Page 35 of Cruel (Brutal Academy)

"I think so," I said. "How about non-enemies? As in we basically leave each other alone. Although, Dane did threaten us a moment ago."

"I'm sure he was just surprised to see us alive and well. To be honest, I'm slightly surprised myself." Hunter placed his hand, palm down, on the desktop and leaned on it. "Killing us is a lot harder than it sounds."

"They say the same about cockroaches," Dane drawled. "The world will end, but there will still be cockroaches crawling the earth."

I grinned. "Yes, we are very resilient. Thank you for pointing that out. We're also smart. Smart enough to know who the real enemy is, and who should be neutralised, even if it means sleeping with the enemy. Not literally," I added quickly.

"We all knew you didn't mean it literally," Hunter said. He hopped down off Dane's desk. "I think we've taken up enough of your time. All we ask is that you think about what we said. If you don't, you're probably going to end up dead…pretty soon. That would be a shame." He started towards the door.

I slipped off the desk to follow.

Hunter stopped, his hand on the doorknob. He turned back to Dane, a sly look in his eyes.

"It would be a shame if you died before you saw Mina again."

Dane stiffened. "What are you talking about?" He placed his hands on the desk in front of him and pushed himself to his feet. "What do you know about my sister?"

"Oops," Hunter said as though he wasn't deliberately provocative. "You didn't know?"

"Know what?" Dane demanded. "Mina got married young and decided to stay away from this life." He didn't look entirely certain of that.

"Some of that is accurate," Hunter agreed. "But if you don't know, it's probably not my place to tell you." He started to twist the knob.

Dane lurched around the desk, and towards us. "What. Do. You. Know?"

"You should ask Asher." I had no guilt at all for throwing Dane’s younger brother under the proverbial bus. Better him than us.

"I'm asking you," Dane snapped. He looked like he was ready to grab both of us by the throat and strangle us simultaneously. It might be entertaining to see him try, however unlikely it was that he'd overpower both of us at the same time. Or individually.

"Where thefuckis she?"

I glanced at Hunter. He shrugged.

My gaze returned to Dane. "She's with Reuben," I said. "And when I saywith—"

"Bullshit," Dane snapped. "She would never…"

"It's a long story and you didn't hear it from us," Hunter said. "I promise you, she's fine. Happy." He paused for a moment. "As happy as she can be. Reuben, Damien and Gianni take good care of her. Better than her fucking asshole husband did."

I grunted. If there was anyone who deserved a slow, painful death, it was Kurt Lasalle.

Dane shook his head. "You're full of shit."

"Like we said, ask Asher. He's seen her. We saw him see her." He was as impressed as Dane, but Hunter wasn't lying when he said our brother and his right-hand men were taking care of her. Helping her heal. I never would have guessed I'd be thinking that about Reuben, of all people. Even fuckers like him can surprise you once in a while.

Dane looked conflicted. He clearly didn't want to believe us, but chances were he'd be on the phone to Asher the moment we stepped out of his office. When he discovered we were telling the truth, he'd wonder what else we were telling the truth about.

My second favourite kind of fuck was a mind fuck.

"Get out," Dane said, his voice dangerously soft. "Stay the fuck away from me and Chloe. And anyone else in my family."

Hunter smirked. "That could be difficult, we're practically brothers-in-law."

"Get. The. Fuck. Out," Dane ground out. His face turned pink with fury. If he had a gun in his hand right now, he'd likely shoot our balls off. Lucky for all of us he didn't. I was, personally, very attached to my balls.

"All right, all right, we're going. Don't get your panties in a twist." Hunter opened the door and waved for me to step out first. He followed me out and closed the door behind us.

"That was a lot more fun than it should have been." He grinned.

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