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"What the fuck?" Finn "Hacker" Taylor rumbles.
"What the fuck?" Hands repeats.
"For fuck's sake, Giant," Andreas growls, throwing up his hands. "That isnotwhat they said."
"Uh, I'm pretty fucking certain it is," I disagree, swiping his beer before he can take a drink. I knock it back, draining half the bottle at once. Stealing his shit doesn't help. My life still sucks.
Andreas issues another long-suffering sigh. "They asked you to watch over a friend's daughter for a few weeks. That'snotthe same thing."
I lower the bottle to glare at him. "You ever tried finding your soulmate while another woman is living in your house, fucking up the program?"
"Uh, Autumn lived with me when I found Catriona."
"She's your sister."
"So?"
I take back what I said. I don't need nicer friends. I need smarter friends.
"Hi, my name is Cormac. Would you like to go out with me? Oh, don't mind the chick living in my house. You know, the one I follow everywhere but can't tell you who she is? She's no one important," I say, pursing my lips and batting my eyes until he gets the fucking point. No woman wants to hear some shit like that…and that's precisely what I'd have to tell anyone I dated while this chick, Bella Sterling, lives with me.
A week ago, she witnessed two men murder one of the wealthiest men in Tennessee in cold blood. In the days since, someone has broken into her car and her apartment. Her parents want her out of the state until the murderers are behind bars and she's safe.
Since I run the Texas branch of my family's private security firm, Carmichael Security, I'm the lucky motherfucker they trust with her safety. Normally, I wouldn't balk at taking the job. The girl is twenty-one and scared out of her mind. Nothing pisses me off more than motherfuckers who target women. We've been down that road too damn often over the last year and a half, starting with Cash and his wife, Hadley.
Plus, I'd do just about anything for my parents. But fuck my life. Ever since Damien "Angel" De Angelis met Milly and fell in love, I'm the last brother standing around here. Everyone is happily coupled up and popping out kids like they're single-handedly trying to populate Silver Spoon Falls.
If I have to hear them talk about their sex lives one more goddamn time, I may snap. Not saying I'm not happy for them. I'm thrilled they've all found love. The fuckers deserve it. But I want what they have so badly I can taste it. I've been looking for my one my entire life. Haven't found her yet. And it doesn't look like I'm going to find her anytime soon at this rate.
"I'm going to die alone," I say morosely, glancing down at my cock. "You're doomed to a life of lotion and audio porn."
"You aren't going to die alone," Cash mutters.
"What the fuck is audio porn?" Cowboy asks.
"Ask your wife." Hacker smirks, leaning back against the wall. "I bet she can tell you all about it."
Cowboy scowls as if he doesn't like the sound of this. Whatever though. He's reaping the benefits of the wives' dirty book club. I have to listen to their dirty audiobooks alone. It's not nearly as much fun for me.
"The important question is why this girl needs around-the-clock protection," Jude "Fifth" Despora says quietly. He glances at my brothers and then focuses those serious eyes on me. The man is a lawyer, but I think if Anubis ever gets tired of his gig in the Underworld, Fifth could take over easy. He's a kinky motherfucker when it comes to his wife. I've heard things no man should ever hear. But his moral compass never deviates. Neither do ours. He refuses to let them.
"Remember hearing about the recording label exec who was murdered in Nashville?" I ask.
"Bellamy Hill?"
"She witnessed it."
Rafe "Lynch" Sorraco whistles.
"Jesus Christ," Cash growls. "His dealers killed him."
"Yep," I agree. "That's the rumor."
"How the fuck did she get tangled up in that?" Hands asks, popping the top off a bottle and propping a hip against the bar. His brows furrow. "The last thing we need around the girls and the kids is someone involved in drugs, Giant."
I give him a look. He knows damn well I refuse to work with anyone who isn't clean. I don't care how much money they wave at me or who they are. If they're using, I don't accept them as clients. Trying to keep someone alive in dangerous situations is hard enough. Trying to keep them alive when they're high as a kite and don't fucking listen is next to impossible. There isn't enough money in the world worth that bullshit.
"She was interning for him," I say. "Guess they thought she'd left for the night when they decided to ambush him in the parking deck. They didn't see her in the stairwell until the deed was done."
