Page 40 of Cruel Debts
Harper looked as serious as a heart attack. And it just so happened I could make her day this time around. "Tell you what—you teach me how to dodge one of those leg sweeps you pulled on me earlier, and I'll tell you all about how I feel about the Gunners."
"Gunners as inplural?"
"Gunners, as inall three of them."
Harper laughed, her hands animated as she slapped her thigh. "Okay, Trinity. You hooked me. Maybe you're not as defenseless as you look."
I chuckled and took her hand as we repositioned ourselves. "I have my ways."
A few hours later,Harper and I decided I should probably head back, considering the guys might start to be concerned if I didn't come back and I wasn't still locked in the weight room. She was nice enough to drop me off at my door, and with a promise to spend more time together, I left her in the hallway and marched into the apartment, fully prepared to start yelling.
Instead, I was met with a tangible amount of silence as I scanned the room and found them all waiting for me, different expressions on their faces that had me worried for my safety.
"You all alright?" I asked quietly, hoping that would be enough to throw them off their game.
"Where were you all day?" Asher asked, leaning forward in his seat, his hands resting on his knees. "We were concerned."
Hawke stomped back and forth by the kitchen sink, a feral look of rage in his eyes. "You werewarnednot to leave here without anescort,Trinity."
"Don't look atmelike that, Hawke," I spat, turning on Liam, who was conveniently silent in the armchair. "Liam's the one who decided tolock me in the gym and leave me there alone."
Suddenly, all the tension in the room shifted as they turned their eyes on their partner, the rage intensifying as I snuck away from that chaos waiting to happen and slipped into my room.
And if I kept the door cracked a little to see and hear the impending meltdown?
Well, nobody but me had to know.
EIGHTEEN
HAWKE
"For the last time,boys, when I get an update, I'll pass it along to you."
Lilly St. Clair sat in her high-backed fancy chair, staring us down with a sense of irritation. Those talons on her hands did nothing to soften her image, not that she was trying.
She rather liked being intimidating to everyone she met.
"We don't have time to sit around and wait, Lilly," Asher growled, his anger still simmering just below the surface. He'd been on a rage trip ever since we found out Liam's ass left Trinity alone in the gym.
In spandex or lycra or whatever that fucking skintight outfit was made of.
"We need to know what that prick is up to, and unfortunately, since he's off-grid, we need to know who that contract came from. They could be in just as much danger as Trinity."
Lilly leaned back in her chair and kicked her boots atop the desk. "And I'm telling you, it's not going to happen. That's one of the biggest tenets of the Guild's foundation—contracts are anonymous. No ifs, ands or buts. But I will let you know Ialready reached out to ensure the contracting party is safe and aware of the danger level."
"That doesnothingfor us," I growled, slamming my hands down on the desk next to her polished fucking leather heels. "We're on two simultaneous contracts here, thanks toyou,Lilly, so I feel like we're owed more than just some patronizing shit about how you're 'doing everything you can' or whatever nonsense you want us to swallow."
Clearly, nobody in the room expected this ofme.Usually, I was the detached one who just went along with whatever the others agreed to or signed on for.
Not this time.
I waspissed.Beyond pissed. And with our hackles already up, thanks to the mess Liam put us in the center of?—
How could he just leave her there? Locked in, alone, and walk off like he wasn't harboring fucking not-so-secret feelings for her?—
He had no idea I knew. Asher probably knew, too. Realistically, he and Asherbothhad been carrying a torch for the little pest for who knew how long. But not me. In this instance, at least I was the smartest of the three of us. I couldn't fathom how two decently intelligent men could fall so hard for the biggest pest this side of the Dread River.
Still didn't mean she deserved to be abandoned in a gym in the fuckingGuild.
