Page 53 of Prey

"The question is, what are you doing here?" I drawled. In the glow of the streetlight, I recognised the Brantley twins. Identical, I could never work out which of the fuckers was which. I knew the woman they were with though.

Interesting.

"I believe we asked first, didn't we Parker?" He must have been Hunter. He looked over at his twin, who had put himself between us and their woman. Judging by the fact they both wore jeans and t-shirts, they weren't here for the party.

"Yeah, we did," Parker agreed. "Since when did people like you get invited here?"

I didn't know if I should take offence at that or not, but I decided to. Or at least, pretend to.

"People like us? What do you mean by that, exactly?"

"People who aren't on the side of Samuel Bell," Parker said slowly, as though he was talking to a kid.

"Which brings us back to why the fuck are you here?" Mannix asked. He dropped his head to the side and looked around Parker. "Are the evil twins trying to kidnap Chloe Bell?"

"I'm Lila, you idiot." She stepped out from behind Parker. "I look nothing like my sister."

"You're also twins," I pointed out.

She rolled her eyes at him. "No shit, fuckwit, but we're not identical."

I leaned towards her, not bothering to be offended by her calling me names. "You look the same in the dark."

Hunter and Parker did identical twin bristles until Lila snorted.

"As if I'd be in the dark with someone like you."

I smiled. "Right back at you." I wouldn't turn my back on a woman like her. Especially one who clearly came with a sharpened set of claws.

"You still haven't answered the question," Mannix said. "What are the Brantley twins doing with one of the Bell sisters?"

"Would you believe we're trying to build bridges?" Hunter asked. He glanced at Lila and Parker. "We don't believe the Brantleys and the Bells have to keep being enemies. If we can figure out a way to—"

"So you're fucking?" Ares asked. "Let me guess, if your brother," he gestured at the twins, "and your father," then at Lila, "found out about this, they'd be pissed."

All three of them looked cagey as hell.

"That looks like a yes to me," I remarked.

Hunter leaned to the side to look around me. "Are you going to introduce us to your friend?" His brow creased like he was trying to decide if he knew her or not, but he clearly didn't.

I took Kennedy's hand and tugged her gently so she was beside me, but kept an arm around her.

"This is Kennedy Knight. She's Helen Knight-Cassani's daughter."

"Leo's stepdaughter?" Lila looked Kennedy up and down.

Kennedy looked back at her with open suspicion. "She's a Bell?" she asked me.

I could see the cogs and wheels turning in her brain, thinking about the implication of one of the Bell family seeing us out here.

"Imagine that," Lila sneered. "A Bell outside my own home."

"In the company of two of your father's mortal enemies," Mannix said. "What would he think if he knew?"

"More to the point, what would hedoif he knew?" I asked.

"The same thing he’d do to you if he knew you were here," Hunter said. "So I propose a deal. You don't say anything about us being here and we won't tell him we saw you."

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