Page 80 of Hunters and Prey

“I know you’re home, fuckface. Answer the damned door.”

Exasperated, Matteo hung up and lurched to the door, jerking it open to stare down his twin.The man standing in the hallway wore a leather bomber jacket and a thick, dark gray knit cap over his black hair. “What do you want?” he growled.

Antonio Rossi held a hand to his chest.“You’re breaking my heart, Matteo. Shit. Is this how we greet each other now? You go away for close to three months to swim with the fishes, and now you don’t know your own brother.”

“I know you; I’m just disappointed you aren’t the pizza deliveryman,” he grunted.

“Nope. We got something better than a pizza pie from Gino’s if you want to come over. Lanie is making saltimbocca, and Ma brought a tiramisu, just for you. The ladies conscripted me to bring your ass over, and you don’t wanna know what’ll happen if I return empty-handed. Veal ain’t cheap.”

His stomach rumbled.

“Guess that means my work is done.” Chuckling, his brother shouldered his way inside and shut the door behind him. “Figured that would get you out the house. Like, damn man. Your niece and nephews miss you. What the hell did those fish do to you?”

“Nothing.”

Antoniobeelined to the fridge and grabbed a beer. “Need another?” he called over a shoulder. “Or are you good over there?”

“I’m empty.” Matteo returned to his seat on the couch and scowled at the score. The Rangers were down by one in the second period, losing to the Bruins and ruining his day. He had a fifty-dollar bet riding on the game with Newsome, a Boston native who was in the stands enjoying the hell out of his season pass.

The fucker. Matteo would kill for a Rangers season pass.

“Looks like your team still sucks,” Antonio crowed from the kitchen, reminding his older twin why he’d been intending to call his realtor.

Five years ago, it seemed like a good idea to live in the same building. Matteo’s ignominiously foolish decision to share a floor with his brother’s family meant he was present while Antonio was away on an operation. On one hand, he loved being a source of comfort for the kids who missed their father. On the flipside, loving on those three kids made him acutely aware of his own romantic failings.

While he slouched down on the couch in front of the hockey game, his brother passed him a frosty bottle. They drank in silence for a few minutes before his impatient twin spoke again.

“Seriously. What happened down there?” Antonio pressed.

“Training.”

“No. Aside from that. Ma says she came over and you were almost a zombie. It’s been a week, bro. More than a week now since you came home, and you’ve had no time for us. Never seen you this way before except for…you know.” Back when he’d returned from his first tour in Afghanistan, he’d been mourning the loss of a close high school friend. They’d ended up in the same unit, only to be separated by a roadside fucking bomb. In a softer voice, Antonio asked, “Did you lose someone?”

Matteo shook his head. “It’s nothing like that. You’d know if we did.”

“You worried about this new plan between Cartwright and those fish?”

“Not at all. Could younotcall them that, Antonio?They treated us well, and they’ll be good to your squad too, when it’s your turn to go down.” If anything, a sense of confidence surged through his chest when he thought about the ambitious plan to put all four of their squads through the ringer. As far as he knew, Elpis had been relieved from duty when a second commander arrived that final day, a big dude with cropped black and silver hair who looked like he benched great white sharks for fun.

“Then talk to me, Matt. We’ve never kept secrets from each other before. Let’s not do it now. What’s going on with you?” He quieted for a moment. “I’m seriously worried.”

He sipped his beer and watched the Rangers D-man intercept the puck on its way to their goal. It hurtled down the ice for the assist, then became a practical flying saucer as their offense player slapped it into the Bruins’ net seconds before the second period ended.

“Yes!” he roared, pumping one fist. An incoming message came through his phone from Newsome.

Don’t think it’s over yet. There’s twenty minutes left,the text said.

“All right. It’s definitely not a friend you’re mourning if you’re still into hockey.” Antoniohelped himself to the bowl of chips on the table. “Gotta be a woman.” When Matteo froze, his brother chortled. “Knew it! Can read your ass like a book. Who is she, and how long has it been going on for you to be fucked up like this? Is it someone at MIRAGE? Did she cut you loose after ten weeks of silence?”

“No.”

“Then what is it? No use hiding it now. I got your number, man. I know how this works with you. Remember when Elizabeth Mitchell dumped you a week before prom? You’d paid for the bitch’s dress and everything. You spent all week sulking in your room and jamming to heavy metal until—”

“Until you reminded me of the line of girls waiting to take her place.”

His brother grinned. “Then the guy she broke up with you for dropped her ass on prom night and she spent the rest of the semester trying to get you back.”

Matteo sighed. “It’s nothing like that this time. And it isn’t anyone at MIRAGE. This is…complicated, all right?”

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