Page 11 of Pride
“What do you want?” Parker asked through the door crack.
Flint’s judgmental gaze flicked to Sloan.
“See?” she said. “I told you he was being impossible.”
Alice shouted from the bedroom. Parker’s heart rate spiked, and he checked the newcomers to see if they heard. Neither acknowledged it.
Flint held up AIMI’s hard drive. “Sloan asked me to help. We’re done.”
Parker’s brow lifted. “Already?”
Sloan bumped Flint out of the way. “See what happens when you don’t try to do it all yourself?”
Parker reached through the door crack for the hard drive, but Flint only stared at him.
“Let us in, son.”
He didn’t have time for this. Not with Alice making more sounds. They would hear, surely.
“You’re hiding something,” Sloan said, narrowing her eyes. “I can feel it.”
“I don’t hide, Sloan.”
“Prove it.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
She grinned. “So Max tells me.”
Flint waggled the hard drive. “If this is the last thing you need to fire AIMI up, then I want to be involved. I was with you when she was built. I want to be here for her resurrection.”
“Me too,” Sloan added.
A puff of breath shot out of Parker’s nostrils, and he forced himself to let go. So what if they heard Alice? She was his mate, his business.
He unbolted the door and let them in before pointing to the living room. “In there. Shut the door behind you.”
They convened on the leather couches facing each other. His bedroom was on the other side of the penthouse, but he could still hear Alice shouting curses… something about him being a douche. He shook his head and sat. Flint dropped the hard drive into Parker’s hand and cast a scowl in the direction of the bedroom.
“What did you salvage?” Parker asked, ignoring the pointed looks from his family.
“Not much, to be honest.” Flint’s gaze darkened and then met Parker’s eyes again. He wanted to say something about Alice’s shouting, but they both knew Parker’s penthouse was his sanctuary. He’d never invited anyone up, and now that there was a woman shouting obscenities in his room, they were probably confused enough to hold their tongues.
We’ll see how long for.
“But we think we have some tracking data,” Flint added.
Sloan held up her finger. “Some.”
“Meaning?” Parker asked.
“Meaning that with the data incomplete, it might be old, or wrong, or just plain not enough—I’m sorry, but what the hell is going on in your room, bras? Someone is very angry with you, and she’s… oh. Oh, I see. I can sense her emotion from here. She’s angry… but she’s also… excited?”
Alice was excited? “She’s none of your business.”
“If you’re torturing someone in there, I want to know.” Flint’s brows lowered, and he gave Parker a look he hadn’t seen since his childhood. It never worked then, and it didn’t work now, but there was no harm in letting a little of the truth slip.
“I’m not torturing her,” he said. “And she’s a Sinner.”
