Edge of Midnight (McClouds & Friends #4)(123)

The muted tones of mauve and cream made him feel sedated.

The blonde was twitching her taut, perky ass in the pencil slim skirt for their benefit. He fastened his eyes onto its jerky, back and forth sway, thinking about the peachlike contours of Liv’s ass. How he loved to grip her hips, sink his aching prong into that slick heaven between her thighs. And she was a freaking genius, as well as a sizzling sex bomb. She’d solved the puzzle. Hot damn. What an amazing woman.

He jerked himself back to reality as the blonde gestured them into a big corner office, like a game show hostess displaying their prize.

Charles Parrish was a distinguished guy, with silver hair. He shook Davy’s hand, then Con’s, then Miles’s. Sean hung back, avoiding the guy’s gaze until the very last moment. Then he gripped Parrish’s hand and stared into his face. “Hello, Mr. Parrish. Remember me?”

He saw it, in an instant. The smile went rigid, the flutter in the eyelids, the change in lip color. The involuntary tug as the guy sought to free his hand. Sean let him go. He’d learned what he needed to know.

“What are you…” Parrish looked around at the rest of them, confused. “Who are you? I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you from anywhere, Mr…? Please, refresh my memory.”

Sean sighed. Another lying rat bastard with something to hide.

“My name is McCloud. So’s theirs.” He jerked his chin at his brothers. “I believe you met my twin, Kevin, when you were a company rep for Flaxon. I see from your face that he made a big impression on you. I want to know the exact circumstances of that meeting.”

Parrish backed up, sidling to get on the other side of his desk.

Davy caught his wrist. “You’re not going to call security,” he said. “This is a friendly conversation, Mr. Parrish. We don’t want to mess with your corporate empire. We just want to know about our brother.”

Parrish’s jaw tightened. He stared wildly around, from face to face. “Well. I did have a rather odd incident, back then, if that’s what you’re referring to, but it’s so long ago, I really don’t know if—”

“Just tell us.” Sean’s voice was getting sharper.

“All right. A mentally disturbed man got past the security in the Renton office of Flaxon, and attacked me. It was a terrible experience.”

“What did he tell you?” Con asked quietly.

“He was raving,” Parrish said defensively. “He was convinced that a mad scientist was conducting illicit experiments. Murdering people in one of our buildings. All kinds of absurd stories.”

Sean’s skin crawled. “I see,” he said slowly. “What did you do?”

Parrish threw up his hands. “What could I do? I did what anyone would do! I called for help, I got security in, I had him confined!”

“And then?”

Parrish frowned, perplexed. “What do you mean, ‘and then?’”

“What happened to him?” Davy growled.

Parrish shrugged. “I let Flaxon’s corporate security do their job.”

“You mean, you delivered him back into the hands of the people he was running from.” Sean’s voice was flat. “He risked everything to come to you and expose what they were doing. And you sold him out.”

“What for, Parrish?” Connor asked. “For a corner office?”

“I had no reason to think that his stories were true! And I resent…” Parrish’s voice trailed off. “My God, you’re as crazy as he was.”

Sean gave him a big, wide smile. “Oh, yes. At the very least.”

Parrish started backing away.

“Helix is worth about two point five billion,” Miles commented.

“Yeah,” Sean said. “Interesting. Looks like the people who f*cked Kev over are doing real well these days. Makes a grieving brother wonder. I guess karma hasn’t caught up with them yet, but you know what? I think payback time is coming around. What do you say, guys?”

“I think you’re right. I smell payback,” Con agreed, his voice soft.

Davy just gave Parrish his thinnest, most menacing smile, all the scarier for the stodgy business suit. The man shrank against the wall.

“What in God’s name do you want from me?” he demanded.

“We have one name,” Sean said. “Osterman. Who is this guy?”

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re—”

Thunk, he was pinned to the wall. Sean held him there, one hand twisted into the lapel of the man’s costly suit jacket. He dug his finger into a sensitive bundle of nerves beneath his ear. Parrish shrieked.

“Watch it, Sean,” Davy said, in the low, even warning tone he’d used during Sean’s freak-outs since he was a little kid.

Sean ignored him. “Listen to me, you greedy buttfaced *,” he hissed. “You f*cked up my brother. I am not kindly disposed towards you. I am going to get to the bottom of this. I am going to find every last one of the shit-eating worms who did this to him, and I am going to rip their guts out. Decide right now if you want to be on that short list.”

His finger dug imperceptibly deeper into that nerve bundle.

Parrish flailed and struggled, mewling. “Please,” he whispered.

Sean eased up. “You got something helpful to say?”