Page 24 of Suspicious

I move with the speed of an immortal, my back flying against the opposite wall, like something you would see in a supernatural movie. My breathing is rapid I can barely catch it as Bea’s hand races to her mouth, mourning the loss of a kiss almost shared.

Our eyes meet, hers glistening as she swallows hard, then she straightens out her clothes and ducks out of the hall.

“I’m here, Theo,” she calls, a slight waver in her voice.

And here I am again, back in the same hell.

Hello, my old friend.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Bea

That wasfartoo close.

And with my heart racing frantically and my rapid breathing, I need to calm myself down before I catch up with my brother. Though, I have to admit, if I said I hadn’t thought about kissing Loki again over the last thirteen years, that would be an absolute lie.

I just never thought it would be a possibility.

Obviously, there’s still chemistry here, but there’s so much trauma in our past that we haven’t even begun to deal with. However, I can’t think about that right now. Theo is here, and he nearly caught us.That would have been a disaster.After years of hiding our relationship from him, only for him to see us in a moment of weakness like that, well, it would have been reckless of us.

Putting on a brave face, I make my way over to my brother. He smiles when he spots me, pulling me in for an embrace when I reach him. “How’s everything going with the app? You making any progress with Loki yet?”

My stomach churns, thinking of the moment we had just shared in the hall, but I shake my head. “Ahh, no, actually. I don’t know what the club was doing, but they were off on some official club business. They’ve only been back a little while, and I haven’t had much time to spend with Loki, to be honest. I’ve spent more time with the women than him.”

Theo rolls his shoulders with a grimace. “Bea… we need to get this shit under control. You wanted him to deal with it, so… get him to deal with it. Or I’m going to have to take over. We only have so long before we have to go public and announce thisbreach. If we don’t have it handled by then, it could be the end of us both… and Loki is tied to this too, Bea. If we go down, he could too. Stop putting your head in the sand. This threat is real. It’s happening. Weneedit taken care of.”

Slumping my shoulders, I clench my eyes, trying to fight back my tears.

I know how real this threat is.

I know the implications it can cause.

I guess that’s why I went out and got hammered to where I couldn’t function—because this could ruin my business. Depending on how bad the breach is, I could be held liable. I could have clients coming at me for compensation, depending on the damage caused by the breach. Honestly, this could financially sink me, Theo, and Loki. Until they are in debt, so huge there’s no possible way out of it. I don’t even want to think about if there will be any legal ramifications. The thought is too fucking scary to consider.Hence drinking myself into oblivion.

Theo might think I am not taking this seriously—the problem is I know all too well about the complications. And maybethatis why I am stalling. Because then it becomes real. Because if Lokican’tfix this, I don’t know just how bad this is going to get.

I glance over my shoulder to where Loki and I were only moments ago, and I see him walking toward his tech den. Letting out a long exhale, I roll my shoulders. “Okay… we’ll go talk to him now. Get this all figured out.”

Theo grips my shoulder, making me turn back to face him. “I have a massive meeting tomorrow I need to prep for. I only popped in to see how it was going. You haven’t even started, so I’m going to let you and Loki make some headway on things, and then I’ll check in again.”

Widening my eyes, I glare at him. “You’re not going to come and help? Be in the room with me while we talk this stuff out?”

Theo groans, rolling his eyes. “You’re a big girl, Bea. I knowyou and Loki haven’t seen each other for a while, but he’s not as scary as he looks. He’s not going to bite you. You’ll be fine. You guys were inseparable when you were younger. He’s still the same guy, just with tattoos and that stupid long hair.”

A slow smirk forms on my face as I look my brother up and down. His perfectly chiseled jaw with his meticulously maintained five o’clock shadow. His hair is styled in that snobbish, rich-guy way that makes him look like he thinks he is better than everyone else. Theo doesnotfit in here at the clubhouse. That much is for sure. How he and Loki have remained best friends over the years when their lives went in such opposite directions is beyond me.

“For the record, his long hair isn’t stupid… it suits him. But okay, I’ll go get this settled with him now. We’ll figure it out.”

He dips his chin, then turns to walk out. “You got this, Bea. I believe in you.”

A quiet snort slips out, and I turn for the path leading to Loki’s den. I take slow, methodical breaths, trying to calm my rising heart rate, then step up to the door and knock. My foot taps anxiously on the floor, and I stand back with my arms over my chest. The door suddenly begins to open, and my breathing stops as Loki stands in the doorway, his muscles rippling as he holds the heavily weighted door back. My clit begins to throb at seeing just how ripped his arms are.

Lifting my chin, I plaster on a huge smile and start walking toward him. “I’ve been waiting forever to talk to you about the health and wellness app. I’ve been here for hours with the mother of all hangovers while you’ve been off doing god only knows what. I mean, look at you,” I tell him, then point to the obvious blood stain on his shirt.

He glances down while I move past him inside his den, and he reaches past me, closing the door to give us some privacy. “I’m a biker, Bea. What do you expect? I’m not that nerdy young guyanymore. I have a brotherhood to defend.”

Spinning around the large room, I take it all in, a slow smile crossing my face. This is not what I was expecting when I walked in here. Maybe a couple of computers and a filing system, but this—this is a full tech hub. Screens line the walls, coding, running up and down them like he’s running a system diagnosis on something. A security system lines one wall running for the entire perimeter of the clubhouse. A filing station is definitely installed, but it’s neat and methodical. It’s not like the tech setups Theo has in Silicon Valley. This absolutely has a hacker feel to it, but it’s one hundred percent cooler than the stifling corporate feel of Theo’s workplace environment.

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