Page 23 of Gluttony

“What the actual fuck?”

“Who do I get to gut?”

They speak at the same time and I have to take a moment to breathe, because both of those thoughts are running through my mind too. Not for the same reasons as them, of course, but because she’s our employee, albeit only for the next three months. Regardless, we protect what is ours, and for right now, she’s ours.

Something about that thought feels more right than anything else about her, but I’m not going to feed it any ammunition.

“I don’t know.” I hate those words. Information is my dopamine and it’s currently running on empty. “That’s what we need to find out.”

“It wasn’t the prick that bumped into her. I dealt with him already.” Hadley looks to the sky, deep in thought.

Orion and I share a glance before turning to my twin.

“You dealt with who, what, now?” Orion asks the question on the tip of my tongue, though I would have worded it differently and with a lot more cursing.

The grin that spreads across Hadley’s face is pure evil as he shrugs, crunching on his mints, all innocence fleeing the building.

“I may or may not have been watching from a distance for the last week…or two. Haven’t seen a boyfriend, but she was out late on Wednesday night. She went out, some prick shoulder checked her and called her an arsehole, I made him regret it.” He chuckles and wags his brows.

“Really, Hads? Didn’t we make an agreement? All three of us? Once a year. It’s not even close to May yet.”

“Yeah yeah, I know. I didn’t go that far. I just kicked the shit out of him for a bit, taught him some manners, and voilà! Sorted!”

“Okay, we’re going off track here.” Orion jumps in and brings us back to what’s important in this moment, and we completely ignore my twin’s overreaction to a situation because it’s nothing new. “Has your stalking actually been useful?”

“I wouldn’t call it stalking…”

“I would.” I fold my arms across my chest and grumble.

“Honestly, not a whole fuckin’ lot. She’s pretty boring. Spends her evenings in her tiny apartment, no messages to or fromfriends on her cell, no social media…” Hadley reels off the dull description of Bowie’s week.

Nothing is adding up. What twenty-something single woman living in the city that never sleeps doesn’t have a digital footprint?

“Where did she go on Wednesday evening?” Orion, again, with the sensible questions.

“I dunno. I was too busy dealing with the prick who insulted her.” Hadley’s grin doesn’t waver.

“So the one night she actually does something interesting, and you get distracted?” I shake my head because of course that’s how it happened.

“You endorsing my stalking?”

“Didn’t think you were calling it that.” Orion laughs when Hadley shoots him a look dripping with contempt.

“We’re going around in fucking circles here. How do we find out who hurt her?”

“Why are you so bothered by it, big bro?” Hadley raises both brows, his eyes two pools of condescension.

“Because she’s our employee, and nobody fucks with our employees.” I’m too quick to answer, it’s been ruminating through my mind since before we even began the conversation.

“Suuuure…” Hadley draws out the word and grins again.

“Okay, pack your shit and grab what you need for the day. We’re going home to plan.” Orion’s word is final. We always listen to our chosen brother, given that he tends to be our voice of reason.

“If you insist.” Hadley’s grin turns feral as he taps on his cell and brings it to his ear. “Ginny? Can you hold my calls for the rest of the day and rearrange this afternoon’s meeting?” There’s a pause. “You’re an angel. I’ll make Bowie bring you extra coffee. Thank you.” He hangs up and looks up at us. “Sorted, but I will have to briefly nip back later.”

“Do I wanna know why?” The pounding in my head hasn’t subsided and I take a moment to rub at my temples.

“Nah. Let’s go plan shit.”

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