Page 61 of Stalker
“Fine.” He cocked his head to the side in the familiar Bryce family mannerism we didn’t discuss and rested his elbows on his knees. “I heard on the wire that you went back underground.”
I scoffed, righting my chair and sitting in it, depositing both guns back in their holsters under my desk. “If I was back underground, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Thirty-seven.” He raised one brow at me, mocking me like I didn’t know the final number from the last three days. “You eliminated thirty-seven contacts in one run. What else would you call it? The chatter is going wild about the Ghost’s return to the game, out from behind his computer screens for the first time in years.”
“I’m not in the game, Tamen.” Leaning back against the chair. “I simply distracted myself in it for a moment.”
“Because of her?” He challenged, “Peyton Everett?”
“Careful,” I leveled a death glare at him, “That’s your only warning.”
He snorted and pointed at his red angry ear, “This wasn’t a warning? Has your shot gotten that bad in retirement?”
“What are you doing here, Tamen?” I snapped, tiring of his antics.
My brother held my stare and relaxed, “No one has heard from you in too long, Linc. And then I hear that you not only hired someone new, even temporarily, but also went back into the darkness that nearlyfucking killed the both of us last time.” He sighed, “I’m checking in on you.”
“Welfare check complete.” I turned away from him to face my computer screens, already itching to see Peyton on my screens without him lurking. “Only your welfare was in jeopardy.”
He stood up with a groan and shook his head, “She doesn’t know, does she?” I didn’t look at him, hoping he’d leave as I stared blankly at the black screens, but he didn’t drop it. “That you’re the masked man she’s been fucking?”
I slowly turned my head to face him, leveling him with a glare only my enemies saw right before I ended the lives of their dearest loved ones. I was too irrational to kill my enemies for their crimes; it hurt them more to make them watch the ones they loved most suffer first. “If you so much as utter one word to her, I’ll eradicate your entire branch of our bloodline.”
He raised his brow at me and nodded solemnly on his way to the door. “That’s something you’ve wanted to do for decades now, Linc. Next time threaten me with something new, or I’ll start to wonder if you’ve gone soft on me.”
I didn’t reply as he left my office, but I pulled my security system back up and watched him go to the home theater I never used and make himself a bed in one of the recliners. I should have kicked him out instead of locking the door remotely, caging him in so he couldn’t do something stupid or harmful to Peyton as I got some desperately needed sleep.
When Tamen heard the lock click on the door, he smirked to himself and flipped off the sky.
He knew I was watching. I was always fucking watching.
Chapter 22 – Peyton
Iwoke up, groggy and disoriented, as I tried to remember what happened, and then I sat up ramrod straight, looking around.
Lincoln.
I was in his room, in his bed. After he obliterated my door to save me from an intruder in the middle of the night. And then shot him!
I blinked away the fitful sleep I managed to get, groaning when I saw it was half-past eight already, making me officially late for work.
Did I have to work after watching my boss blow off a stranger’s ear in my living room four hours prior? That seemed insensitive.
I still didn’t know who the devastatingly handsome Englishman was that broke in, stumbling his way through my messy living room and groaning as he reached my bedroom like he couldn’t wait to—sleep?
I shook my head, none of it made sense, of course, because Lincoln had been zero help in answering any of my questions as he shoved me into his room,and left.
“Get into the bed, Peyton.”His thick honey voice saying my name would play on repeat in my fantasies for years to come. And that made me sick to my stomach because I felt guilty for lusting at my mysterious and infuriating boss, even as I longed and ached to feel my monster’s body on mine again.
I looked over at my phone where I left it after finally crawling into Lincoln’s bed, hoping to see a message from Dane on the screen waiting for me. But it was black.
“Are you there?” I whispered, just like I had every morning, praying he’d respond someday.
But still more silence. I was really starting to think I would never hear from him again. What if I fucked it all up when he pushed me out of my comfort zone and freaked out? Wasn’t him pushing me out of my comfort zone the whole point of fucking a stranger in the woods like a good little slut? I just didn’t know I’d have a minor freak out until I did. And now I didn’t know how to make it all better.
Last night when the man broke into my temporary residence, I imagined Dane following him in and saving me. He was always watching beforehand, but he wasn’t watching last night.
No, Lincoln was the one who saved me last night, not Dane.