Page 47 of Entangled in Them

Chapter Twenty

Kodee

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THE MEETING WITH THE clients went smoothly, and I caught the next flight out of there.

I discovered myself thinking of home more than usual. Though we all lived and worked together, we were more than capable of living our independent lives as well. It wasn’t as though we pined while we were apart. Yet I found myself missing home and wondering what they were all doing, wishing I was back there. Was I jealous of the time Dillon and Ryan were spending with Rue without me? I didn’t want to admit such a thing to myself, but I’d enjoyed having a woman around the place. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t get attached to another female again, but I had to admit that having her around was a welcome change from all the testosterone.

Flagging down a cab outside the airport, I gave the driver our address and sat back in the seat. Tiredness weighed down my limbs, and my eyes were dry and scratchy. I rarely slept on flights. I was even less likely to sleep on one if there was a handover on the other side. Most of our clients appreciated the work we did, and knew they needed us, often more than we needed them, and so things went smoothly. But then men like the Capello brothers would rear their ugly heads. I hadn’t been expecting any problems on this particular handover, but knowing the Capello brothers were aware of us, and that we were on their radar, made me antsy. They were hiding Rue from someone, and I thought that someone might be who we needed to be worried about as much as the Capellos. If the wrong person got wind of her being here, they might be watching the apartment.

I didn’t like not knowing the identities of our enemies. There was one person who did know, and that was Rue. She’d refused to tell us so far, saying it was for our own protection, but maybe it wasn’t. We could try to force it out of her, though I didn’t want to have to resort to threats and violence—not with her.

But even if we knew, what could we do? We weren’t some ruthless gang who would stop at nothing. It wasn’t as though we could do anything to stop them, even if we knew who the Capellos were hiding Rue from.

Could we?

No, she wasn’t our problem. We’d never asked for her entrance into our lives. In a matter of a few days, or a week or two at most, she’d leave, and we could forget she’d ever been here.

I wondered how many times I needed to say that to myself before I believed it to be true.

I trusted Ryan around Rue more than I did Dillon, but it wasn’t as though I could complain if Dillon did hook up with her. We’d said right in front of her that our relationship was a casual thing. No rules. No commitment. We were just three guys who liked to hang out; that was all.

The cab pulled up in front of the building, and I unfolded myself from the back seat and climbed out. I caught the driver giving me a look as I paid him. Tall, black, well dressed. Clearly had money. What did he think of me? Not the truth, I was sure about that. There weren’t many people in this world who knew the real me, but two of them were upstairs in our apartment.

I let myself into the building and went up to the apartment. It was surprisingly quiet, and for a moment I thought no one else was home, but then I spotted Rue curled up on the couch, eating an apple with a knife, carefully cutting each slice onto a plate. The most recent piece dropped onto the plate, and she looked up.

“Hey. How was your trip?”

It was a strangely normal question, and I discovered I liked the sound.

“Good.” I dumped my bag by the front door. I’d unpack the clothes and toiletries I’d used as cover, but had never actually used, later. “Everything went as it should. Where are the others?”

“Out. Ryan had an appointment, I think. Dillon took him.”

Shit. I’d forgotten Ryan had an appointment for a fitting. The stump hadn’t been fitting correctly into the sleeve recently. He’d been warned that the stump would change size and shape as it healed, and he needed to be careful or he’d get an infection, and an infection could land him in a wheelchair. There was no way Ryan was going back to that. He’d already commented that he’d rather be dead. I fucking hated it when he spoke like that.

“Not on the back of the bike?” I asked.

She laughed and I smiled at the sound. “No, Ryan drove.” She hesitated and then added, “I know about Ryan’s leg.”

I frowned. Ryan didn’t like people knowing. He didn’t want to be treated differently because of it and knew others would see it as a weakness. In our business, having anything that could be viewed as such wasn’t a good thing.

“He told you?”

She gave a small smile, and I detected sadness in it. “He didn’t have to. He tried to get up to use the bathroom during the night...”

Right away, I knew what had happened. “He fell,” I finished for her. “Shit.”

“Yeah, I heard him cry out. I knew he was alone, and I couldn’t just ignore it.”

“How did he react to you?”

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