AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“For what?” He grabbed a carton of orange juice off the shelf and unscrewed the top, knocking it back.
“For not being more discreet about...” I gestured towards the sofa.
West didn’t look in her direction. He shook his head. “I was wrong. She needs this, all of it, and so do you. It makes us stronger, but I still stand by my words that you need to be careful not to get distracted. Her protection is still our main priority.”
“Of course,” I agreed, taking the carton and swigging some of the fresh liquid myself. “But, Austin, you need to get your head in the game too.”
He looked at me. “My head is definitely in the game.”
I reached out and took his hand, holding it up between us. His knuckles were scraped and bloody. “Really? Somehow I doubt that. I can’t see how you managed to get into a fight while hanging around the police station.”
He pulled his hand back. “I needed to blow off some steam.”
“Mm-hmm. But your head is definitely in the game. You’re not stewing and feeling guilty and torn in two directions at all.”
He turned away from me. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not looking at her every moment you think she’s not watching and desperately needing to be by her side, to feel her touch.”
He swung around. “Of course I am, and you bloody well know it, or you wouldn’t be hounding me. But it’s how it needs to be. While she’s in danger, immediate danger, then I need to concentrate on her safety.”
“Because that approach is working so well?” I challenged, not backing down. “Austin, she needs you, whether she remembers it yet or not. She needs you to be there for her.”
“I am there for her,” he whispered furiously. “I am doing everything I can to keep her safe, and spending every moment I can to find out who’s after her. Dammit, Jack, I haven’t slept in four days because I can’t take the chance something will happen when I close my eyes.”
“It keeps you safe as well though, doesn’t it?” I countered, setting the carton down and meeting his eyes. “It keeps your eyes open all the time so you have an excuse not to open your heart.”
“You’re wrong,” he growled, turning away.
The electronic sounds of the front door keypad stopped me from continuing, and West avoided my eyes as we moved towards the hallway. Wesley shuffled in carrying a large leather satchel that looked rather heavy and a brown paper envelope. I went to help him.
“Jeez, Wes, what have you got here? Bodies?”
He gave me a withering look. “Books. Just in case.”
“Book related emergency provisions, got it.” I dropped the bag loudly on the coffee table, making Zayn shoot up onto his feet and Tory roll over onto the floor. I grinned at Zayn who’d immediately assumed some kind of defensive position. I’m sure normally it would have been extremely intimidating to who whoever he thought was trying to murder him in his sleep, but stark naked and with his hair sticking out at all angles, he looked more like a pissed off hedgehog.
Tory peered sleepily over the edge of the sofa, too soft to be a hedgehog. Her hair simply looked like she’d had a fight with backcombing and hairspray and lost. Her eyes widened when she saw West and Wesley, and I saw her cheeks redden. I grinned at her as I plonked down on the sofa.
“Morning, beautiful. Woke up and thought the 80s were back?” I glanced at her hair, and she glared at me. Not bothering to hunt for clothes like Zayn, she simply wrapped the blanket around her body like a sarong.
“Shower,” she announced and swept off towards her bedroom without one look in West’s direction.
West pretended he hadn’t noticed, fussing around with the coffee machine. “Got anything to update us on, Wes?” he asked, setting out some mugs.
“Actually, yes.” Wesley sat down and opened his satchel, sliding a couple of books onto the table. They weren’t normal books, but collections of bound papyri, which didn’t bode well. West handed me a steaming mug of coffee, and I moved over and sat down next to Wesley. Zayn and West joined us, mugs in their hands, and West brought one to Wesley who looked at it briefly then set it down away from his books.
“I had a couple of bits of information last night, but I was waiting to confirm something before I came over,” he told us, his eyes lighting up in the geeky, academic way that they always had.
“Right, well, out with it,” West snapped, not appreciating the build-up of suspense.
“Oh, yes, well... The thing I was waiting for was this. I collected it this morning.” He passed the brown envelope to West who slid the contents out and stared at them.
“The lab I dropped the metal samples off to yesterday has confirmed they are a metal alloy of silver and gold with...” He looked up at me. “With red sulphide tarnish.”
I frowned. The metal he was talking about had been widely used in ancient Egypt, but it wasn’t exactly common today. “I don’t get it. Why? Someone melted down some old Egyptian artefacts into discs and scattered them over a bomb site? Did they want to send a message that it was linked to our past?”
“Maybe,” Wesley replied. “But I don’t think that was the real reason. Look.” He picked up one of the ancient books, thumbing carefully through the papyrus leaves until he found what he was looking for. “Here.”
