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“We’ll only be needing the suite.”
My face burns with anger as the hotel employee looks on with fascination. “I’m not sleeping with you.”
Tobias drags his knuckles down my cheek as he leans in and murmurs. “Eventually you are. But for now, I’ll sleep on the couch.”
I roll my eyes. Whatever. As long as I have a place of my own. Even in Las Vegas, I had my own apartment. Yes, I was almost always at Owen’s, but it was important for me to have my own space, and he willingly gave it to me whenever I asked. I get the sense Tobias is going to have a problem with that.
In the suite, Tobias points to the largest bedroom. “That’s yours.”
Owen drops his bag on the couch. “I don’t sleep much anyway.”
Tobias stands silent for a moment before turning abruptly toward the second bedroom. The door slams behind him, and I’m left alone with Owen.
“Go take a nap,” he says when I just stand there staring at him.
“This is fucked up.”
Owen lets out a mirthless laugh. “That’s one way of putting it, love. But we’ll get through it. Now go.”
Damn him for using that tone on me right now. He knows what it does to me. I want to stay and argue, to discuss what the hell happened today, but his expression says he’s not in the mood, so I head for my bedroom where I opt for a bath instead of a nap. As I sink into the steaming water, I can’t help but think of the two men down the hall and how oddly refreshing it was to see them working together. Even if it is for a fucked up reason.
Chapter eight
Chapter 7
Tobias
Owen’sfingersexpertlydanceacross the keyboard as I watch from my perch against the bar. But I don’t really register what he’s working on. Instead, my thoughts drift to Bellamy, taking a bath down the hall. Things don’t seem as awkward when we’re all three in the same room together. Now that’s just me and Owen, the silence is oppressive. How did it get to be this way between us? Bellamy has reminded me several times how inseparable the three of us were. But now I stand here with my hands in my pockets and no idea what to say to a man who used to be my closest friend.
Thankfully, he breaks the silence and gives me something else to focus on.
“I’ve got three names for you to look at. Do these mean anything to you?”
He motions for me to look at his screen.
I read the list and frown. “I’ve never heard those names before. Who are they?”
“Low-level criminals with no known affiliations to any gangs in the area. They were definitely part of the team that attacked the church. Likely means guns for hire. I’ll start looking into their finances and see if I can find a money trail.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Hacking into security cameras, now digging into private financial records?”
Owen grins. “Got bit by the hacking bug in college. It comes in handy now and again.”
It makes so much sense that Owen got bit by that particular bug. He was always on a computer when we were teens. Something tells me he was hacking long before college.
“How did it happen with you and Bellamy?”
It’s a loaded question, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to hear the answer. At the same time, I need it.
“You should let her tell you,” Owen says, still focused on the computer in front of him.
“I’m asking you. You knew she was spoken for. Why get involved?”
Owen slowly shuts his laptop and rotates in his chair towards me, his expression resigned. “So, we’re really having this conversation, then?”
I shift my weight and cross my arms over my chest, bracing myself against the side of the table, letting him know I’m not leaving until we do.
His shoulders tense before he exhales slowly. “It started because she was pissed at you. Your answer to being engaged wasn’t to stick around and get closer to her, but to disappear and start your own business. When we both got accepted to Yale, she begged her father to let me be her security, instead of some stuffy guy she hated. From there, we got to know each other as adults, not teenagers. I’ve always loved her. You had to realize that.”
