Page 74 of The Wild Charge

But, as far as the safety of the club went, he wasn’t wrong.

Then she thought of the missing girls, of the mothers crying in chat rooms; thought of Michelle and Axelle kidnapped, and that barn full of terrified young women in Amarillo.

She set her teacup down. “Doing the right thing is always more difficult and painful than looking after your own self-interests.”

He lifted his finger in her direction, but softened it with a smirk, and the gleam of a smile in his eyes.

“What about Jack Waverly?” Eden asked Ratchet.

“Actresses have been accusing him of being a sex fiend since the nineties,” Ratchet said. “More than a dozen sets of charges brought against him, and none of it ever sticks. Guy’s like Teflon.”

“Guy’s got deep pockets,” Fox corrected, “and sometimes money’s more attractive than justice.”

“Maybe Maddox will know more, when he gets here,” Axelle said.

“Here’s hoping.” Fox took another swig of Coke. “Speaking of–”

The front door squealed open, a fat bar of afternoon sunlight sliding across the floorboards. Tenny and Reese entered, walking close together, elbows overlapping. Tenny pulled up short when he saw them, stiffening, expression – open and animated moments before – closing off sharply. Wary, guarded. He leaned his upper body subtly away from Reese, and it broke her heart a little bit. He was still so cagey and nervous; still wrestling with the idea of caring about someone in front of others – and probably worried about everyone’s reaction to that care.

“Ah,” Fox said, “just the two dickheads I wanted to see.” He frowned. “What happened to your face?”

Tenny smeared the sleeve of his black long-sleeve shirt across his forehead, and Eden noticed a smudge there. “None of your fucking business.”

“We were helping my sister with her garden,” Reese said.

From the corner of her eye, Eden saw Axelle bite down on a smile and slowly cover her mouth with her hand. Tenny noticed, if the sharp narrowing of his eyes was any indication.

“It’s not a garden, you tit,” he told Reese. “It’s barely even a patio.”

Reese, of course, was totally unbothered by this. He looked to Fox. “Did you need us?”

“In the morning. You’re gonna help me pick Maddox up at the airport.”

Tenny rolled his eyes and groaned theatrically. He was never more petulant and childlike than in front of Fox.

“We’ll have to take one of the vans, because we’re picking up Raven and Cassandra, too.”

Tenny said, “Who?”

Reese said, “Oh. Cassandra. She’s the one who thanked me.”

Tenny stilled, and his gaze slid toward his lover slowly, and Eden wanted to laugh, becausethatwas clearly going to be a conversation between them later.

~*~

Tenny had something on his mind. Reese wasn’t exactly sure what it was – though he’d been oddly tense ever since Fox mentioned his,their, sisters coming into town – but he could tell that it was something thorny, because Tenny kept furrowing his brows and chewing at his lip and getting distracted.

After Fox and Eden left, they hit the gym, just the two of them, the effort of handling the weights pressing all the words right out of the room. They didn’t talk when they worked out; it wasn’t necessary. Then Evan had shown up, and they’d sparred with him – which meant Reese had given him pointers while Tenny hurled insults from the sidelines, only grudgingly offering his own very sound advice when Reese gave him a certain look.

He could do that, now. At least a little. Givelooks. Speaking glances that others could interpret – or, at least Tenny could interpret.

All the while he was mulling over something, but it didn’t come out until that night, when Reese was sitting up in his own bed watching Tenny brush his teeth through the open bathroom door. He went about it more aggressively than normal, the motion of his arm causing his torso to flex prettily. Reese was wondering how he might go about asking for sex, thinking that, with Tenny, he could probably just sayI want sex, when Tenny leaned forward and spat toothpaste angrily.

He scowled as he straightened and wiped his mouth, turned a glare on Reese. “What do you mean shethankedyou?”

“Who?”

“Thatgirl. The one who’s coming tomorrow.”

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