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“I’m gonna kill him.” With a grinding jaw, Archer stares at his brother through the windshield.
One Malone is enraged, while the other only grins.
“I’m gonna tear his tongue out through his fucking neck and dissect him the way you tear a man’s body apart.”
“Odd.” I slowly reach back and snag my seatbelt. “Anger seems to steady your stomach.”
“Threatening my fucking wife changes my priorities.”
But instead of dropping the clutch and jerking the car forward to run his own brother down, Archer purposely puts the car in reverse and backs away.
Rage boils in his blood. Venom begs to be set free. Anger simmers and forces his fists open and closed. Open. Closed. Even on his injured side.
Finally making space, Archer stops the car again and slips it into drive, then pulling out of the circular driveway, he has us on the street and moving away with the rest of Copeland’s evening traffic.
“Call Aubree.” He keeps his eyes on the road but jerks his chin toward my hand. “Call her. Warn her they’re out there.”
Knowing he’s right, I hurriedly lift my cell and hit dial on the first name in my address book. Bringing the phone to my ear, it takes only one ring for the line to connect.
“This is Doctor Emeri.”
“Aubree—”
“I’m finishing up my labels now,” she inserts. “Tagging samples for the lab. I’ve already sealed Thomas’ bag and placed him back in the drawers. Three minutes and I’m outta here.”
“Go down via the garage,” I tell her. “The front of the building is swarming with media. They were there for me, I guess, but there’s no reason you should step into that mess.”
“Felix is there too,” Archer says over me. Coldly. Calculated. He says that name like it doesn’t make her hands sweat. “Leave via the garage in a car. Or wait there, and I’ll have someone pick you up. But don’t walk out of that building alone, Emeri.”
“F-Felix?” she stammers in my ear. “Felix is here?”
“Did she hear me?” Archer swings us around the next corner and circles back toward my apartment. “Aubree?”
“She heard you.” I shove Archer’s hand away when he reaches across to steal my phone. “Drive the damn car, Malone.” Bringing my attention back to Aubree, I add, “I’ll call Fletch or someone to come get you, okay? Easy peasy, and then no one has to worry.”
“O-okay…” Her voice trembles. “Is he, uh…” Clearing her throat, Aubree tries again. “Should I be afraid of Felix? Should I—”
“I don’t think so.”
“What?” Archer glances across at me. “You don’t think what?”
I lift my hand in his face to shut him the hell up. “I don’t think you should worry too much,” I repeat for her. “Don’t leave the building alone. Don’t answer your door to him if you’re home alone. But in general…” I chew on the inside of my cheek and shake my head. “He’s had a lot of opportunities to hurt us, Aubs. He hasn’t yet. He says he’s here for his brothers, so I guess I’m kinda inclined to believe him. And if he hurts us, his brothers will never go with him. So…”
“So for as long as he wants Tim to go back to run the family business,” she snarls, “we’re safe?”
“Reasonably,” I agree, despite wishing the answer was no. “Felix can’t get inside the George Stanley, so just stay in my office and wait until Fletch arrives. Okay?”
Silence hangs across our call like a blanket draped across a body.
“Aubree?”
“Life was simpler when I didn’t know what they were.” Her voice crackles with an ache that makes my heart hurt. “It’s just…” She sighs. “I guess, in a twisted way, I kinda understand Tim’s intentions. He was protecting me by not telling me, and that deserves a little credit, I suppose.”
“Does that mean you’re getting soft on him again?” A slow grin works across my lips. “Forgiveness?”
“No. Because even though life was easier before, lying is unacceptable to me. No exceptions. No bending truths. It’s just…” I can’t see her shrug, but I feel it. “I can’t accept lying and still expect to trust someone after the truth comes out.”
Though we’re talking about Tim, my heart speeds in my chest, because I’ve told my own lies since knowing Aubree. I’ve kept secrets. I might not like the moniker penned by the media—the vigilante—I may even consider it trite and silly, but that doesn’t make my lies by omission any less of a lie. That doesn’t give me a free pass to not give the woman I consider my best friend all of my truths.
