Page 15 of The Devil's Pair

“Cross is my birth name,” she explained. “When I was fourteen, my Dad was killed in the line of duty, and Mom remarried two years later, to Edmund Morris. She legally changed her last name, and my name too, but I never felt likeBrileyMorris, you know? So as soon as I was out of the house, I started telling everyone that my name is Briley Cross. I neverlegallychanged it, just because I knew that it wouldreallyhurt my mother for me to do that. She died a few months ago, and I could officially be Briley Cross but now I doubt that I ever will, with current circumstances being what they are. So you see…” She smiled at the men. “The house will be purchased by Annette Morris, and any job that I find will hire that same person. I’ll go by my middle name of Briley, of course, and just tell people that Cross is my preferred last name. They’ll just assume a bad marriage or something, and leave it. But on all the official paperwork, Briley Cross will be totally hidden. In fact, she won’t even exist, because she trulydoesn’texist.”

“Ah.” Dux stared at her some more. “And that’s enough? To keep you safe?”

“I think so.” She stretched out her long legs in front of her. “But there’s another layer of protection, at least as far as the buying of the house is concerned.”

“What’s that?” Drake asked.

“Well, if you’re looking to see who owns what property, you can only search by address, not by name.”

“For real?” Drake demanded.

“Yep. For real. You have to type the full address into the search,thenthe owner’s name will pop up.” She smiled. “So which cop in Utah looking for me is going to type a full small-town-of-seven-thousand-people Pennsylvania address into a property search?”

“Uhhh.” Dux shook his head. “None. Nobody, Nuh-uh.”

“Exactly. And even if said copdidtype the full address of any property that I bought into a search engine, the name Annette Morris will come up as the owner.”

“So… so you’re OK to do this?” Dux said. “We can tell Wolf that you’re impossible to find?”

“I’m really OK,” she assured him. “I promise, guys. I’m notlookingto be found, believe me, so if I thought for one second that putting my name downanywherewould put me in danger, I’d find another way to live and work.”

They nodded slowly, doing that wildly unnerving ‘staring at each while mentally having an entire conversation’ thing, then as one, they flicked their eyes back to her face. And as always when she was the focus of their double-gaze, Briley felt her heart jolt to a dead stop, then start up double time.

God, could these menbeany more gorgeous? Like, was it humanly possible for them to get more sexy, and funny, and generous, and kind? She really doubted it, and in moments like this – in the bright-blue spotlight of their full-on attention – Briley knew that it wasn’t possible atall.

“So.” She cleared her throat, took a huge glug of vodka and juice in a futile attempt to beat back the slow, traitorous heat rising in her body. “You guys will come with me to check out the house tomorrow?”

“‘Course, babe,” Dux said. “We’d love to see where you might end up in your whole damn new life.”

“Great.” Briley bit her lip. “I’m a bit nervous about it all, but I think it’ll be OK in the end.”

“You think you’ll miss your old life?” Drake asked her, watching her closely. “Any part of it at all?”

“Well, no. I’m taking Cheryl with me into my new life, so I’ve got the only thing from the old one that really matters to me. But I’m nervous about what’s coming.” She smiled. “I’m going somewhere that I don’t know anyone, and even though that’s an amazing opportunity at a clean slate, it’s also a bit overwhelming.”

“You can call us anytime you want to talk to someone, you know,” Drake said. “We’d love to hear how you’re doing.”

Thatsurprised her; she’d thought they were ‘out of sight, out of mind’ kind of guys. Besides, she suspected that their MC life back in Denver was chock-full of hot women and eager hangers-on, and wild club adventures, and probably a fair share of crime. After all, these men had blown on into her life under false pretences, then tied her up in her own living room, then gone into a cult compound guns blazing – and they’d looked totally comfortable doingallof those things. Not as comfortable as that fucking blond beast Ice, but still… Dux and Drake had been right there with him, not flinching or backing up from any of it.

So their offer to be her long-distance support system was quite sweet, to be honest. She was sure that they’d tire of it after the third call, but still. It was a nice gesture.

“Sure,” she said. “I’ve got to make sure that you don’t forget about your two-week road trip buddy, after all.”

“Jesus, girl, like we’d forget aboutyou,” Dux told her. “You’re ninety-two kinds of sexy, after all.”

She choked on an ice cube. “I’mwhat?”

“Sexy as all hell,” Drake chimed in. “Inat leastninety-two ways.”

“Ha!” she managed. “I hardly have the monopoly on sexy in this room. Have you twolookedin the mirror lately?”

The twins glanced at each other and simultaneously made an identical expression, and Briley laughed.

“OK, yeah,” she said. “Clearly you look in the mirror every time you look at each other, huh?”

“That is correct, darlin’,” Drake said. “Though I do think I have aslightedge on my older and damaged brother. By the way,” he said to Dux. “I dragged my ass out to get you that damn ice for your leg, and you’re just lounging there, letting it all melt.”

“True,” Dux said. “I’d better get to it, huh?”

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