Page 95 of The Packaged Deal
Kandi regards me in silence, then lifts her can of beer. “Well played.”
“You as well.”
Jade is emotional at the moment, and she is mourning Sven just as much, if not more than, Kandi and I are. The two days of her flipping between ‘I don’t care’ and rage tears were distressing. So, we came up with a plan. The only plan that would get that bastard back.
I lean back. We’re a pair of manipulative bastards, but if anyone can bring Sven back, it’s Jade. No one will touch her while he’s around. Kandi and I walked around depressed and uninterested in functioning. A few comments about the pub, a brochure on the fridge with the address. A clandestine conversation with Kandi about how Sven will only listen to her and, boom, omega on a mission.
We even had a driver conveniently wait for her call from another business card on the fridge. Fernando and I go way back, and he messaged me straight away and kept me up to date with every moment she’s in there. She doesn’t know how safe she is, right now.
“What are we going to do about him?”
“Let her deal with him. She has more pull than both of us combined. That part wasn’t a lie.” Kandi shrugs.
“You never thought about getting rid of me, making him end this thing with me?” I ask curiously.
“Why? We both knew what we had was a very surface relationship. It only worked because we both didn’t want to be in a relationship that required deeper things. With you, he couldn’t hide from the side of himself he denies.”
“Does that make you feel cheated?” I ask her.
Kandi barks a laugh. “Sven is my boss. He’s also my friend and my partner. He’s my lover and my confidante. I have his loyalty, his regard, his trust. Maybe I don’t need overwhelming passion from him. I know what I am and what I’m not. I am not the love of his life. I am one of them. That’s always been enough for me.”
“Huh.”
She folds her arms over her chest. “What about you? Why didn’t you steal him? You could have. You never tried.”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit. Sven is fierce in his loyalty and commitment to you. But I didn’t want to steal him. I just wanted some of him. I kept telling him he could have us both, but he wouldn’t bend.”
I stare at those brown eyes that see too much.
“I really don’t want to have sex with you,” I say cautiously. Praying I don’t offend her. Normally, I don’t give a shit who I offend, but this beta means a lot to me.
She bursts into laughter. “Me neither. So, we are…a family who doesn’t fondle? Unfucking friends? Avoidable uglies?”
I gag a little. She laughs harder. “That’s a very unpleasant turn of phrase.”
“Isn’t it just? But we’re agreed?”
“Yes, we are agreed. We are devoted to Jade. We will find a way to bring Sven to heel, and we are the ‘no fuck’ part of our family.”
Kandi stands up and shows me her phone screen. “Papa bear found our wayward kitten.”
I grimace. “Maybe not Papa bear?”
“Daddy-O?”
I shudder. “At the moment, the only name I have for him is asshole.”
“Ah, this is true. But the moment he gets back, we can have words about why I have a bond mark. Because I’m really dying to have that conversation.”
“Don’t get excited. He’s liable to give you as much reason and logic as I got, which was a grand total of zero. Just blind panic.” I fill two glasses with something strong enough to brace us and slide one to my new family.
Kandi snorts. “We need to find out what happened to him before we get in too deep with this.”
“Have you looked?” We both know what I’m asking. Has she checked his background history?
Kandi’s face barely twitches. “Of course not, that would be unethical and a complete waste of time as he’s smart and covered everything he wanted hidden.”
I curse. “What about Jade? What are we going to do about her parents and her paramour?”