude, then starts laughing hysterically like he’s heard the funniest joke of all time. He lifts his good hand to his eyes and squeezes, and Parker shrugs at me when I look at him for help. Once he’s done laughing, Hayden lets out a little whistle and leans his head back against the chair once again.
“I’m going to need to be sedated to survive this,” Hayden says, voice thin and shaky.
“Boss?” Dante asks, voice just south of tender.
Hayden sighs loudly and rolls his head again to look at Claude. “So, how are you supposed to help us get Jacob out of jail?”
“I am not helping you get him out of jail. I am helping you track down the people who are sabotaging him. Because we all know Parker killed the first senator, and the little redhead psycho killed his uncle.” Claude grins at us all,blinking his eyes in a cloying way that makes me feel a little ill. “Right?”
“What made you come to that conclusion?” Parker asks with perfect political correctness.
Claude snorts in obvious derision. “If you think no one knows what you are doing… you are delusional. That is why I gave that one so many scars, yes?” He points at Reid, who narrows his eyes with a glare so defiant and angry, I feel it in my bones. “Now, we should probably all get to work. It will take much effort to get the twin out of jail. They want to bury him.”
“But why?” I ask with a quick look around the room. “I don’t understand why they’d pin it on Jacob?”
Claude shrugs and pouts. “He was the one left at the scene. If it had been you, they would have pinned it on you.”
Hayden swears before leaning forward to drop his head into his uninjured hand. Dante makes an awkward sort of face, then leans over to grip Hayden’s shoulder tight, shaking a little in an obvious effort to make Hayden feel less alone. I get the odd feeling that we’re all missing something. There has to be a piece of the puzzle to tell uswhysomeone has decided to implicate Jacob in a crime he didn’t commit. Especially if someone knows that it was actually Parker and me.
Wait.
“I sent all that dirt on senators and congressmen, even certain business owners, to my uncle,” I say, thinking out loud more than anything. Everyone turns to look at me, including a harried Hayden. I rub my hands together awkwardly before continuing. “Maybe… Maybe all of that would be of value to someone and they would protect us. Maybe we just need to find the right buyer?”
Claude claps. “Finally, I can be of use. Give me an hour.”
Claude disappears back to the front door, carefully slips his shoes on, then steps outside before any of us can ask a single question. Hayden makes this scary animalistic wounded noise that has us all starting in our chairs. His hands shake when he stands and descends the steps to stand in the winter-dead grass. I watch as he curls his toes into the ground and lifts his arms to rest atop his head, like he’s praying to some earth god to help him solve this wild problem.
“Hey,” Parker says, resting his hand on my thigh. “It’s all right.”
“Yeah, but… something isn’t adding up. We’re missing something. If theyknowit was you and me, why are they pinning it on Jacob?”
Parker’s smile is bittersweet. “Because he’slettingthem, baby. He’s letting them.”
“I just don’t understand.”
“You good down here?” Parker asks Dante.
“Yeah, I got it,” Dante reassures Parker with one of those crooked little smiles of his. “Hayden and Reid are easy to handle.”
“Fuck off.” Reid promptly stands up and scurries down the stairs to speak to a stricken-looking Hayden.
Parker takes my hand in his and drags me inside the house. The strong line of his body is so familiar to me now, synonymous with strength, safety, and home. Does he feel the same way about me? Actually, I know he does, because it’s in the way he thinks of me before anyone else. How he zeroes in on me whenever we’re in a room together.
Parker is on a mission, his strides sure and deliberate as he goes up the stairs and into the bedroom. He stops once we’re inside and turns around, moving past me to gentlyclose the bedroom door with a softsnick. My pulse leaps up slightly at the sight of his hands pressed to the door, fingers tense, arms a solid line as he very desperately clings to his control.
“I need to drown it all out, and I want to continue our conversation from earlier,” Parker says seriously, voice pitched low, sending a shiver of desire right down my spine. “But I know you’re anxious… I don’t want to overwhelm you?—”
“I want you.” I swallow loudly, and it echoes around the room. “Ialwayswant you, Parker. And I feel like shit is about to get so out of hand that my anxiety will be too high to try anything at all beyond this, but I want to be as close to you as a human being can be, and I want to hold you every night, and I just wantyou.”
“Please fucking tell me I can kiss you,” Parker begs, sounding beyond wrecked.
