Page 83 of Ricochet

Ryder stood up and crossed his arms, still studying the dot that marked Baltimore and then turned to Colin. “Something going on with you and Adelia?”

Not if Colin couldn’t get a hold of her and she ended up dead because Mayhem had a hit on her,and God only knew what she and Lenora were up to at the water in Maryland.

“Or not,” Ryder answered, sizing up Colin’s face. “Victoria said something about you two hanging out at Seven’s wedding.”

“Yeah, I think so. We are. It’s just...” His mind was elsewhere, and Colin was too worried to deal with the semantics of a relationship when Mayhem could be a real problem. Perhaps Brock and Jaredwere discussing the information he’d emailed from Lenora? But wouldn’t they have looped him in? No, their meeting had to be something else.

“Sorry about that.” Parker rolled back to the conversation. “What were you saying?”

“Adelia got herself in some shit with Mayhem.”

“Who hasn’t?” Parker leaned back in his chair like he’d heard that before.

“Well, this might be the bad kind.”

“How bad?”

Colin ripped his hand over his throat. “The bad kind.”

“The kind where Lenora’s dumping Adelia’s body in the Chesapeake Bay?”

“No, no… They’re working on something, and I don’t know if it’s some kind of last hurrah or a get-her-out-of-Mayhem-jail type of deal.”

Parker’s forehead pinched. “Two very different extremes, brother.”

“Tell me about it,” Colin muttered. “Lenora’s my access to Adelia,but she’s not answering the phone.” How many god-forsaken times could Colin hit redial without letting on that he was worried? “Either way, I said I was going to head their way. Now I know where I’m going.”

“Hmm.” Parker rocked in his chair. “Or stick around for a few.”

“I’m not going to bail without touching base.”

Parker reached for a jar of dog treats on his desk, and Bacon scurried over,skittering to a stop and eagerly awaiting whatever would be asked of him. Parker flicked the treat in the air, and Bacon swallowed it before the treat landed.

“Your dog’s going to get indigestion.”

“Maybe.” Parker took out another one for Bacon, balancing it on his knuckles before he flipped it in the air for the process to repeat. “Lenora’s an asset. She’s our friendly. If you’re going toask Boss Man to pick a side, work, an asset, or Javier’s sister—”

“Are you shitting me?”

Bacon groaned, and Parker petted her head. “All I’m saying is think before you make your ask—”

“You don’t know what I’m going to ask for.”

Parker’s lips flattened. “You want time off or to clean up someone’s mess—”

“What if I did?”

“Then sometimes you have to choose what is your highest priority.”

“What does that mean?” Now Parker sounded like his father. Was he going to get a lecture about the future from every direction?

“When the opportunity presents itself, you’ll know what I’m talking about.”

Ryder dropped into a chair. “I have no clue what you two are bitchin’ about. Take it easy.”

The phone on the desk rang again, and Parker slapped it onto speaker mode.

“You have everything onthe client packet?” Jared boomed.

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