Page 66 of Fire for Effect

I followed behind the Crown Royal, feeling a little robbed of the great view of her ass.

She was aimless for the first part of the drive… or was pretending to be.

And it all made me fucking hard. The chase – chasing her. There was something about the tug of it that heated my blood, and I was turning into the kind of stalker pervert I didn’t fucking recognize.

How much does a subdermal tracker cost?

Jesus, I have to get my mind off of this…

I powered on my phone - the one that was only turned on when I was calling her. I looked at all the missed messages and voicemails. I didn’t bother to check before I deleted them all. Half of them were from Kristin, the other half from my mother.

Instead, I called the only marginally sane person that was related to me.

“Yo, douche canoe,” Kaleb greeted.

“Hey dingleberry,” I responded. “What do I need to know?”

“You should call your mother.”

“She’s your mother, too.”

“You’ll never get me to admit it.” My brother had managed to dodge all possible family responsibilities and was living his best life renovating a lighthouse in Massachusetts Bay. Figures. Youngest kids have it so easy. “Our presence is required at the Masquerade.”

“Shit,” I said, through my teeth. “Where’s it held this time?”

Mom’s pet charities were always holding galas but there was one that happened around Halloween that was her particular favorite. A masquerade. Cheesy as fuck, but it had gained popularity over the years, and now was one of the biggest contributors to education and free lunch programs nationwide.

“On a boat,” Kaleb said.

I could vaguely hear him banging a hammer, and I guessed he was doing some construction work on his house.

A boat was more likely our luxury yacht – a timeshare that we had with three other prominent DC families. I could already feel the claustrophobia.

“Fuuuuuuck,” I said, agitated for a moment, until I imagined Taz in an evening gown. I had never seen her in one. While in the Army, she’d wear a uniform like the rest of us during military balls. Would she go with me? Maybe. But still, this was not great news. “A boat, with no exit.”

“Yup,” my brother said in an agitated tone that matched how I felt. “So, we can’t ditch early.”

“We could swim for it.” Maybe I should have been a Navy SEAL instead.

“Swim in the Potomac at the end of October?” he scoffed. “Only if you want your balls to start in-growing.”

“Any chance Mom doesn’t know I'm home?”

“Any chance our Dad, the head of the CIA, hasn’t told her?” He snorted. “Even I knew you were home, dude, and I’m always the last to know.”

“For a family of spies, we sure suck at keeping secrets.”

“Speaking of which…” he sounded amused as fuck, and I knew I was going to hate what he said next. “What’s this I hear about a girlfriend? Kristin’s been all in a tizzy about you seeing someone. Something about you getting shot, and some chick taking care of you?”

Shit. How the hell did anyone know anything about that? Fucking Dad was clearly abusing his power.

“Kai? Girlfriend?”

I wasn’t ready to confirm or deny… “Gotta go, bye.”

I hung up on him, even as he protested and warned that I had better not hang up.

Mom would call me next, I was sure of it. But at least I’d know what I was up against. I was already trying to look for excuses. I’d think of something.

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