Page 68 of Overstaying His Welcome

“What? Why are you acting weird? And where have you been? You ask a favor, then go dark on me. It makes no sense.”

“Bitch at me all you want. It’s good to hear your voice.”

The other man went quiet. I took that as my moment to speak up.

“Hey there, Kendall. It’s me. Chance.”

Since I knew he was aware of my existence, I didn’t have to explain who I was to his brother. Tank made it clear the little shit — his words, not mine — was far too nosy to let our secret relationship be all that secret.

I kind of liked knowing that he knew about me, even when I didn’t know of him. It made things all the more real in a way.

“Ohhhh. Chance is there! Does that mean the team finally knows? I swear, you’ve been hiding him away for ages.” He drawled the last word out slowly.

“I didn’t hide him away. He had a life.”

Kendall laughed. “Yeah, but no one knew you two were together. I found out before they did. Then again, they didn’t know about me either. So many secrets you had, brother.”

“Cut the crap. We’re calling to make sure you’re ok and to check on the search I asked you to run. Can you give me an update?”

“Well, I’m as dandy as can be I guess. It’s a fucking sauna outside, despite the weather supposed to be cooling off. I’ve kept my happy ass inside to avoid melting.”

“And the search,” I pressed.

“The search… well, it wasn’t all that much fun. In fact, it was rather boring. Couldn’t you have given me something harder?”

My jaw dropped. Was he saying he’d found something?

Tank’s expression mirrored my own. It would have been amusing in any other circumstance.

Still, I was grateful his brat of a brother distracted him enough to pull him out of the grief spiral he’d been in. At least his focus was on something else now.

“Tell us,” he demanded. “My other guys found nothing. What do you know?”

Kendall giggled. “You know I’m the best. You just won’t take me on because you’re a doody head.”

“Doody head or not, I need those details. The guy we’re after is hurting people I care about. I’m worried he’ll come after you next.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly. I have to know you’re safe. Maybe I should send one of my guys down there to watch over you.” The last part was said more to himself than either of us. I could tell his brain was running away from the real topic we needed to go over.

Jumping in, I asked, “Can you tell us what’s going on, Kendall? I really would like to help get this guy off our backs.”

“Anything for you two lovebirds.” The sound of a keyboard came over the line. I remembered a time when that sound wasn’t so much a part of my life. Now it seemed like the keys held all the answered I needed. Whether it was Memphis or Kendall, the path had the same result.

It only took him a minute to find whatever he’d been looking for. When his humming cut out, I knew he was getting ready to lay the truth before us.

“Like I said before, this search wasn’t all that hard. The guy has someone good on his payroll, but even they fucked up along the way. The man you’re looking for is living under an alias. He’s also heavily connected to some high up officials. His brother in particular is an issue.”

“Brother?” Tank asked.

“Yeah. Younger than him. Probably has a hero complex too, if I had to guess. Why else would he have a brother who’s a criminal and decide to join the FBI? Maybe he thought he could cover his crimes or something. Who knows? I find it much easier if both siblings are on the wrong side of the law.”

“Wait a second. Go back to that part about being in the FBI. Who is Lune’s brother?”

Kendall sighs. “You two have GOT to keep up. The TLDR of it is that Lune isn’t really Lune. It’s a stage name thing. He’s got a brother in the bureau. He’s on leave right now, however he normally works with a Detective —”

“Stabler,” Tank and I said in unison.

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