Page 23 of Never the Same

“The four of us operate together. I have no relation to Audrey.” Reed gestured with his head toward the others. “Outside of being her friend because of these guys.”

Huh. My shoulders slumped. Not the answer I’d hoped for or expected, given my strange feelings. “My brothers didn’t have any photos of me. Any chance you do?”

Alex produced his phone and closed the space between us. “Photos from the wedding. You were the maid of honor.”

“You also attended my wedding this year as a guest,” Ryder remarked as Alex began swiping through photos on his phone.

One after another, the pictures blurred together, making me a little dizzy. The woman in the photo with the bride matched the stranger from the mirror, but it was jarring to see her smiling, dancing, and so real. So not me right now.

At the tilt-a-whirl feeling happening in my stomach, I held up my hand. “That’s good, thank you.”

Alex turned toward the room and went over to the others, standing alongside Audrey’s ex-husband. “You two get along?” I had no idea why that was relevant, but out the question came.

“We do,” Alex confirmed, pocketing his phone.

I walked back a step, needing the doorway for support in case my legs embarrassed me and gave out. Shoulder to the interior frame, I crossed my arms, scanning the four men, waiting and hoping for something to click. “And you all work together. How so?”

“US military, but not in the traditional sense.” Ryder’s response was about as vague as my brothers’ not-the-Mafia answer had been. “Delta Shield Security. All formerly in the Unit, except Trevor,” he added. “He was a SEAL.”

Unit? Is that another name for Delta Force? “What about me? Did I serve? Is that why I feel like my body is a weapon in itself?”

Ryder smirked, then took the lead as everyone quietly hung back, which had me assuming he was in charge. “No, not military, but you do take on missions for the government. Not just for the US and the UK.”

Missions? I didn’t bite the bullet and ask for more details. At least their story seemed to be in line with Julian’s “we’re the good guys” remark. “And you helped my brothers locate me yesterday?”

“We did.” Ryder again, when I wished it was Reed answering.

“Do you believe Tristan is in danger, or that he did this to me?” I bit the bullet on that one, unable to keep the question at bay any longer.

Ryder turned to the side, eyeing the camera in the corner of the room. The light was on. “We don’t know anything about your brother to offer our opinion,” he said steadily, turning his face to mine again. “We only learned you had a half brother while in Rome yesterday. Apparently, you didn’t know about him until later in your life, either. Well, so Gideon said.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of that last bit of news. I stood unassisted by the doorway as I tried to read between the lines of what else Ryder had said. “You don’t regularly work with my brothers, then, do you? Not part of their, uh, club?”

“Aside from this week, once in February.” Reed spoke up that time, and the sound of his voice somehow relaxed the tension in my body I’d been riding like a wave while waiting for the inevitable crest and crash to follow.

“And the government let you take on my case because you’re Audrey’s—”

“Our commander in chief values your life,” Ryder interjected, offering an almost diplomatic answer.

“We’d have come even if he didn’t ask us, though,” Reed added in a no-nonsense tone, eyes tight on me like he had a million things he wanted to say but no plans to say any of them.

“How long have we known each other?”

I’d only meant that for Reed, but Alex answered instead. “You’ve actually known Audrey longer than any of us. Well, aside from Trevor, of course.”

“Wait, even you?” I asked Ryder, since didn’t he say he was my best friend’s brother?

Ryder rested a hand on his chest. “I only found out I had a sister this past Christmas. I met her and her son, Chase, then.”

“Oh, wow, that, um . . . sucks.”

“You met my sister while you were undercover eight years ago. You gave her the name Hollis and didn’t tell her the truth about who you were until you had no choice on an op this past February. You started preferring that name to Celeste, as well as the person you tend to be around her instead of, uh—”

“I lied to my best friend about who I am for that long?” My gut twisted with guilt.

“You had your reasons.” Ryder opened his palms to the room. “Like to try and keep her safe from this world of yours. But when Audrey was placed in danger this February, you helped us keep her safe. You had no choice but to tell her the truth then.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but an intruder to our get-to-know-you conversation beat me to talking.