Page 12 of The Healing Touch

“About a month ago.” Dimitri pulled out his phone and saw Charlene’s photo pop up. He ignored the call and laid the phone down on the table. “He was here for some consulting work with a firm who’s thinking of hiring them to handle their IT security.”

“I didn’t realize he was into all that.”

“He’s not, but Mason is.”

“Your youngest brother? Isn’t he still in college?”

“Yeah.” Dimitri laughed. “Kid thinks he’s going to be the next big YouTube star or something.”

“If he’s a YouTuber, then how…”

“He’s a computer whiz, just like Nik. He’s been messing around with computers since before he could talk. Add in everything Nik taught him, and he’s dangerous with a computer. Viktor decided to put his skills to good use before he got himself into some serious trouble. He’s going to have him work at his security company, even if the kid doesn’t realize it yet.”

“He’s not hacking, is he?”

Dimitri wished he could say no, but he had some strong suspicions his little brother was going to get himself into deep shit. The kid was a hacker. It was why Viktor wrangled him. He’d rather have him hacking legally than get into something none of them could get him out of.

“Honestly? I don’t know, but Viktor will straighten him out.”

“Speaking of Viktor, how’s Conner?”

Conner was Viktor’s twin. The two of them had gone into the Marines together. When Viktor came out, Conner stayed in for an additional tour. He’d gotten out last year, but he wasn’t the same man who went in. He hadn’t even stayed in the full four years. He wouldn’t talk to any of his brothers about what happened either. All he’d say was it was classified. Just that one word. It had to be some deep, fucked-up shit to completely change his brother. Conner had always been the fun one, more so than even himself. Always laughing and joking. Not anymore. He was hard, cold, unapproachable.

“I wish to God I knew.” He took the menus and thanked the waitress, asking for a few minutes. “We’re all worried about him.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” Dimitri sighed and leaned back. “He won’t let any of us in. Papa says to leave him be, that he’ll talk when he’s ready, but I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Whatever’s wrong is festering. There’s a monster lurking in his eyes now that wasn’t there before.”

“Your dad knows what he’s talking about, D. Just give him time. God only knows what he saw or had to do. Patience and time will heal him.”

He wanted to believe her, but something about Conner nagged him. The darkness that lurked in him was so foreign he wanted to grab the man and demand to know where his brother was.

“You gonna answer your phone?”

Charlene again. “No.”

“Does Christy know she’s last week’s flavor?” Becca closed her menu and stared at him expectantly.

“Charlene,” he snapped and hit the ignore button. “I told her to stop calling.”

“Do they ever just move on, no fuss, no muss?”

He narrowed his eyes, suspecting she was going somewhere with this. “Sometimes.”

“And how does that work, anyway? Do you tell them up front it’s temporary, or do you give them hope, or…?”

He didn’t want to sound like an ass, especially to Becca, but there was no way to put it delicately. “They know they’re a booty call. I tell them up front I don’t do relationships, and when I get bored, I move on.”

“Wow.” She leaned back and stared at him, disappointment stamped all over her expression.

“Would you rather I lie and let them think there’s a chance? That would be cruel, Rebecca, and you know it. It’s better if we just go out, have fun, enjoy ourselves, and have as much sex as we want in the interim.”

He rubbed his neck, uncomfortable. Rebecca’s opinion mattered to him, and the look on her face didn’t sit well. She knew he was a manwhore, though. She teased him about it all the time. Why was she getting upset now?

The waitress saved him by coming to take their order. He went with a burger and fries instead of breakfast food. The need for greasy comfort food prompted the decision. He needed the willpower. If she didn’t stop biting her damn lip, he wasn’t going to be responsible for what he did. It was sexy as hell and driving him nuts.

As soon as Becca noticed she wasn’t alone with him and in a place full of people, he could see her start to close off. She spoke so softly the waitress had to ask her to repeat her order. She shrank back against the seat, her head down.Nope, sweetheart, you are not doing that. After observing her behavior, he thought her psychiatrist was right. She needed to face this head-on. It wasn’t as bad as she had it built up in her mind. Making her see that was going to be the challenge.

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