Page 4 of Edge of Midnight

“Don’t bother, next time,” Sean suggested. “Leave me to rot.” He fished his cell out of his pocket and gave it an unfriendly look. Usually, it gave him the warm fuzzies that his family cared enough to plant a tracker on him. Aw, how cute, and all that.

Connor, Davy, and Seth had all had freaky wild adventures that had convinced them that being able to monitor each other from a distance was a great idea for the whole family.

Most of the time, he agreed. Maybe if Kev had carried a tracking device on his person, Sean might have found him in time to stop him from—

No.Don’t go there, he told himself. Just don’t.

Impotent fury welled up inside him. He hurled the thing over a chain-link fence. It exploded against asphalt with a tinkling smash.

“That was stupid and wasteful,” was Davy’s dour observation.

Sean kept on walking. His brothers, Miles, and Seth kept pace behind him. Like dogs hanging onto a bone. The only way to get rid of them would be to beat them into unconsciousness, but each of the three older men was more or less a match for him. Even Miles wasn’t half bad these days, with all the training he’d been putting in at the dojo. The four of them together…nah.

Pain sucked. He’d pass.

“He was our brother too,” Davy said quietly.

Sean sucked in a sharp breath. “I had no intention of inflicting my tantrum on anyone. Still don’t. I love you guys, but fuck off.”

There was a brief pause. “Nope,” Connor said simply.

“Don’t bother asking again,” Davy said.

There was a brief pause. “Uh, ditto,” Seth added belatedly.

Sean sagged down onto a low stone wall that bordered a flower bed, and rested his hot face against his hands. “Where am I?”

“Auburn,” Davy replied. “We followed you around last night.”

“I’ll get the truck,” Seth said. “You guys keep an eye on him.”

Sean grunted his disgust. Like they expected him to start twitching and frothing.

“Whose house did you just come out of?” Connor asked.

He shrugged. “Couple of girls,” he mumbled. “A blonde, a brunette. Nice bodies. Met them at the Hole, I think.”

“You filthy slut.” Davy’s voice had a superior note, which bugged the shit out of Sean.

“Don’t judge me,” he growled. “You’ve got the love of your life in your bed every night. So do Connor and Seth. So fuck you all, OK? The rest of us assholes have to get through the night somehow.”

“Poor lovelorn baby,” Davy said. Miles made a choked, snorting sound. Connor covered his mouth and looked away. The Avalanche pulled up. Davy and Connor seized his elbows.

Sean wrenched out of their grip and got to his feet unassisted. “May I ask what is the point of busting my balls today?”

“You may ask, if you like, but we don’t need a point,” Davy replied. “We bust your balls out of sheer habit. Mouthy little punk.”

Hardly little. He was as tall as either of his brothers, and bulkier than Connor, but he didn’t have the energy to argue. He heaved himself into the back of the Avalanche. Connor got in on one side, Miles on the other, squishing him into immobility. Seth put the vehicle in gear.

“You free to take on some work?” he asked. “You don’t look busy.”

Sean stifled a groan. He sometimes did freelance bodyguarding for SafeGuard, Inc., the security company that Seth and Davy had recently founded. Usually they called him when they had explosives to deal with.

Today, the idea bored him into a state approaching rigor mortis.

“What, a bodyguarding gig nobody else wants? I’m not in the mood to ego-fluff some executive asshole, or carry shopping bags for some fat cat’s trophy wife. Take me off your list. Permanently.”

“It’s not a bodyguarding gig,” Connor said. “And it’s not for SafeGuard. It’s for me. I’m working on a weird case. Real flesh-creeper. The Cave called me in to consult. Thought you might be interested.”

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