Page 91 of Connected

“What? No. No, they’re not. Why the hell would they? Hey, there’s no way my dick is that small.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to prove that, brother. You know I always thought you and Hudson would make a cute couple—I know you have a thing for pretty blonds.” Digby laughs; then groans, rubbing his hand over his aching head. “Fuck. I really need to go. I need to take a shower—I stink. Can someone get me a cab?”

“Yeah, Eric’s out the front somewhere. Get him to organize one. Hey Ryan, wait up… Is that my shirt you’re wearing?”

“Yeah, I think it might be yours—it was the only one I could find.”

“Goddamn it, Ryan. Well, just make sure you bring it back cos it’s an expensive one.”

“You know what? I might actually keep it. Oh, and thanks—for this,” he grabs the second bagel and smiles. “By the way, if you find my damn watch then text me cos I seem to have lost it somewhere.”

“Ah yeah, about that. I think it might be in the fish tank. We kinda had to stop you from showing us how you could breathe underwater.”

“What? Oh, you know what… I don’t even wanna know. I’ll catch you around.”

“Morning Ryan,” a pompous voice utters.

“Michael,” Digby sneers as they pass each other in the doorway.

“So, what’s your brother doin’ here?” Michael arches an eyebrow, watching as Ryan leaves and Rhys pours himself another coffee.

“Mmm…” Rhys swallows the last of his bagel. “We did some karaoke last night, and he went at it a little too hard. I guess he can’t handle my kinda party.” He grins and checks the time on his watch. “Shit… I have to go; I’ve got some business to take care of.”

“Business? What kinda business? Something going on I should know about?”

“No, nothing in particular. I just have to go check on a… hyena clan.”

“You still keep them? Hyenas, I mean. I thought you got rid of them years ago?”

“No. No, they can still be quite useful. Good for when I need a clean-up job and they’re pretty good for the street-gossip too. They keep their noses to the ground. You know what I mean? And talking of noses to the ground, did you dig up any information on that asshole from the other night?”

“Uh, no, nothin’ as of yet. I’m still working on a few things, but I heard he does business in the city. My guess… he was just trying to make a name for himself and didn’t know who he was dealing with.”

“What kind of business does he do?”

“Mostly our kind—the kind we might come to a mutual arrangement about?”

“No Michael; no arrangements. He came intomyclub, throwing his weight around and flashing hardware. I don’t like that. It’s not how wolves conduct themselves. This is my territory; my kingdom and he needs to show some goddamn respect. Now… as I said, I wanna know everything about him. Where he comes from, what he eats for breakfast, and even how long his dick is. I wanna know it all. Oh, and Michael, I expect to hear something useful by the end of the day. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go—I got a pack of hungry hyenas to see. Information Michael; it’s the key to staying on top. Klaus… we’re going out, bring the car around. Oh… Hudson and Dana are still upstairs. Make sure they get my office cleaned up before I get back. I want it spotless—like last night never happened.”

“Uh yeah, I’ll tell them. Rhys, before you go, can I just ask why your brother was still here? I know you said karaoke, but was there something wrong? I mean Kat wasn’t with him, so did somethin’ happen between them for him to stay out all night? I take itkaraokeis a euphemism, right?”

“No, Michael, karaoke-is-karaoke,” Rhys smiles. “And don’t concern yourself with my brother—he can handle his own shit. It won’t go down well for you to be poking your nose into his business. You just concentrate on what I asked you to do.”

“Sure. Hey… did you get a new watch?”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was a gift—from Ryan. To be honest, I didn’t know he had such good taste. Why? Do you like it? Here…” he takes it off and hands it to him, “have it—he won’t mind. Now get this breakfast stuff up—I’m done with it now. Michael… don’t forget Hudson and Dana.”

“Uh… yeah, sure,” Michael sneers, muttering under his breath as Rhys leaves. Picking up the last unfinished bagel from the plate, he takes the elevator upstairs to the office.

“Hell, fire shit! What the hell happened here?” He looks around the empty office. “Fuck, that must have been some karaoke.”

He picks up a microphone from the dresser and sniffs one of the many empty glasses littered around the room. Looking up, his attention is diverted from the decimated scene in the office to the bank of security monitors covering the wall.

Pausing, he stands silently, studying each screen—watching them in order.

“What the hell are you up to, Rhys?” He frowns, watching Klaus open the door of the black Mercedes parked in the underground garage and Rhys checking a weapon before he gets inside the car.

A sudden noise behind him makes him turn around. Hearing another chorus of deep growling groans, he heads in towards the shrill gasp of,“Oh Hudson… Yeah… yeah right there!”

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