Page 28 of Cuckoo (Kindred)

“Zave trusts you,” she said, feeling the need to be discreet about her reassurance. “You’re almost always together.”

The length of time they spent together and the proximity of their homes made her think the men had made a conscious decision to be close to each other. It had always perplexed her how they enjoyed each other so much because their personalities were polar opposites. She’d never inquired about the details of their relationship with Brodie. Other things always came up before they had the time to delve too deep into the particulars of his family.

Just as always happened, something got in the way of her gleaning more from the doctor. Tuck came in, and she expected more documents for them to trawl through. Except, this time when he got to the table, he had no papers. Propping both arms on the back of the black scroll top chair, Tuck bent to rest his forehead on them for a second.

Tuck was a go-with-the-flow type of guy, who rarely got ruffled. Either he was just tired or they’d found something serious enough to affect the aloof hacker and that put her on alert.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He looked up. “We got a hit.”

“That’s great,” she said, maintaining her restraint until she found out why he seemed so conflicted. “Was it the email or did you find him? You can’t have located all Winter Chill locations yet, can you?”

“I’m not talking about Saint’s computer. I’m talking about the facial rec. It’s Kahlil,” Tuck said. “We’ve got him coming out of CI.”

Her request for the search had proved fruitful, but tracking down Kahlil at the company responsible for Game Time was unexpected, and she understood Tuck’s reticence. “It’s after nine at night,” she said. Confusion merged with concern when she recalled Grant’s after-hours meeting with Kahlil. Leaving her seat, she snatched her purse from the floor. “I have to get over there.”

“Whoa! Whoa,” Tuck said, catching her shoulders when she tried to hightail it past him. “CI isn’t your racket anymore. What are you gonna do after you rock up there?”

“I…” He might be right, but that didn’t mean that she should sit here and let Kahlil strike up a relationship with Cuckoo, who until now hadn’t known anything about Game Time.

“Have another bitch off with the new boss?” Tuck asked. “She’s not gonna tell you what Kahlil said.”

There was still a chance that the two hadn’t met. Kahlil could’ve shown up looking for her and left when he was told she wasn’t there. If he’d been told she no longer worked there, then he may have spoken to Cuckoo instead and that could lead to any number of potentially catastrophic outcomes. They couldn’t have Cuckoo knowing about Game Time or searching for Winter Chill; the Italian couldn’t track it down before they did. The Kindred had to stay ahead, knowledge being their only advantage.

Kahlil and Cuckoo could’ve been working together all along. If they had been then the Kindred had played into their hands. “If she’s working with him then we gave them everything they needed when we anointed her queen at CI. The game’s already over.”

Zara couldn’t argue the notion that she was the best person to get answers from Cuckoo, not after their showdown in Grant’s office. The need for debate vanished when Brodie came into the dining room. He noticed that she wasn’t working and was in the clutches of his best friend while his cousin observed.

His scrutiny became a scowl. “What?” Brodie asked, focused on Tuck’s hand on her shoulder.

“What’s pissing you off, beau? That Tuck might be hurting me or that he might be making a move?”

Tuck released her and retreated with his hands up. For all the times Tuck had bailed her out and saved her from danger, she hadn’t broached the topic of his personal life with him. Through Brodie, Zara knew that Tuck had broken up with the woman he loved after Art’s death. Tuck would never hurt her or seduce her, and she knew Brodie knew that. His preoccupation was irrational and primal. He just didn’t like anyone getting too close to her.

“I’m pissed that there’s panic on your face,” he said, closing in. “What’s going on?”

“Kahlil just left CI,” she said. “He has to be working with Cuckoo. You’ve put her in the perfect place to control Winter Chill. We have to go in there and stop—”

This time, Brodie was the one to get in her way when she set the exit in her sights. “You’re not going anywhere,” he said, seizing her neck and pulling her back.

“But someone has to—”

He raised his voice. “You remember what happened the last time you busted up one of Kahlil’s late night meetings in that place?”

His features set to stone when she didn’t shrink. “You kissed me.”

That wasn’t what he was getting at, but that didn’t prevent his eyes from falling to her mouth. It was true that the night she’d first heard of Kahlil ended with Brodie kissing her for the first time. But he was referring to her being accosted by Kahlil’s men in the parking garage when he’d had to swoop in and save her ass.

Reminding her of the danger Kahlil and his people could pose was supposed to scare her into staying here at the manor where she was safe. Being facetious soured Brodie’s already sensitive mood.

“That’s not what I fucking meant,” he growled.

“But you did, do you remember?” she said, looping her arms around him to bunch her fists in his shirt at his back. Of course he did, but his scowl didn’t fade. “With you at my back, I’m invincible.”

Grabbing her wrists, he pulled her arms away and walked her backward until she pressed into the table. “And in this house, you’re untouchable. You’re safest here, so this is where you’ll stay.” He used to tell her that the safest place was on her back and under him, but flirting with him now wouldn’t gain her any brownie points or result in mutual orgasms, not when there was so much work to be done. He let her go and backed away. “Stay with Tuck,” Brodie said to her. “Wait until you hear from me.”

The pals exchanged one of their secret looks, and Brodie sprinted from the room. Tuck was an ally, but his loyalty to Brodie trumped his loyalty to her. If Brodie gave him an order then he was going to follow it. She needed her own secret ally and preferably one without a penis.

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