Home > Sweet Salvation(5)

Sweet Salvation(5)
Author: Callie Rose

“Yeah.”

He crosses to the bedroom door, shooting one last glance over his shoulder as he leaves. He seems about as reluctant to leave the little bubble of happiness we created in the shower as I am, but we both know reality can’t be kept at bay for long.

One day, I promised myself. One day there won’t be all this bullshit to deal with, and we’ll be able to spend the whole day naked if we want. There’ll be time to talk about stupid, trivial stuff and to laugh at jokes and to just be.

I only sort of believe my own vow.

If that day is coming, it’s so far off that I can’t see it through the thunderclouds that are rolling toward us on the horizon.

A storm is coming.

And we’ll be damn lucky if we all make it out alive.

 

 

By the time I get dressed and head downstairs, Marcus is already down there.

I find him seated on a stool at the kitchen island across from Theo and Ryland, the latter of whom also looks freshly showered. Our training session was a lot harder for me than it was for Ryland, but even his heavily tattooed skin was gleaming with a sheen of sweat by the time we finished. It gives me a tiny ego boost to know that I at least made him work for the ass-kicking he gave me.

“Anything new?” I ask, settling onto the stool next to Marcus.

“Not as much as we’d like.” Theo’s blue-green eyes warm as he glances up at me.

I know my cheeks are still flushed from the long shower and the toe-curling sex with Marcus, and I have a feeling Theo and Ryland know exactly why my shower took so long. But I don’t see jealousy on either his face or Ryland’s when the dark-haired man looks up from the laptop in front of him.

I never expected to fall in love with three men, and I don’t think any of them expected to fall for the same woman. But we’ve found our way through this thing that’s developing between all of us, and with every passing day, it feels more solid and real.

“Theo’s right,” Ryland tells me with a grimace. “It’s been harder than we hoped tracking the Viper’s activity, period. We still haven’t gotten anywhere close to tying him to Luca D’Addario.”

“It doesn’t help that we’re trying to do all of this without Luca realizing we’re on to him.” Marcus shakes his head. “If we didn’t have to worry about being subtle, we could probably get some useful information out of people by brute force. But there’s no chance Luca wouldn’t get wind of it if we interrogated one of his contacts. He found out about us killing that piece of shit Jordan within days of when it happened. He’s got people all over the city.”

“Can we afford to go slow?” I ask, my stomach clenching. “If he’s got that many people in his pocket, how long will it be before he realizes we’re digging into things we shouldn’t be, even if we are subtle about it?”

“I don’t know.” Ryland scrubs a hand through his dark brown hair, the muscles of his forearm flexing with the movement. “If we had an exact timeline, it would be a hell of a lot easier. But as of right now, our best bet is to just keep digging as quietly as we can, and pray we unearth something incriminating before Luca finds out what we’re doing.”

“And if he finds out before that happens? Before we get enough information to turn the other players against him?”

Theo snorts a humorless laugh. “Then we’re fucked.”

 

 

Chapter 3

 

 

“Caleb!”

I scream the name, the word tearing from my throat like it’s made of glass.

I don’t know where he is. I can’t see him. The shapeless forms of people move through the space around me, but none of them seem to notice me.

Of course they don’t.

I’m so little. So insignificant.

So fucking helpless.

“LaLa!” A small voice cries out from somewhere in the distance, panicked and tearful. “LaLa!”

“Caleb!”

My mouth forms the word again, but this time, the sound seems to get sucked from my lips as if I’m screaming into a vacuum.

He can’t hear me. And if he can’t hear me, how will he find me? How will I find him?

The raggedy little stuffed elephant in my hands is being crushed into an almost unrecognizable shape as I grip it tighter and tighter. It doesn’t matter, not really. It’s just a thing. An old toy.

But it’s all I have left of my brother.

 

 

I jerk awake, my limbs flailing automatically as if I’m trying to stop myself from falling.

“Hey, Rose. It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m right here.”

The soothing voice penetrates the fog in my mind, cutting through the remnants of the dream that cling to my memories. As my eyes adjust to the darkness and I suck in a deep breath, I feel Theo’s arms come around me, drawing me against the warmth of his body.

I realize with a flash of chagrin that there’s a good chance I woke him up with an elbow to the ribs or something—yet still, he’s pulling me closer, not pushing me away.

Forcing a slow exhale through my nose, I drag in another lungful of air, letting the slow in-out rhythm soothe me as my pulse slowly drops back to normal.

“Bad dream?” Theo murmurs, his face buried in my hair and his breath brushing over my ear.

I swallow, trying to sort through the fragmented pieces in my mind. “Yeah. About… about my brother. Caleb, I think his name is. I don’t know if Marcus told you, but he found that out yesterday.”

“Yeah, he did.” I can feel him nod. “Ryland and I have been helping with that search in between digging around for something on Luca. What was your dream about?”

I burrow deeper into his embrace before I answer, letting the warmth of his body seep into my own.

“I don’t know, exactly. I had a dream like this once before, except this time I kept saying his name. It’s all really vague and confusing, but I think it’s some pieced together scrap of memory from when I was a kid. I’m holding an elephant—a toy one—and I’m looking for Caleb. Trying to find him.” Craning my neck a little, I look up at Theo’s face in the dark. “Do you have a lot of memories from when you were little? Like before you turned five?”

His shadowy features shift as he frowns in thought. “Yeah, some. I remember my mom’s birthday, the year my dad decided to surprise her with a trip to Kauai. And I remember a girl I had a crush on in my kindergarten class.” He grins down at me, his eyes glinting softly in the low light coming through the window. “Don’t worry. I didn’t like her nearly as much as I like you.”

I roll my eyes, elbowing him on purpose this time and drawing a chuckle from him. As ridiculous as it is, a small flare of jealousy rises up inside me, although there’s no way I’ll admit that to Theo. It’s insane to be jealous of a kindergartner, but sanity has never really played a large part in how I feel about these men.

“Why do you ask?” Theo adds, rolling me over onto my back and propping himself up on one elbow so he can look down at me. He keeps our bodies pressed tightly together, one of his legs tangled with mine, and I’m glad he didn’t let too much space open up between us.

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