Page 34 of Carte

“Are you sure you’re firing on all cylinders? Should I send a case of Monster to give you a kick up?” I snapped at the monitor of my laptop. Laptop that had an image of Chace sitting down in his office.

It wasn’t Chace’s fault, but I was sick of every search, every trace, and every surveillance coming up empty.

The guy was a ghost. And the problem with ghosts was that you couldn’t catch them no matter how hard you tried.

We’ve been cooped up in the cabin for a week.

A week of Harley’s soft spoken words, of her songs, of her scent was driving me insane.

Each day was a pure torture. All I wanted was to come close to her enough to figure out the point where her scent was most potent. Each day as she ate the food I prepared for her, I had a hard time not taking her mouth just to find out what it would taste like on her skin. And each night as she walked through the house in nothing but an oversized hoodie, those mile long legs of hers begging me you touch them, to feel her skin, to inch up higher until I got to the heat of her, I had to recite the names of my siblings and grandparents in my head just to have a prayer in hell of fighting a hard on. Taking a cold shower three times a day has become my norm. I was in serious danger of hypothermia.

Harley Thorne was a dream come to life and she was currently in the next room, and I couldn’t do anything about that. No matter how my palms itched to feel her, or how much my balls ached to bury myself in her.

“Fuck you,” Chace’s voice full of false affront pulled me back from daydreaming and back to hard, cold reality. “I’ll have you know, I don’t drink that stuff. I like my heart beating just fine, thank you very much. Besides, the only energy boost I really need is knowing I’ll go home to Alina at night.”

I kept my mouth shut, and my tongue tied. I knew any comment I made would just serve to piss Chace off.

Both my brothers, and my sister, were in a happy relationship. The road to that wasn’t easy, but the end result couldn’t be beat.

And naturally, they were all a little too overprotective of their respective partners.

I learned that any comment, teasing or downright just giving them brotherly shit, ended up in a seriously pissed off sibling and retribution.

The one Rory, my little sister had after I hand delivered Jason, her boyfriend, who coincidentally was a quarterback for the Denver Thunders, to her doorstep, after Max, Chase and I took him to a secure place, and kept him fed and watered for three days, until Rory caved and gave us the field access for the final game, was a little too scary even for my taste.

Just thinking about waking up in the middle of the night, while my sweet little sister’s face was hovering over me had my lower back sweating and my pulse skyrocketing. A face that she painted like she was one of those porcelain dolls. And she said in a sweet voice, “You kidnap Jason one more time, I’ll hide as many of those dolls in your house, car, gym, favorite diner, I can manage. You won’t be able to make a step without fearing you’ll find one. One who has a smile as sweet as this one on my face.”

I admit, I screamed like a little girl. I hated those things. There was something about them that gave me the creeps. A fact that Rory knew all too well since she was the one saving me from them while we were kids and I kept stumbling upon them at our grandparents house.

And from that moment on, I was scared shitless of Rory.

Just remembering that moment sent shivers down my spine and a hiss to escape my lips.

“What?” Chase clearly saw me shivering because his face was an inch of the camera lens in a second making his nose all I could see. “What did you see?”

“Damn, Chase,” I muttered as I grimaced at the image on my screen. “Nothing, I didn’t see anything.”

“Then, what’s with the shivering?” He sat back in his chair, his eyes trying to find clues on mine.

“I just remembered that late night house call that Rory made six months ago.” I muttered.

“Oh, fuck.” It was Chace’s turn to shiver, now. “Don’t remind me. I still have to send Alina in every room first to check for any rubber snakes that might be hiding in there.”

Damn, our sister really was a vicious one.

“She has all her power because she knows our weaknesses.” I shook my head, unable to force down the proud feeling that stole over me at our sister’s determination.

“Nah, she would never go for the things that matter. Alina is safe with her. So is Sky. And those are our real pressure points.”

“Damn, you mean you finally realized that Jason is hers?” I arched a brow.

Chace gave a sheepish smile, “Well, sure. But that doesn’t mean that he isn’t currently sitting in the storage at Elite waiting for Rory to cave and give us the goods. I think it’s a basketball player this time. I just can’t figure out who. And you know Jason, he’s tight-lipped. Taking Rory’s side every damn time.”

Rory worked as a physical therapist to the athletes. When she met Jason she worked with an agency, but since then, or better yet, since her attack she struck out on her own.

She was making a name for herself, and it was glorious to see. But the little demon still refused to give us the goods. Meaning the names and access to the athletes she worked with. We didn’t ask for much, just courtside tickets.

“The little traitor. We’re the best brothers in law anyone ever got. He should be thankful to us.”