Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Of course. What can I do for you?”
“I found a dead body in my bathtub today.”
The silence stretched long enough for Devlin to check his phone to make sure the call hadn’t dropped. Nope. Justin was still there.
“Let me get Gabriel,” Justin finally said in a low, even voice. He sounded calm until he moved the phone away from his face and started calling for “G Love,” his swift footsteps echoing across hardwood accompanied by the click of nails. Justin and Gabriel had two very sweet German shepherds named Pete and Repeat who followed Justin around like he was the center of their universe.
During the short time Devlin and Jake had stayed with the two assassins, Devlin had fallen in love with their enormous cats. Petting Francis and Lucian in the evenings had been a great way to clear his mind and relax.
There was a low murmur of quick conversation, and then Gabriel’s smooth, deep voice filled the line. His accent came across as faintly British, but Devlin knew that the man was born in Russia.
“Devlin, I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a rough day. Tell us everything,” Gabriel instructed. There was something about Gabriel’s gentle, but firm, no-nonsense tone that was soothing. Definitely more soothing than the police. He finally felt like he could get answers to his problem.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot to tell. Devlin closed his eyes and gave them every detail of his day, from loading Jake into the car, to dropping him off, to his discovery at home and all his interactions with the police. The two men didn’t ask him many questions, only prodded him for more details on the dead man.
“Well, I will say that you win the prize for craziest encounter with a cadaver.” Justin sighed when Devlin was finished.
“You’re not helping, darling,” Gabriel drawled.
“I don’t know a lot of people who deal with corpses, and I know that you wouldn’t use my place as storage. At least, not without telling me.”
“Absolutely not!” Gabriel said sharply, sounding appropriately offended.
“Yeah, we would have at least given you some warning. It wouldn’t help us to give you the chance to call the cops,” Justin admitted, earning a groan from Gabriel.
“I’m just wondering…what about Kai?” Devlin’s voice dropped to almost a whisper at the mention of the dangerous but sexy assassin he’d seen only short glimpses of. It was really ridiculous the way his heart sped up just from speaking his name. He’d seen the man only twice in his life, but both times their eyes locked, it had felt like he’d shoved his finger into an electrical socket.
“Kai?” Justin repeated in disbelief.
Devlin cleared his throat and forced himself to push forward, grateful they couldn’t see his red cheeks. “Yeah, um…I know he’s occasionally in the area.”
“You’ve seen Kai?” This time it was Gabriel who sounded stunned. “You’ve seen him recently?”
“No! No, not recently.” Devlin groaned a little and scrubbed a hand through his short brown hair. He’d not laid eyes on Kai in well over a year. That time he’d been sitting in a hospital waiting room with Justin and Jake, anxious to hear that Gabriel was going to recover from being shot in the gut. “Jake saw him a couple of times. He gave him a Christmas present and a birthday present. Left him a few other gifts as well, though Jake won’t admit to it.”
Devlin bit his tongue to hold back from telling them he thought he’d felt eyes watching him a few times. He had a feeling it was just wishful thinking on his part. He didn’t want to admit that he still hoped to see Kai again, or that he was a little jealous of Jake for getting to see him when Devlin hadn’t.
“That’s interesting,” Justin drawled.
“It’s very interesting,” Gabriel agreed in the same playful and wicked tone. “We’ll have to ask him about it.”
“But aside from that fun,” Justin turned serious again, “Kai wouldn’t use your house as body storage for any reason. And even if he did, he wouldn’t do it without your knowledge.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured. I just couldn’t come up with another reason for someone to use my house like that or even target me.”
“Have you noticed anyone following you or watching you recently?” Gabriel inquired.
“No.”
“Are you working on anything particularly interesting right now? Anything world-changing?”
Devlin chuckled. “No, not really. I’ve been mostly lecturing and consulting over the past year. I’m doing some early research, but not anything that I’ve shared with anyone. Do you think I’m in danger? Or Jake? He’s at camp right now.”
“Honestly,” Justin started and sighed, “I don’t know. I don’t think so, but this whole situation is incredibly strange.”
“We need to make some phone calls, Dev,” Gabriel added. “But your safety and Jake’s safety are our main priority. Do you feel safe tonight?”