Page 20 of Breakaway
"Someone tried to get into her apartment earlier today," Brandr says it so nonchalantly that it takes me a second to take in the severity of what he's just said, and then my shadows are all wrapped up tight around me like there's a threat in here with us when it's just them freaking out over thinking something could've happened to Reese. "Before you get too upset, he was technically on the list of people allowed to come over without suspicion, but he was acting incredibly suspicious."
"Why would that make me less upset?" I ask. I hold up my hands, offering because I'm a well-mannered Sombran, but knowing full well that if he tells me no to my request, I'm going to do it anyway. "Can I just get in your head and see what happened earlier?"
"You're not already doing that?" he asks, his brows scrunching and eyes rolling high like he's trying to see into his head, like he can catch me in the act.
"I am now," I tell him, closing my eyes so I can better separate the threads of his thoughts and memories as I navigate to earlier. It doesn't take me long to find the thread I'm looking for, and then I watch it to the best of Brandr's memory.
"Someone's banging on her door," Brandr's voice rumbles low, something akin to a growl vibrating through his chest. His eye is pressed to the peephole in the door as he watches a man in his mid-twenties with light red hair and a slender frame slam his fist into Reese's apartment door. He tries jamming a key into the first deadbolt, but it doesn't fit and hits the door again.
"Move over," Ingo says, pushing Brandr's arm and opening the apartment door.
Ingo's body blocks Brandr's view of what's happening for a moment before he steps to the side. Brandr takes up a place in the doorframe, arms crossing over his chest as the man across the hall turns around like he's about to start going off on the Lokans before he sees just how bad of an idea that would be.
The man's eyes go wide before his entitlement wins out. "Can I fucking help you?"
Brandr looks to Ingo, who looks to Brandr before they both turn to pin the man with unhappy glares. "Yeah, you can leave before we make you leave."
The man scoffs. "No. My key used to work here, but my sister must've changed the locks."
"Sister?" Brandr asks. He doesn't need an answer.
Jeremy Martin is Reese's younger brother and only sibling. He has permission to be in the apartment, but Mauve requested that he be watched the entire time.
Reese sends him and their mother a monthly allowance, but they've been known to ask for more frequently. The request to keep him out of the apartment unless accompanied by someone in security was made by Mauve. Reese only requested that she be alerted before he entered.
"Empress, the pop star," Jeremy speaks as if Brandr and Ingo are idiots. "This is her apartment, and she's my sister. So leave me the fuck alone."
"Just telling anyone this is where she lives?" Brandr asks, voice holding a hint of furious humor, as if he can't believe that someone would be as reckless with that kind of information as Jeremy seems to be.
"Like it matters now?" the man says, not a hint of concern or worry about his sister's well-being or the fact that all of her information was leaked.
Ingo takes the lead, probably realizing how on edge Brandr is. He's thinking about his own family, about how he would tear anyone who treated them so cavalierly apart limb from limb, and the beast inside of him is growling its approval. He has a shift on the edge, and that means Jeremy needs to be a lot more careful than he has been.
"Look, Jeremy, we can't let you into her apartment unless she's here or has given us permission," Ingo says, and something flashes in Jeremy's eyes, something that puts the Lokans more on edge.
"She hired some security thugs?" Jeremy asks, but he doesn't wait for an answer. "Of course she did. And I'm not allowed inside?" He lets out a humorless laugh, with that same, strange look still in his eyes.
"We can let you inside if I get permission from Miss Martin." Ingo keeps his voice level, while Brandr continues to seethe beside him.
"Forget it," Jeremy says, throwing his hands up and heading back toward the elevator. "It wasn't that important anyway."
"We can let her know you stopped by," Ingo calls out. "If you want to leave her a message."
"I have her number. If I want to contact her, I can," Jeremy shoots back with more heat in his voice than the conversation calls for.
Brandr and Ingo don't say anything more, but watch as the man disappears down the hall toward the elevator. Ingo is the first to move, pulling his comm out of his pocket and sending a message to I'm assuming Marr.
"Go shift," Ingo says, tilting his head in the direction of their apartment. "You look like you want to kill someone. Go let him calm down."
Brandr grunts in response, stepping back into the apartment. He tugs his shirt over his head, tossing it on the counter before his hands go for the button of his pants.
I pull out of the memory before seeing more of Brandr than I want. He's still standing in the same place he was when I entered the memory, his eyes still making him look like he's trying to catch me poking around in his head.
"Did you ever figure out what he wanted?" I ask.
Brandr startles. "Did you do it? The last time a Sombran was in my head, I felt them digging around."
"Then they weren't very strong," I say. It's way too cocky and I know it, but it's fun to show off sometimes, especially to someone who can appreciate what was done since they know what it feels like when it's done poorly.
