Page 8 of Dangerous Men (Fortune City Mafia #1)
ASHTON
“He’s in there,” Sebastian tells me. “The little bookshop on the corner.”
I stare across the street at the building he’s gesturing toward, my fingers tapping nervously against my thigh. When Sebastian asked me to meet him here, to show me what Alec had been up to…
Well, this wasn’t what I expected.
“You’re sure?” I press. “He’s been getting off work and coming… here?”
“Positive,” Sebastian answers, straightening his horn-rimmed glasses, face deliberately blank.
He’s worn the same style of glasses since we were kids, and on anyone else, they might look old-fashioned.
Uptight. Sebastian manages to make them look timeless.
He crosses his arms over his chest and shrugs, casually.
“He’s been in there every night this week, according to his credit card charges.
I even checked his phone’s location, to be sure. ”
“And he’s not… meeting anyone?” I ask.
Sebastian glances at me over the rim of his glasses, a flicker of annoyance in his blue eyes. For someone as closed off as him, the gesture is practically the equivalent of flipping me off and calling me an asshole. “Like who?” he asks, the skepticism sharp in his tone.
“Like…” I wave my hands through the air, searching for an explanation. “Like a rival cartel, or a fucking FBI informant, or something. I don’t know. Anything that would explain why he’s so closed off lately and spending so much time in a… in a fucking bookstore!”
“Let me be sure I understand this. You’d rather believe our brother is working behind our backs with the FBI than believe he’s spending time somewhere without telling you?
” When my only answer is a glare, Sebastian continues, “I’ve been watching him come and go after work for the last two days.
I haven’t seen anything—or anyone—suspicious. He’s not meeting anyone.”
“So then, what? Why is he spending so much time here?”
Leaning back against his motorcycle, Sebastian pauses to consider his words, the breeze ruffling his dark hair. I wait. My fingers drum impatiently on my leg, my muscles twitching to move.
“I think it’s a woman,” he says finally.
Now that throws me.
“Bullshit,” I snap, glaring at him.
Sebastian shrugs. Nodding toward the store, he says, “There’s a woman I’ve seen a few times through the window. Looks like she works there.”
“And?” I press.
“And she’s attractive.” Sebastian straightens his glasses again. He lets my irritation roll right off him when he answers, like he doesn’t even notice. The prick. “Brunette. Good figure. She looks like his usual type.”
“And he would be keeping this from me, why exactly?”
The corner of his lip twitches upward just a fraction. “ Maybe this time Sterling doesn’t want to share his toys with you, Ashton. Ever think of that?”
“Fuck you,” I say, but there’s no heat to it. I run a hand over my face, rubbing at the stubble on my jaw. “We don’t always share. He knows that.”
Sebastian’s snort is all the answer I need to know he doesn’t believe me.
And since he’s kind of being an asshole, I decide to repay him in kind. What else is a big brother for?
“Plus, I never heard you complaining,” I tease, grinning at him and elbowing him in the side. “Tell me, Doc, how often are you watching when he and I bring home a girl to play with, huh? Do you ever consider just… joining in?”
Sebastian doesn’t answer. Picking up his helmet, he slides it on as he disengages the kickstand on his motorcycle. That’s all the warning he gives me to get out of the way before he straddles the bike and takes off, leaving me to wait for a car on my own.
Fucking prick.