Page 38 of Suck This

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

His fingers steepled, and I wanted to walk over to him. Throw myself in his arms and work my fingers through his hair.

“I’m about as okay as I can be, I suppose. Chen had worked for me for over eleven years. His father had worked for me before that. I feel like I just lost a child.”

I blinked.

He didn’t look like he’d just lost a child. He looked calm, cool, and composed, but I’d seen how that last phone call had rattled him.

Looks were deceiving.

I realized that moments later when he stood, walked to the door, and ordered me to stay where I was.

He then pressed a button and walked out into the office beyond, shutting the door behind him as he went.

The glass that was looking out into the office dimmed, but didn’t frost over completely.

And I saw why moments later when police officers burst through the door dressed in full SWAT gear.

How had they gotten here so fast? And why were they here when they had no evidence?

Something shifted in the air behind me, and I gasped, turning around to find Pavlov and Abraham standing at my back, arms crossed, as they watched the proceedings.

“Your milk,” Pavlov said, his accent getting thicker and darker.

I looked down to see my chocolate milk sitting on the side table next to my chair, and my brows furrowed.

“How…”

“Con,” Pavlov answered. “Shh.”

Abraham pressed something on the desk and I could hear sound coming from the speakers around me.

“Mr. Constantine Worth, we’re here to ask you a few questions.”

That was my brother, Corbin.

What the ever-loving hell?

“Then why the show of force?” Constantine asked, crossing his thick arms over his chest. “If you’re just here to ask questions?”

The muscles in his biceps bulged as the confines of his dress shirt rippled.

The man was freakin’ beautiful. Shirtless. Three-piece suit. Bare-chested. Whatever Constantine deigned to wear, he was gorgeous.

“It is state protocol to have backup when dealing with dangerous beings,” Corbin bit out.

He looked like he’d rather chop off his hand than to have all those men at his back. I knew he didn’t want them there, but he was the chief of police. Sometimes what you wanted was overruled by higher powers.

My brother was more of a loner. He didn’t like being chief of police. He didn’t like not being on the streets doing what he loved.

He didn’t like much of anything really, but he was good at following orders. Even if those orders fucked him over in the end.

“Interesting,” Constantine murmured. “What can I help you with?”

Corbin crossed his arms over his chest and then glared at a few men who were fidgeting a little too much under Constantine’s angry stare.

“Where were you between the hours of eleven p.m. last night and one a.m. this morning?” he asked.