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“Hunter,” Monica said flatly.
Hunter smiled dangerously. “Monica. How was France?”
“We’re busy. Why don’t you come back later? Like…” She checked her watch. “How about a thousand years? I’ll pencil you in.”
She and Hunter had a… tenuous relationship. That could probably be said about any relationship that Hunter had, Sebastian bet. Caleb and Monica were aware that Hunter passed him certain cases—ones that usually meant overtime for everyone—but the dark nature of the exchange was something that Sebastian kept close to his heart. He couldn’t risk them. There was a reason that a good eighty percent of his clientele were innocent and that he was so picky about which cases he took. They didn’t need to know the full extent of it.
Hunter chuckled. “So efficient. I appreciate that.”
“Who’s your friend?” she sniffed, shooting Jericho a dark look.
“He was never here.”
“Of course. Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.”
“I never do.”
“I’ve booked conference room two in one hour,” she told Sebastian sternly. “You, me, Caleb. We have a lot to go over. Don’t be late.”
She’d closed the door behind herself before he could reply. Not that he had a reply. At least not one that wouldn’t get him thrown out the window.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Sebastian asked, hoping that his tone conveyed that there was zero pleasure in it. He didn’t want to see Hunter’s face ever again, let alone anyone that worked for him.
Jericho tracked Sebastian’s movements in a way that was unnerving. He had to resist the urge to fidget, and he didn’t fidget.
“We need to talk,” Hunter said with an arrogant tilt to his lips that made Sebastian bristle.
“We have nothing to talk about,” Sebastian said. He dropped the phone messages and his coffee onto his desk. He’d still finish it since wasting coffee was a sin, but he was never going back to that place ever again. He fished out his phone and keys and tossed them on the top of a stack of files beside them.
“Oh, we beg to differ,” Jericho said. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His shirt fell forward enough to reveal a hint of dark chest hair. “There’s a lot to talk about.” His voice was a lot deeper than Sebastian remembered it, with a gravelled rasp that rumbled through him.
“Peyton could have died yesterday. That’s the end of any discussion we have.”
“That’s not how our arrangement works,” Hunter said.
“Our arrangement isover,” Sebastian said angrily. “I’m done.” There were some things that he was willing to sacrifice for the greater good; someone’slife, especially someone he cared about, was not one of them. Sebastian didn’t exactly have clean hands himself, but there were lines he wasn’t willing to cross that Hunter clearly didn’t have a problem with.
“You think you get a choice? I told you when you accepted the deal that there was no going back.”
Sebastian tensed when Jericho suddenly stood. He didn’t relax, even when all he did was cross his arms over his chest and lean back against the side of the couch beside Hunter. One hell of a fucking guard dog. A dangerous one.
“I have more than upheld my part of that fucked-up bargain,” Sebastian said. He was speaking to Hunter, but he couldn’t look away from Jericho. His eyes had been blue when he’d been masquerading as “Warren.” Was the green a real colour or another illusion? “I have given youyearsof my career with no idea whether I was working against orforthe devil. I won’t do it anymore.”
“The arrangement doesn’t change just because you’re in a snit.”
Sebastian’s hands clenched to fists at his side as he turned to look at Hunter, who looked completely relaxed, like they were talking about taking brunch together. Was he fucking serious? “Someone tried tokillPeyton and me, and youstood and watched. I have every right to cut this off at the knees. And you know what? The arrangement was withoneperson, not a whole fucking team.”
“That’s irrelevant. You still deal with me.”
The hairs on the back of Sebastian’s neck prickled. “Why, because your guard dog is all bark and no bite?”
“You’ll find I can bite just fine.”
Sebastian’s pulse skipped a beat as their eyes met. He could feel it thrumming in his throat, a deliberatethump thump thumpas time seemed to stand still.
“How nice for you,” Sebastian replied, more breathlessly than he was comfortable with.
A half smile shadowed Jericho’s mouth as he said, “It can be nice for other people too.”
