Page 29 of Tease

Rina

Mamáasked me and Arlo far too many questions before we could escape back to my room. While I was happy she approved of my relationship with Arlo, I wanted to check my search to see if it had found anything. It had been long enough. I was desperate to help Arlo and my family find out who was after us. After all, Arlo had just made my dream of us being together come true. He wanted to be mine. Not that it was my incentive to help. I wanted us to go back to our normal lives without having to be watched twenty-four-seven.

I was worried about how Arlo and I would navigate a relationship when he was back with Zayn. It wasn’t like I had doubts about his feelings. However, I couldn’t help but be afraid all the same. He wasn’t just any man with a normal nine-to-five. He was part of a dark, seedy underworld, where violence was an everyday occurrence. It didn’t bother me what his occupation was. Just that I got to be with him. And I had no idea how much time he would have for me when he had to go back to his normal life working for my cousin full-time. Now was also not the time to be telling him about my fears. We had more important things to worry about.

Planting myself at my desk, I looked over the results that had popped up while Arlo was busy on the phone. Zayn had called him when we were walking up the stairs. My eyes immediately went to one of the things that had popped up. I clicked on it and found an article from twenty-five years ago. It was dated not long after Sofia was born. As I read over it, a sense of dread ran through me.

“Arlo!”

He spun around and looked over at me, putting his hand over the phone.

“Did you find something?”

I nodded. I wasn’t sure why this was ringing alarm bells in my head, but my gut feeling was it had something to do with why we were being targeted.

“Hold on, Zayn, Rina thinks she’s found something.”

Arlo came over, ducking under the bed and standing behind my chair. His eyes scanned the article. I stared at him as he read it, noting when he frowned and when his mouth thinned.

“Zayn, I think we need to talk in person.” Arlo leaned closer to me and pointed at the screen. “Can you send that to him, please? And anything else you find related to it.”

I checked through the rest of the things the search had brought up before forwarding all the relevant pieces to Zayn. Arlo ducked out from underneath the bed and continued talking to my cousin. When he put the phone back in his pocket, he turned to me.

“You’re coming with me to Desecration.”

I’d never been to Desecration. My cousin owned a private sex club only the elite could become members of. Not sure my mother would approve of me going there, but I wasn’t about to get left out of this.

“I am?”

He nodded, his expression grim.

“I want to keep you close,mia preziosa.”

He wanted to protect me. I couldn’t fault him for that. It’s what he did for a living. Protected Zayn. It was in his nature.

I got up and went over to my cupboards, pulling out more appropriate clothes for leaving the house in. There were no arguments from me over going with him.

Arlo and I left ten minutes later after telling my mother we were going out for another date. He didn’t want to worry her, and neither did I.

He didn’t say anything as we drove. I was too busy thinking about what I’d found. The fact Arlo was so concerned about it made me aware he and Zayn clearly knew more than they were letting on. I hoped when we got to the club, they would explain it. I didn’t want to be kept in the dark. People had overlooked me my whole life because of my quiet nature. That or they made fun of me for having a stammer as if it was something I could control. I didn’t want to be this way, but I’d come to terms with it over the years. And I wasn’t going to let it stop me from living the life I wanted. Especially not when being brave had given me the man I’d always wanted.

Arlo parked up and led me to Desecration, keeping a tight hold of my hand. We went in through the back and along to what I assumed was Zayn’s office. He was sitting behind his desk when we reached it. He looked up and met my eyes.

“Rina, it’s nice to see you.”

I nodded at him, watching his eyes drift down to Arlo’s hand curled around mine. The twitch of his lip and the slight raise of his eyebrow had my face growing hot. Then his gaze went to Arlo and the smug smile spreading across his face had my eyes going to the man beside me. Arlo gave Zayn a dark look.

“Don’t you dare say a word,” he ground out, tugging me closer to Zayn’s desk.

“I wasn’t going to.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Zayn laughed and shook his head.

“Am I not allowed to express my happiness at this turn of events?”

Arlo’s face soured further.

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