Deadly Silence (Blood Brothers #1)(26)

What were these odd undercurrents? Zara shook her head. “My engine went out six months ago, and the transmission was next. The mechanic told me the brakes were bad, but—”

“But what?” Ryker asked, way too softly.

Denver looked from Ryker to Zara and back, his gaze contemplative.

A ruckus came from outside the door. “Hey. Why is there a piece-of-shit car up on the lift?” A guy wearing a black coat loped into the hallway, his greenish brown eyes sizzling and his brown hair shaggy across his collar. “Oh. Hi.”

Denver jerked his head toward Zara and lifted his eyebrows.

Ryker nudged Denver in the ribs with an elbow and then stepped aside. “Zara, this is Heath.”

They shook hands. Another scar. Zara ran her finger along it as he drew away. Interesting.

“The car is Zara’s,” Denver explained, his gaze not leaving hers, a smile tickling his lips.

“Oh. Sorry about the ‘piece-of-shit’ description,” Heath said, also not looking away.

She nodded, trying very hard not to feel like a bug under a microscope. The men watched her, studying her, their gazes more than a little curious.

“Stop looking at her like that,” Ryker snapped.

Denver looked at Heath and shrugged.

Heath smiled. “Like what, brother?” he drawled.

Ryker coughed. “Like we’re back in high school and a pretty girl has dropped by.”

He’d just called her pretty in front of his brothers. Zara fought the insane urge to preen like a teenager.

Denver snorted.

Heath nodded. “Like we ever went to high school.” He traded smiles with Denver.

Ryker’s sigh was full of suffering. “Heath, why are you dressed up?” He looked down at Heath’s boots. “With boots again? I told you to get shoes.”

Heath shrugged. “I had to do a local sign-in with three other new attorneys and meet the judges, which was a pain in the ass. I haven’t had time to get shoes.”

“You’re an attorney?” Zara asked.

“Just got sworn in yesterday,” Heath said, his tone bland.

Zara kept still, her mind spinning. “And the three of you own a business?”

The other two men finally stopped looking at her and turned their attention toward Ryker, obviously giving him the chance to reply.

He nodded. “Yes. I’ll tell you about it later.”

More secrets. Zara frowned. “Why did you guys move into town?” So much wasn’t adding up, and maybe the two men now shuffling their feet would tell her more than Ryker ever had. Although, that was all sorts of screwed up. Now she felt like she was back in high school, playing it coy. That wouldn’t do at all.

“We won’t be here long,” Heath muttered, his upper lip twisted. “Sorry.”

She shoved a piece of hair out of her face, a little intrigued by this more-than-honest brother. “I figured.”

Ryker cut her a look then, and it sure as hell wasn’t full of patience. “I need a moment with Zara.”

Her chest grew heavy.

Heath made a quick exit, and Denver followed, pausing at the door. “The car?”

The guy really didn’t use many words. Zara opened her mouth to answer, but Ryker beat her to it.

“Scrap it,” Ryker said.

“No.” Zara moved toward Denver, only to have Ryker block her path. “That’s my car. Do not scrap it.”

Ryker’s nostrils flared, and he kept his gaze on her. “Take the car off the blocks, and I’ll let you know our plan tomorrow morning.”

Denver shut the door quietly behind him.

She looked at the closed door. “What’s up with him and monosyllables?”

“He doesn’t talk much,” Ryker said, “doesn’t like to talk, but he makes an effort for us.”

There was a well full of information being left out, but Denver wasn’t really her business. “All right.” She turned back toward Ryker.

“What’s it to be? Are we staying at your place or mine tonight?” Ryker asked.

She worried her bottom lip, her mind turning events over. Never, not once, had she been a coward, and she wasn’t going to start now. “I haven’t decided. Now you start explaining who you guys are and why you’re suddenly renting offices in Cisco.”

He leaned back against the door. “Oh, you’re going to explain where you were today first, after you have a shower and get rid of the mud. Do you need help getting into the shower, or would you like to handle that yourself?”





Chapter





9




Ryker waited until Zara had fled into the master bathroom, insanely grateful he’d purchased bath towels the previous week, and then he went out into the hallway.

Heath leaned against the door to his own apartment, ankles crossed. Exhaustion had turned his eyes bloodshot. After Zara’s accident, he’d stayed in town and been on the phone or computer, still obsessed with the serial killer case. “She’s pretty.”

“Yeah, she is,” Ryker said.

“You can’t be seen publicly with her, Ryker. I know she’s not a redhead, but she could still be in danger by being close to us.”

Ryker breathed out heavily. “She might be in her own set of danger, so I can’t leave her alone. I’ll stay under the radar with her, so when our good old serial killer comes knocking, he won’t know anything about her. Any luck with her medical or financial records?” Ryker kept his voice low in case she finished showering.