Page 21 of The Chemist

Tossing his duffle bag into the back of the SUV, Diesel took a deep breath of fresh Parisian air and let the smell of freedom set in.

Okay, perhaps he was exaggerating. He wasn’t locked away in a tower somewhere, but he was under the watchful eye of a certain overbearing Italian. And if you have ever pissed off an Italian, you know how scary their oversight can be.

“Wait up!” someone shouted from behind Diesel.

He turned, half expecting one of the security staff to remind him of something he’d forgotten. Instead, Chase and Jared were both making their way over to him.

“What’s with the body bag?” Diesel asked, referring to the camouflage duffle Jared had slung over his shoulder.Damn, the boy’s muscles were huge.

“It’s filled with snacks for our trip.” Jared smirked, tossing his bag into the back of the SUV as well.

Like Diesel would believe that Jared would eat his body weight in candy for one second. The man calculated his calorie intake at every meal just so that he knew how long he would have to work out in order to burn off the food he just consumed.

Guess Jared was joining them on their trip.

“And the Mrs. is okay with letting you out of his sight for more than ten minutes?” Speaking of the devil.

He watched as a streak of blue came barreling out of the front doors.

“Need my goodbye kiss,” Isaac claimed, jumping into Jared’s arms and making out with him like the two were searching for buried treasure conveniently located in the back of Jared’s throat.

“Sickening, isn’t it?” Chase said, stopping right behind the two love birds.

“Does Matteo know what he’s doing by taking away Isaac’s favorite toy? I pity the rest of the poor souls staying behind,” Diesel quipped.

Chase gave a chuckle.

“Matteo’s allowed them two weekend visits a month until all this is done. Here, give me your arm.” Chase pulled a black wristwatch out of his pocket and held it up in his hand. “A gift from Daddy M.”

Diesel held out his arm as Chase fastened the plastic device to it with an unsettling click.

“Why do I get the feeling that this isn’t a love gift?” Diesel asked skeptically.

“It is. It’s because Daddy M loves you that he asked me to place one of Marc’s nifty little trackers on you—you know—in case you decide to pull a Houdini on us again and run off.”

Shocked and a little offended, Diesel raised his wrist in disbelief. He turned his arm and examined the pesky device that Marc had created. Marc was Chase’s boss, a security expert and all-around genius. The man had designed and created his own mini tracking device that could be inserted into any piece of clothing or jewelry. It allowed the operator to track the person’s movements using a third-party device. The thing was designedto be untraceable if someone were to scan the individual searching for tracking devices.

“Don’t bother trying to remove it. There’s a special key that’s needed, and guess who’s holding it?” Chase gave him a smirk.

“Can’t believe I’m now basically tagged cattle.”

“Hey! Doesn’t it record voices as well?” Isaac asked with an evil smirk and puffy red lips.

Diesel’s head snapped toward Chase. Isaac was right! He never felt so betrayed.

“Calm your nuts. Matteo insisted that the voice recording function be turned off. I guess he didn’t want to suffer through all the vile things he was likely to hear.”

“I make no apologies for the life that I live,” Diesel defended, not sorry in the least.

It appeared that Big Brother wasn’t listening… he was just… following.

Deciding to give it a little test, Diesel raised his wrist to his lips and whispered, “Matteo likes to suck old-man balls before showering his face with day-old spunk.”

They all held their breath, waiting to see if their boss and surrogate father would come bursting through the doors.

Nothing happened.

“Okay, now that we’re done playing around, let’s get our asses moving,” Chase ordered, opening the passenger-side door and hopping in.

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