Page 13 of Never Enough

The dog was still growling but less intensely. Her nose quivered. One step at a time, she came closer and closer to Nemo until she was within a long-lick’s distance of the offering. Her tongue swiped out. At that first taste of the peanut butter, her ears perked slightly. One more step closer, one more lick. That was all it took. She moved in reach of Nemo’s outstretched hand and began to lick the tube in earnest as he squeezed out its contents.

“Good girl. Good girl,” he soothed.

He looked up at Steel.

“No.” It was the only word that came from Steel’s mouth.

“No one gives a shit about them.”

“Nemo, no.”

“They’ll die here.”

Nemo’s lower lip protruded in a cartoon state of sadness.

“How the fuck do you plan to get them on the plane? They have to quarantine.”

The dog lay down on the concrete and rolled over on her back for tummy rubs from Nemo.

“Freakin’ Frankenstein,” Steel swore, using one of Flame’s favorite sayings. “Even these types of bitches roll over for you with next to no prompting.”

Nemo grinned because he knew he’d won the argument.

Steel sighed. “Waters is going to kick my ass. And when he’s done, I’m going to help him kick yours.”

“You know you love me.” Nemo’s grin turned to a full-on smirk.

“Fuckwitch,” Steel murmured under his breath. “I’ll go find the damn puppies.”

Steel stalked off, once again muttering in Spanish, occasionally getting louder with the swear words and threats to Nemo’s life.

“You’re going to love it in Los Angeles, and we’ll find good homes for your pups. Promise.” Nemo looked down at the dog whose belly he was still scratching. She was starved, covered in scars, probably infested with fleas, and he refused to leave her here. “I bet you’ve got a thousand stories to tell, girl.” A thought popped into his head. “Scheherazade. Perfect.”

5

JULY 29, 2022

Nemo

Looking down to his left, Nemo smiled fondly at Scheherazade at his side, giving her a quick scratch behind the ear. He whispered to her, “Okay, now, girl, remember what we discussed earlier. No barking. We don’t want to wake up Midas.”

The elevator dinged softly, announcing its arrival on the eighth floor of Tribe Corporation. Nemo and his fraternal twin, Midas, shared the eighth floor of the Tribe Corporation building, which was split into two spacious apartments. Because each of the team members officially “died” when they joined Tribe, each of the team members, plus their handler, Cherry, had their own apartment in the building since it would be difficult to own homes or rent properties. There were even two guest apartments in case they needed a fast lockdown for a client.

When the doors opened, Nemo exited quickly, turningright to go down his portion of the hallway. Scheherazade padded alongside him, tongue lolling out of her mouth, ears up straight, and tail wagging like a flag. She gave a soft yip.

“Are those the same clothes you were wearing last night?”

Nemo glared at Scheherazade. “Some guard dog you are.”

Scheherazade yipped again, her eyes communicating how silly she thought he was to be irritated with her.

Nemo looked up to see his brother leaning one shoulder against the wall, with one foot crossed over the other, only the toe touching the ground. The two brothers may have been born only eight minutes apart at birth, but they were nothing alike.

Nemo was light-haired and had blue eyes; Midas was dark-haired and had brown eyes.

Both men were physically fit enough to be sighed over, but Nemo was just under six feet with the sleekness of a runner, and Midas was just over six feet with the bulk of a rugby player.

Nemo was a jokester, a prankster, and always laughing or at least smiling. Midas often could tease and joke, but he had to be prodded to do so. He usually had a more serious demeanor, his brows crunching over his eyes and nose.

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