Page 23 of Devour

I nod. We know better than to question the Sinclairs. The fact that they’re bringing this to us lets us know where we stand with them. We’ve always been the men they come to when they need something done, and done with discretion.

Thorne racks the bar and sits up, rolling his shoulders. He focuses on Tate. “You know, you could try smiling once in a while. You walked in here looking like you’re about to snap someone’s neck. Maybe you should hit the bag for a while and work that shit off.”

“Don’t fuck with me right now, Thorne.”

The rest of us stay quiet, watching the brothers.

“Reese is a saint for putting up with that scowling face every day.” Thorne grins at him, coming to his feet.

Tate glares at Thorne. He walks closer and then pulls back and hits him. It all happens so fast, and there’s no warning. His fist connects with Thorne’s shoulder, and Thorne stumbles backward. He catches himself on the weight rack and then grins at his brother.

“There he is. Take your shit out on me, big brother.”

Thorne comes at Tate swinging, catching him with a hook to the ribs that would have dropped most men. Tate takes it and drives his shoulder into Thorne’s chest, shoving him backward into the heavy bag. The chain rattles and the bag swings wide. Thorne gets his arm around Tate’s neck and wrenches him into a headlock. Tate drops his weight, drives his elbow up into Thorne’s neck, and rips free. He catches Thorne with a short right that opens up his lip. Thorne spits blood on the concrete and grins at his brother with red teeth.

They break apart. Both breathing hard. Both looking like they enjoyed every second of it.

“That was a smile,” Thorne tells him, wiping the blood off his chin with his shirt. “See? You can do it. You just need a little blood first.”

“I’ll throw a fucking party once we deal with this shit.” Tate wipes his knuckles on his pants and looks at me. “We have a personal stake in this, and that should tell you all you need to know about how fucking serious this is.” He gives his brother a pointed look. “So get your head on straight.”

“You don’t think I know what this means?” Thorne closes the distance while shouting in his brother’s face. “I’m well aware of what this shit has cost our wives. But being a prick about it isn’t going to get the job done.”

The Sinclair women have been through some fucked-up shit. Most in our world don’t know anything about it, and they never will hear about it from us. But the Sinclairs are always on the hunt for a threat to their family, and they won’t hesitate to use us to help get the job done.

Thorne pushes away from his brother and nods toward the door. “Let’s fucking go,” he says to Tate.

They don’t say anything else. Tate grabs his brother’s shoulder, and Thorne gives him a small nod of understanding. They walk out the same way they walked in. The door slams behind them, echoing in the room.

Priest looks at the folder in my hands. “Whatever is in there is going to fuck up our week.”

“It’s going to fuck up more than our week if this is as big as it seems to be.” I set the folder on the bench. “I’ll read it first, and then you all can have it. My mother and father have some dinner at the Carter house tomorrow night, and I invited myself to join them, so I need to memorize this tonight.”

Priest sits on the bench, leans forward on his knees, and chuckles. “I told you that Justin and you are as good as brothers. He’s going to be your new BFF before the year is out.”

“I’d rather chew fucking glass.” I grab my water and gulp down several swallows. “But I can’t miss an opportunity to remind my girl what’s coming for her in those woods.”

Crew pushes me with his shoulder. “What the fuck are you going to do at a fucking lame-ass dinner party? Tell her what a dirty slut she’s going to be for you while you sip brandy with her father and dipshit brother?”

I crack my knuckles. I always have a fucking plan. “I’m having a little present delivered to her tomorrow. We’ll see how well my heathen can control herself.”

The guys all chuckle. They know exactly what I’m going to do.

Priest shakes his head, but he’s still laughing. “She’s going to murder you.”

“She can try, but I’ll have fun punishing her.” I pull out my phone to check her location. “So it sounds like I can’t lose. Later fuckers.”

I’m about to play with my girl.

CHAPTER 10

AXL

Ihead toward my room with the folder under my arm, staring at my phone. It’s almost midnight, and I smile knowing that my girl is at home where she belongs. She and Kynlee lay low tonight, which saved me from another night at Velum. The last time, I almost came in my pants like a horny teenager from my girl grinding on my dick after I wouldn’t let her dance with another man.

She only did that shit to piss me off.

The sooner she’s mine and I can keep her locked away here at the Talon mansion, the fucking better.