Riskier Business (Crossing the Line 0.5)(13)

“Sure. I’ll go.” Story knelt in front of the coffee table, leaned forward on her elbows. “My mom is in town, spending time with Daniel Junior.” Her eyes sparkled at the mention of her newborn son. “We had dinner with my father. Daniel charmed the living crap out of everyone, as usual.” Her eyes squeezed shut. “But afterward, I’m pretty sure my mother and my father…I think they…”

“Fucked?”

“Hayden! Oh my God.” Story drained her glass of sangria in one gulp. “Not okay.”

Ruby bit her lip to keep from laughing. “What tipped you off? No pun intended.”

“Screw you both.” Story composed herself. “The next morning, they met us in the park. We were planning on checking out that exhibit at MOMA. You know the one. With that actress who’s sleeping in the glass box for a week?”

Hayden nodded once. “Yeah. Art.”

“Right. I think.” Story shook her head as if to clear it. “Anyway, I saw them get out of a cab together. Jack might have…well, he pinched my mom’s ass. Jesus, I’m going to vomit.”

Without missing a beat, Ruby dumped a bucket of toy blocks on the rug and handed Story the container.

“Hey!” Hayden protested. “My children play with that—oh, f*ck it. There’s already puke everywhere.” She joined Story on the carpet. “So your parents took a little stroll down memory lane. What’s the big deal?”

Story groaned. “That’s what Daniel said.”

“He’s right. A little nooky for old time’s sake. No harm in it.”

“Speaking of parents,” Ruby blurted. “My father arranged a pool match for me. Against my uncle, who I’ve never met, but I’m pretty sure is a criminal. If I win, they’ll tell me where my mother is. She bailed when I was in diapers. I can’t even remember her face.” She took a deep breath. “I said yes. Troy is pissed as hell over me agreeing to the match. Not to mention, Bowen being there tonight.” Her head started to pound. “Also, I just walked out on him while he was trying to seduce me.”

She looked up from her rambling speech to find her friends wide-eyed, glasses of sangria frozen halfway to their mouths.

Story cleared her throat. “Okay, so my parents f*cked. No big deal.”

Hayden set her drink down carefully and looked at Ruby. “All right, let’s take this apart piece by piece. First off, if you don’t mind me asking about Bowen…?”

“Nothing there. Ever. He’s my best friend.” She massaged her forehead. “At least, he was before Troy. Now everything is so damn confusing.”

“What’s your father’s motivation for doing this?” Ruby noted that Story, usually carefree and full of easy laughter, had turned serious. She knew from past conversations that Story had studied hostage negotiation as a child to feel closer to her father, the legendary negotiator Jack Brooks. Hence, the technical question that seemed so out of place coming from the sunny blonde.

“That’s the issue. Jim has never done anything in his life unless he benefited on the other side. Troy thinks there’s more to the story.” Her throat felt tight just saying his name. What was he doing right now? “I don’t disagree with him, but I can’t walk away without trying. It’s my mother. I’ve taken bigger risks for far less reward.”

“I understand. Wanting to find your mother.” Hayden looked far off for a moment. “Troy will, too. He probably just needs some time.”

“He’ll find a way to make it safe,” Story added.

“Right. Safe.” Ruby blew out a breath. “While he’s so busy risking his neck to keep me protected, who’s going to watch out for him?”





Chapter Five


Troy didn’t look up when three shadows darkened his desk the next morning.

“Heads up, Bennett. Your princes have arrived.” Brent.

“Is he ignoring us?” Daniel.

“Looks that way.” And f*ck, they’d brought Matt along. Known among them as the Relationship Whisperer. The ex–military sniper rarely spoke, but when he decided to grace them with his patient philosophical observations, it tended to knock a man on his ass. The truth could do that. As if he hadn’t been Yoda-esque before, ever since he’d married Brent’s younger sister, Lucy, his penchant for telling the truth had only increased tenfold. Troy had been subjected to more than enough truth for one twenty-four-hour period, so he held up his middle finger hoping they’d all take the hint and leave him the hell alone.

“Maybe later. If Hayden says it’s okay,” Brent responded jovially to his silent f*ck you.

Daniel sighed, shooting Brent a look. “Start talking, Troy, or we’ll sic Matt on you.”

Troy punched a series of codes into his computer to get him into the department database. “Matt, what did they promise you in exchange for sitting through this?”

“Two days free of them oversharing about their wives. And an indefinite hiatus from hearing every single detail of their children’s sleeping and eating schedules.”

Like him and Ruby, Matt and Lucy weren’t quite as ready to dive into diaper duty as their friends. They seemed more than happy to bask in their newlywed status for the moment.