Page 29 of Cohesion

Jericho steadied him with one hand against the curve of his hip, fingers spread across his lower back. He frowned, straightening, with Will still in his arms. “Six? What’s wrong?”

Quinn sat up and plucked the phone from his hands, putting it on speaker. Jericho let him have that.

“—seen anything weird tonight?”

“No, why?” Jericho asked.

“Riley was accosted in his apartment, while he was sleeping. They fled before he could get a look at his attacker’s face or detain him.”

Will’s heart skipped a beat and he scrunched the sheet in his hand. Riley? As in Riley Sinclair, Peyton’s older brother and Quinn’s boss?

“What?” Jericho pushed back the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

Sebastian sat up, expression unreadable as he lifted a knee, curling an arm around it.

Peyton flinched. “My brother Riley?” he asked.

Six didn’t miss a beat. “I don’t know another Riley.”

“Yes, you do,” Jericho pointed out. “That guy from—”

“Oh. Right. Well, it’s not him since he doesn’t even live in Sydney, genius.”

“Can we focus?” Quinn asked sharply. “What happened to Riley?”

“Like I said, someone broke into his place and tried to grab him while he was sleeping.”

“How do you know Riley?” Sebastian asked flatly. Quinn looked at him, but Sebastian wouldn’t meet his gaze, focused solely on Jericho.

Will tilted his head thoughtfully. After everything in their past, him being mentioned had to be a sore point. Quinn still worked with Riley, workedforhim more specifically. He was still part of Quinn’s life. They were friends, right? What about Sebastian’s life? If he and Riley had also been friends, had they just stopped because of everything that had happened?

Will rubbed his chest, a sadness lingering for a friendship lost that had to have meant something important.

“He works with them,” Peyton said, crossing his legs and leaning back on his hands, stretching his naked chest out. “Along with one of Riley’s detectives—not Quinn.”

How did Peyton know that? Had Will missed a step somewhere? “Wait, wait. What do you mean they tried to ‘grab’ him?” he asked, focus shifting back to Six’s words. The choice had been deliberate. And worrying.

“He wasn’t trying to kill Riley,” Six explained. “He was trying to takehim.”

Jericho worried his bottom lip between his teeth. Will settled beside him, reaching for his hand. Jericho squeezed it, giving Will a light smile.

“Is he okay?” Quinn asked quietly.

“He sounded fine over the phone? Well, he sounded like Riley.” Six didn’t seem concerned, though the tension in the air was enough that Will couldn’t quite make his shoulders completely relax. “I’m on my way over now to play nursemaid. Hunter and Moira are behind me and are gonna check the place out.”

Jericho bent forward, palming his forehead and gripping his hair. Will smoothed gentle circles on his back.

“Why go for Riley in the first place?” Jericho asked. “How did they even get his name?”

“We’re looking into it. Keep an eye on your men—if he’s stupid enough to go for Riley, then who knows what he’s going to do? I’ll update you in the morning.”

“Itisthe morning,” Jericho said dryly.

Since Sebastian didn’t have alarm clocks or anything on his bedside tables, Will turned around to look at the clock hanging on the wall.

Two thirty-three a.m.

“When it’s more morning than it is now. Go back to sleep.” Six hung up before any of them could respond.

---