Page 28 of Sloth
Confused, she lifted her head from her screen to check for traffic, but the other passenger door opened. Max folded his long body into the car, bringing the scent of sunshine and coconut. Her stomach flipped.
“Thanks for coming on short notice, Max,” Parker said before pulling back onto the road.
“No dramas.” Max brought his fist to the front as Tony brought his back for a bump.
“Road trip!” Tony whooped.
This was officially the day from hell.
The groan that came out of Sloan couldn’t be helped, and when Max looked her way with the faintest of smiles, dimple in cheek flashing, she wanted to be pissed. She really did, but she couldn’t avoid the fact she felt more energized sitting next to him. They weren’t even touching. When—if—they touched, she was told it would be an enormous relief; her reaction to sensed sin, the constant queasy stomach, would just disappear. Poof!
As long as they held that connection, she would be immune to sensing sin. She’d be almost human.
She put her cat’s ears headphones on and scowled at her screen. Normally, she’d pull up a game, do a few Fortnite battle royales, increase her skill points. But feeling unusually productive, that binary code to visual pattern program called to her.
Sniffing, she turned the music up and did her best to ignore the two-hundred-plus pounds of hot male next to her. Damned mating-bond. It was enough to make her question her beliefs about him.
Eight
Much to Max’s annoyance,Sloan ignored him the entire four-hour drive. He was grateful for their arrival at the luxury hotel where the gala was taking place that evening. The four of them had separate rooms in the penthouse suite. Upon arriving, Sloan had immediately retreated to her room, avoiding him and her brothers like the plague until she was called out for a briefing session.
It couldn’t go on like this.
How could they work together with all that unresolved tension between them? By the end of the night, he would work out what her problem was. If anyone had the right to be pissed about how things ended between them, it was him.
The four of them spent the latter part of the afternoon going over the plan. Sloan was to lure Barry to the bar while Max did a shifty on his fingerprints and biometrics. Tony and Parker were to make a show of their celebrity, drawing attention away from Sloan and Max in case they needed to improvise. Tomorrow, the four of them would head into the wilderness for their alibi adventure trip. Parker had already had his assistant schedule fake social media pictures of their trip—making it look like they were nowhere near the black site.
Max had never met Parker’s assistant, but it sounded like she was his go-to woman. It must be one hell of an NDA contract she’d signed for Parker to be comfortable giving her tasks that could potentially put their identities at risk. Probably similar to the contract he’d signed. In that case, it was iron clad. One slip of the tongue about any of the secret goings on of the family Lazarus, and Max was severely in breach.
Putting the finishing touches on his tuxedo and bow tie, he checked his watch. Five to six. Time to go.
He joined the other two men in the central living area between the penthouse bedrooms. Cream brocade and gold decor graced the decor, from the sofas to the lampshades and cushions.
Both in custom tailored tuxedos, Tony and Parker looked suave and sophisticated as they sipped on expensive champagne. Parker’s outfit caught the eye with its deep maroon and satin lined jacket. Tony’s was edgier with leather lapels. Max wore the standard type you rented. They’d offered to purchase him one, but after seeing the fashion style they had in mind, he declined.
Jeez, he felt out of place. He was just a surfer kid from the south-west of Australia. A town with a population of five thousand. Both parents dead by the time he was eighteen, he’d joined the army as a means to travel the world. His squad had become his new family. Gale had become his brother. Max still remembered spending summers at Gale’s family farm, catching yabbies in the dam and riding ATVs down the dunes. They’d thought they were invincible. How times had changed.
Parker poured another glass of champagne and offered it to Max, but he declined. Alcohol might burn through their system quickly, but not his, and he didn’t drink on the job.
“How long do you think we’ll have to wait for Sloan?” Tony mused, draining his glass.
“She’s been better lately. She’ll be out soon,” Parker replied.
“Better?” Max queried. Was she sick?
“She’s sloth, you know?” Tony poured himself another glass, but held onto the bottle. “For a few years before you arrived, she’d hardly left the building. Was usually late, slept all day, that sort of shit.”
“I’ve not noticed it.” Much.
Parker’s cell phone rang and he dipped his hand into his pocket to check it. Giving the two men a swift look, he held up his finger. “I need to take this. Won’t be long.” Then he disappeared back into his room, leaving Max alone with Tony.
Tony poured himself another glass.
“Slow down, cowboy,” Max joked. “We’ve got all night.”
“Ugh. Sorry.” Tony rolled his eyes. “These things tie me up in knots.”
“Really? I thought you’d be a pro at it by now. You always seemed to love the attention.”
