Page 38 of Tell No One
“Great! I fuck him to death.”
Feely snorted.
“I’m serious.”
“We have an event that you might be interested in. At a discount because of your disappointing experience this time.”
“Event?”
“Take new number. This phone going to die soon. I fuck it to death.”
Feeley laughed and Delaney reeled off the number then turned the phone off. After pocketing the SIM card, he got out of the car and slammed the phone on the ground, stamped on the pieces and kicked them into the hedgerow. His heart was racing. Hopefully, the information on the USB was enough, they’d find information about the prince and Delaney would never have had to contact these guys again, but he’d opened a door. Were they really talking about killing Tag? Was that what had happened to Ahsan?
He slipped back to the house on foot. As he reached the open window at the front, he heard Tag singing.Singing?He had a good voice. Instead of going inside, Delaney waited. It didn’t take long to work out that Tag was going through the house, checking everything out. It made Delaney smile.
Though when he looked through the window and saw Tag had found the box at the back of the log pile, he stopped smiling. He couldn’t see whether or not Tag had taken anything from it, but when he put it back, Delaney returned to the car and drove back.
As he put away the shopping, he spotted Tag lying on the lawn. Delaney checked the contents of the box and everything was there. He added the two bags of diamonds, the USB and the mask, and carried the box into the kitchen. Once he’d slid the fridge out of position, he pressed the piece of wood that opened a panel at the back, which revealed a small area under the stairs. He put the box into the backpack that was hidden there and left it in the compartment.
Once the fridge was back in place, he opened two beers, toed off his shoes, and went outside.
Tag turned as he approached, then sat up and smiled, holding out his hand.
Delaney dropped down beside him. “Who says one is for you?”
“Please?”
“Let’s see if you can answer three questions truthfully.” Delaney took a swig of his beer. “What’s Tag short for?”
“It’s not short for anything. It’s my name.”
“Are all your family dead?”
Tag hesitated. “I don’t know, but they’re dead to me.”
“What made you look behind the log pile?”
Tag gave a short laugh. “Checking for snakes?”
“Or?”
“Because this house isn’t your home.”
Delaney handed him the beer. Tag wrapped his hand around the bottle, but Delaney didn’t let go. “How did you figure that out?”
“You don’t have one of those drawers in the kitchen with all sorts of crap in it. You know, stuff like takeaway menus, elastic bands, shoelaces, a torch, keys that don’t open anything, needle and thread. There are no photos, nothing personal, nothing that says you, apart from the gear in your bedroom. Did you buy your books in bulk or have you read them all?”
Delaney let him take the beer. Tag chugged half of it then rested the cold bottle against his forehead. Drops of condensation trickled down his face. Delaney’s eyes drifted down Tag’s hairless chest, over those tight dark nipples and onto the line of hair below his navel that disappeared under the waistband of his boxers. The outline of Tag’s semi-hard cock was clear under the soft grey material and Delaney fought the urge to just have him right then.
He took a swallow of beer. He didn’t like the way he was reacting. Hated the way he wanted to rip off his own clothes, then those boxers and fuck him. He never felt like this. Sex was on his terms, marks he picked out in a club, hotels he paid for. Hot, fast fucks controlled by him. Tag made him feel on the edge of control.
“You look hot,” Tag said. “Youarehot.” Then he grinned. “Just in case you needed two versions of that statement.”
Delaney couldn’t stop staring at him.
“Want to take off your shirt?” Tag asked.
The first thing he did was take the gun out the back of his trousers and set it aside.
