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“Ah, so you are familiar with the classic.My bad.Ice pick.Check.”
He glanced over his shoulder.The staircase was dark.Silent.When Naomi had climbed the stairs, he’d noticed that step four and step nine both creaked.Good to know for future reference.“I need you and Declan to dig into the CIA’s files.”
“Sorry.Repeat that.Pretty sure you just asked me to commit a felony for you.”
“I have to make sure they aren’t covering up anything about Hudson.”
“And you would think they are because…?”
“Naomi called him sadistic.Twisted.”
“Now you want to rip his life apart.Check.The dead man.The victim.You want to rip his world apart because the suspected killer said he was sadistic.Uh, huh.So, personal question.Ahem.Are you thinking with your dick or your brain?”
His dick was certainly still up because of that kiss with Naomi.“You didn’t see her when she said it, okay?There was real emotion in her voice and on her face.”So much for thinking she was cold as ice.First, she’d been crying over her dog.Then that hard mask of hers had cracked when she’d spoken of Hudson.He’d swear she’d even been afraid in that instant.
“Real emotion.Uh, sure, unless—and I’m just throwing out ideas here—unless the woman is just a really good liar.Then it was fake emotion.Because people can do that.Fake emotions.But, yeah, fine, I’ll dig for you.I’ll commit a felony.In case you missed it before, I am bored.But, hey, while I’m ripping into the victim’s life, should I be taking a harder look at your new girlfriend, too?”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”Eb kept his voice low.
“Tell me you don’t want her to be.Tell me you are being one hundred percent professional with this whole vendetta investigation you have going on in Baton Rouge.”
How about I tell you that I was kissing her ten minutes ago?Nah.He should not reveal that info to Hunter.“Her juvie files were sealed, but I got data that told me she’d gone for some joy rides back in the day.Nothing major.”He sucked in the side of his cheek.“Dig into her life,” he said and ignored the way guilt suddenly twisted in him.It felt as if he was betraying her.He wasn’t.He was looking for the truth.And betraying her, dammit.“See if there is more in Naomi’s past.”More than the bits he’d gotten courtesy of the CIA.
“The more you know, the better trap you can set,” Hunter told him, but the man’s voice wasn’t mocking any longer.“You need backup on scene?Or is that twin of yours already lurking around someplace?”
His twin was not lurking anywhere close by.“He’s at home with Wren.”His twin brother Jake had finally gotten the woman of his dreams.A long-term obsession had become reality for Jake, and the last thing Eb wanted to do was tear his brother away from his current moment of happiness.Jake hadn’t known a lot of happiness.Darkness clung too tightly to him.
And to me.
But Eb was good at acting like he fit in with everyone else.He could wear the mask and pretend to be normal.
Jake?Not so much.
“If your twin isn’t there, then you need backup on the ground.I can take Declan’s private jet and be there before the sun rises.”
“No, not yet, I don’t need backup.I need intel.Deliver it for me, will you?”
“You could always ask the CIA directly.”
He could.If he trusted the people there completely.He did not.“If Hudson went off the rails at any point, and they covered it up…”Sadistic.Twisted.“Then they aren’t going to confess that to me.He would be a problem that they just wanted eliminated.”And wasn’t that an option he had not considered until this moment?If Hudson did something wrong on a mission, the CIA would need to cover up the mess.They would need to make the problem totally vanish.Surely…surely, the CIA would not kill one of its own agents.
But they’ve done it before.
Fuck.The web was getting more tangled by the moment.Eb also knew that he was searching for other options because he just didn’t want Naomi to be a cold-blooded killer.He wanted her to be innocent.
He wanted her.
Lust is fogging my brain.Hunter is right.I’m thinking with my dick on day one.Eb knew better than to let his emotions cloud his judgment.
“You worked closely with Hudson.”Hunter’s musing voice pulled Eb back to the conversation.“You ever see any signs that he might go off the deep end?”
“No.”No, he hadn’t.But then again…
No one knows just how dangerous I really am, either.
“Okay, I’ll dig for you.Felonies for friends and what-not.But you are going to have to pay me back, and I mean a major payback.I don’t even know what I want yet, but believe me when I say it’s gonna be big.Giant.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.I have to go.”