Page 21 of Gluttony (Seven Deadly Sins #4)

Chapter sixteen

Hayes

“Where the ever-loving fuck is Miss Jones?” I’m pacing beside the town car waiting to take us to the air strip, unable to control myself because we’ve been here for what feels like a lifetime.

“We should have done this without her. We’d be in the air on the way to Cali already if we didn’t have to wait for an incompetent executive assistant. ”

“You know she’s not incompetent, H. Considering she’s only been on the job for a month, she’s only fucked up a couple of times.”

“You’re only sticking up for her because she sucked your dick, Ry.”

“Woah, shots fired, big bro!” Hadley points finger-guns toward Orion and fake shoots.

“You’re only jealous because she hasn’t sucked yours yet, H.”

“And Orion brings out the big guns, he shoots…he scorrrres!” Hadley turns his finger-guns to me. “Boom boom!”

“You’re a wanker, Hads.” Fixing my glare on my brother, I silently beg him to stop because this is not the direction I want this conversation to go. “One of you should call her, see where the fuck she is. She has five minutes or we’re leaving without her.”

“Stop pretending to be a heartless fuckwit. We both know you like her as much as we do. And I’ve already tried to call her but she isn’t answering.

She’s not answering my cute texts either.

I think we should go and pick her up from her apartment.

” Hadley continues rambling while Orion and I have a stare-off.

With it, we’re saying everything we need to without words. I know he’s pissed I kicked her out of our apartment last weekend, he knows I have my reasons and suspicions, and we both know this woman is trouble for us because Hadley’s still obsessed.

Usually, he’s bored within a week, but he’s really enjoying the chase with Miss Jones. So much so, he’s halted his yearly planning and we may actually get through this year without having to bury someone.

But at what cost?

The unknown is what’s worrying me the most. Okay, maybe not the most. The fact that I have any feelings in this situation at all is probably my biggest worry.

“Get in the car, knobheads, we’re going hunting!” Hadley interrupts—no surprise there—and I sigh heavily, tearing my gaze from Orion.

“Fine. Let’s go.” Pulling out my cell, I dial her number as I slide into the back of the town car beside my twin. She’s probably ignoring Hadley’s incessant calls because like I say…obsessive. It rings for longer than usual, but eventually the line clicks.

“Hello?”

“Who the fuck is this?” The voice that answered was not that of Miss Jones.

“Er…Sorry, I just found this phone on the sidewalk. I think it belongs to the woman who just went off in the ambulance from my building. I’ll put the cell in her mailbox.”

Then the line goes dead. And I. Am. Livid.

My whole body begins to shake, my heart beating a million miles a minute, and my breaths get deeper, heavier, as I clench my teeth so hard they could crack.

“H…? Hayes? Hey, what’s going on?” Orion is kneeling in front of me in the back of the car, his palms on my biceps, gripping firmly and bringing my attention solely to him.

“Call all the hospitals. She’s in an ambulance.”

After what felt like an age, we finally found her in Lenox Hill Hospital.

In reality, it took us twenty minutes.

Orion was the one to make the winning call, and now we’re here, waiting for Miss Bowie Jones to be discharged so we can take her home.

She’s been cleaned up, X-rayed, and scanned, and the state we found her in certainly looked worse than it is.

The doctor informed us that she has a bruised rib and possible concussion, but other than that it’s all superficial injuries.

Not that I’d call a swollen cheek, a split lip, and bruises scattered all over her body superficial.

Hadley insisted we take her back to ours to keep an eye on her—as per doctor’s orders. Seeing as she’s already been there before, it’s not technically breaking our rules, was his argument. I disagree, but Orion is on his side and they outvoted me.

Wankers.

The pair of them are in her room with her now, doting on her every move while I clear her hospital bill. Some fucknut jumped her while she was putting out the trash and I have a feeling that said fucknut is going on my twin’s list. Whether he waits until May or not is another matter entirely.

Bowie Jones is screaming with dangers for us, and this is just one more to add to our ever-growing pile of shit I can’t control.

“Is the car ready, H? Doc’s given the all clear.

” Orion is first out of the room, holding the door open for Hadley to push the wheelchair out because he no doubt insisted he be the one to do it.

The nurse is following close behind, but I can see he’s scared of getting too close to my twin, who probably gave him an earful when he got too close to Miss Jones.

“Yeah, he’s been circling the block for the last few hours because he doesn’t trust the valets.” I need to remember to give our driver a fucking raise at this point.

Charging ahead, I clear the way for our little entourage toward the exit, more so that I don’t actually have to look at her. She may be the current bane of my life, but seeing her beaten and bruised just makes me fucking angry.

The ride home is silent, but I know all Hell is going to break loose once we get back to our apartment. This is the calm before the incoming storm that we’ve brought upon ourselves for getting involved.

Our doorman brought a wheelchair out to meet us at the car after Hadley called ahead and deemed it necessary. So now the three of them are on the way up to our penthouse while I’m being a stubborn fuck and using the stairs. Just a few more minutes of peace to myself…

The door comes into view and I sigh, pausing with my palm on the handle and closing my eyes for a second. A mixture of relief and anger swirls through me and I can’t pinpoint why either of them are so prominent, but they are.

Muttering from Hadley’s room makes me roll my eyes, because of course that’s where she’s going.

To be fair, the spare room isn’t ready for guests and I'm too much of a neat freak to allow an outsider into my personal space, but I could’ve put money on Hadley going all neanderthal and dragging her back to his cave.

Have her where we can all easily keep an eye on her.

“She’s sleeping. Hadley’s watching her.” Orion gently closes the bedroom door behind him after he exits.

“Of course he is. He’s always watching her, except the one time we fucking needed it.

The one time it would have been useful and he could have stopped this whole attack before it even started.

” I fill the water for the coffee machine and flick the switch, needing the black liquid to quench this thirst I can’t seem to shake.

“Were you actually worried about her, H?” Orion smirks and readies three mugs for the coffee, both of us moving around the kitchen fluidly because we’ve done this dance a thousand times before.

“I worry about all of our staff. I don’t want to deal with yet another temp to cover our temp.

It feels redundant.” We both know I’m not telling the whole truth, but he doesn’t call me out on it.

“One of us still needs to attend those meetings in Cali.” The coffee machine finishes whirring and I swap out the full mug for one of the empty ones, passing it to Orion.

“And by one of us, you mean Hadley?” He knows where my mind is at.

“Yeah. If he stays here he’s gonna hunt down the fucker that jumped Miss Jones and kill him before we have time to prepare.”

“He won’t agree to leave her, though. Unless we give him a real good reason.”

The second coffee is ready and I set about making the third.

“We need to give him a real good reason then, don’t we? Or should I say, you need to give him a real good reason, because we both know he won’t listen to a word I have to say right now.” Picking up my mug, I leave Orion to finish making the drinks. “I’ll send him out and take the next watch.”

I head toward the bedroom and take my time opening the door. Hadley is sitting in a tall, black velvet armchair in the corner, his back straight and his eyes solidly on the sleeping form in his bed.

“Psst. Orion needs to talk to you. I’ve got this.”

Hadley frowns at me, like I’ve just spoken a foreign language he doesn’t understand.

“It’s okay, I can watch her. I need to watch her.” His gaze flits between me and Bowie, and if I know my twin like I think I do, he’s feeling some responsibility for not being there when she was attacked.

“It’s not your fault, Hads. You couldn’t have known what was gonna happen.” With a steady gait, I approach my twin and rest a hand on his shoulder. “Go, Orion has a fresh coffee waiting for ya.”

“Fine.” He huffs and stands with a scowl marring his features, making it known that he’s not happy about leaving the room.

Taking his seat, I get comfortable, coffee cup steaming in front of me.

She looks peaceful while she’s sleeping. Almost ethereal. Until she turns and I see the way her face is banged up, how her features scrunch in a wince when she moves in a certain way.

Sighing, yet again, I’m reminded of seeing Hadley in a similar position after the first time it happened.

“What was that for?” Her raspy voice brings my attention back to the here and now, thankfully before it goes too far down that rabbit hole.

I look up at her face and find her eyes are on me, but they’re hooded and she’s clearly still tired.

“Got a lot on my mind, Miss Jones.”

She huffs a laugh. “Wanna talk about it? It’s not like I have anything better to do.

” She winces a little as she shrugs, but she heaves herself half up to sitting and leans back against Hadley’s many pillows.

“C’mon, tall, dark, and mysterious. Gimme something, tell me a story or I’ll die of boredom. ”

“Miss Jones, I don’t think that’s appropriate.”