Page 136 of The Wild Charge

“A terrible one,” Devin said, easily. “I’m not proud, Charlie.”

Words built on Fox’s tongue, and he swallowed them though they nearly choked him.Forget hate, Dad. Fathers are supposed to love their children. You’ve never loved anything. Devin didn’t care about any of them, but expressing that, true as it was, would have made him feel like the crying toddler he’d once been, hot, tear-stained face pressed to his mother’s shoulder as he asked why his daddy didn’t want him. Unthinkable.

“So, what? You thought you’d start making amends? Bit late for that.”

“I know that,” Devin said, unbothered. “But I’m still offering the help, if you want it. I didn’t ever work with or against these people, but I brushed against them, a few times, in my glory days. Jack Waverly inherited something that’s been brewing for a long, long time. I know some people. And some things.” He tilted his head to what seemed like a hopeful angle.

Fox took a few drags on his cigarette, debating. In truth, letting Devin come up in the elevator and into this room was an answer in and of itself. Listening to anything that he had to say was a capitulation.

Fox was weak. So weak.

But just the sight of Marshall Hunter had sent Reese into a walking coma.

Raven and Cass had been terrified, and Cass had been unwittingly supplying the enemy with their location.

The feds were crawling around the clubhouse at home and things were…things were bad.

Chest tight, Fox dropped down into a chair and slanted his father a look. He found he couldn’t say anything, not even the most grudging of acceptances, but Devin nodded like he knew, and eased back in his own chair.

He tapped ash off his cig with a bloody finger and watched it drift down to the rug. “Tennyson, huh?Tenny.” He grinned, blood-edged teeth flashing. “Bit of a hair trigger for a lad who came out of my old program.”

Fox was immediately tense again, though he was too tired for his voice to reflect the fact. God, he wanted to sleep. Possibly to drink himself to sleep. “He’s not in your program anymore.”

“Obviously not. They beat us bloody if we so much as thought of developing attachments like that.”

Fox held no sympathy for him, felt certain that, beatings or no, Devin would never have been capable of developing an attachment to anyone or anything. But when he thought of Tenny, leaning against his shoulder one morning, broken and tearful, admitting that he loved someone, in that hushed moment just before sunrise, something inside him clenched up tight. Tenny was all snarls, and sneers, and he spoke to Reese publicly like he was beneath his notice – that was what his handlers had done to him. Turned him into someone afraid to love.

With a lurch, Fox realized he had no such excuse, that he himself was an unloving ass just…because. Because of genetics, maybe. Because of Devin’s ugly blood.

“The blond,” Devin continued. “What’s he to our young Ten?”

“I think you already know. Stop asking stupid questions.”

Devin shrugged. “I’m only surprised, is all.” His gaze slid over, seemingly casual, but sparking in a way Fox knew and hated. “I suppose, for all his training, he’s more like the others. Like Phil and Walsh and sweet little Shane. He’s not like us, Charlie.”

Working very hard to keep his hands steady, Fox reached for another cigarette.

~*~

Tenny wanted to go for a run. He wanted to do a hundred sit-ups, and a hundred push-ups, and do pull-ups until he couldn’t feel his arms. Wanted to work the heavy bag until his hands ached.

Well, one hand ached. He massaged it absently as he stalked across the empty suite – one several doors down from Ian’s – and wanted to be outdoing something. The only cure for this kind of adrenaline surge was physical exertion. Maybe the hotel had a gym…

The door clicked shut softly, and Reese moved near-soundless across the room toward the post he’d taken at the window. He stared at his dim reflection in the glass, and the sprawling park beyond, and clenched his jaw tight to keep from screaming.Go away, he wanted to shout, like a child.Leave me the fuck alone.

Heedless, Reese came to stand beside him, and took hold of his hand. “Let me see.”

Tenny snatched it away, and rounded on him, lips peeling back off his teeth. “Leave it.”

Reese blinked at him. “If your knuckles are split–”

“They’re not.” He turned away again, sucking in a deep breath, trying to calm down.

Reese said, “Oh. You’re angry withme.”

That was the problem: he wasn’t. Not really. He was angry with Devin Green for knowing exactly where to strike on their first official meeting, living up to all of Fox, and Albie, and everyone’s hatred of him. Was angry with himself for not expecting an ambush and for having soft spots in the first place. God, he was soft, wasruined.

But he was a little bit angry about the fact that he’d needed Reese’s assistance, and so his temper boiled over, a hot flush that filled him head to toe.

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