“So, what did you find out?” X asked as soon as Preston was seated. The man was impatient as fuck, and he wanted instant gratification in every aspect of his life. I used to find his pushiness annoying, but the more time I spent around him, the more I found it endearing, though I’d never let him know that. If X found out that I found his pushing cute, he’d be relentless and insufferable.
“Can you at least pretend to be interested in the breakfast Preston worked hard on?” I asked, shooting him an unimpressed look.
Preston snorted. “If he wants answers, he’s not stopping until he’s getting them.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “He needs to learn patience.”
X scoffed. “He is right here, you know. You two don’t have to talk about me like I’m not here.”
I glanced up from my plate to look at him, only to find him pouting as he shoveled a piece of waffle into his mouth. Fucking pouting. Goddamn, X was adorable without even trying. Preston already wore me down easily with his softness and vulnerability and that neediness he tried hard to hide. But X? I’d never expected this from him. Not when he was always so hard and callous and destructive.
How had I ever expected to say no to these two? It was a laughable idea. They’d burrowed themselves beneath my skin so fucking easily. Just by being themselves. Christ.
“Stop pouting,” I told him, a smirk tugging at my lips because I just couldn’t fucking help it. “It’s not becoming of you.” It definitely was. But fuck knew X did not need another boost to his damn ego.
“Look, I’m eating.” He waved his fork around, showing another piece of waffle pierced on it before he shoved it between his lips, chewing obnoxiously. Preston snorted a laugh at X’s show of his true age. He was younger than us—and younger than me by a good bit—but I’d never really noticed until now. Until he began letting his guard down around me.
“Just tell us. Please,” Preston tacked on when I glanced at him. “I’m not going to lie, I’ve been running through every worst-case scenario in my head, so I’d like to know what you found out.”
I set my fork down and grabbed my coffee, taking a sip. “Your tech guy,” I said, looking at X, “is definitely dead. His body was at the location in a deep freezer.” X’s expression didn’t change, but Preston flinched next to me. Setting my mug down, I gripped the back of Preston’s neck and gently squeezed, hoping to ground him and eradicate his fears. I’d never let anyone fucking touch him, least of all this psycho who was out to harm him to get to X.
“Figured,” X said before eating another bite, while Preston shoved his food away, unable to stomach anything. But X’s indifference was the show of his sociopathy. How death didn’t bother him, even if it was someone he’d known.
“I reached out to an old contact, and they’ve got him. They’ll be cremating him and sending his ashes to whoever was closest to him, which my contact will be able to find out.” There wasn’t much Damien, a man I’d served with in the military, couldn’t find out. “Everything is being taken care of quietly so this doesn’t leak to the wrong people.” Like cops. Fuck knew I didn’t want their involvement. They would only fuck shit up and possibly cost Preston his life. I knew not all cops were bad, but there were enough bad ones to make me wary of them.
“The perp, Ansel Shaw, wasn’t at the location. There were just enough of his things there to show he’d been there very recently. We’re still tracking his location through his burner, but for now, that’s all we’ve got. There was nothing to identify him other than social security card and a birth certificate he had in a fireproof box. Only a couple of changes of clothes. A sleeping bag. I imagine he’s already moved on once he found the body gone. And as of this morning, his phone hasn’t pinged again, and his social security number hasn’t been used in a few years, so that’s useless to us right now as well.”
“So we… what?” Preston asked, pressing the heels of his hands against his eye sockets. Stress was leaking from his pores. “We just wait?”
“All we can do,” I told him.
X grunted, stabbing the last bite of his waffle. “I fucking hate waiting.”
I laughed softly, and he lifted his eyes to meet mine, surprise lingering in their depths. “We know,” I assured him. “Patience is a virtue you don’t possess.”
“Patience is for suckers,” he grumbled, then shoved his food into his mouth.
I looked at Preston. “You good, baby?”
He sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I hate living like this,” he said quietly. “I don’t like the danger, and I don’t like the suspense. I just want this to go away.”
I drew him to me, and he rested his head on my shoulder. X frowned at Preston, setting his fork on his plate to give our man his undivided attention. “You’re safe,” X said, softening his voice. “You know that, right? This son of a bitch can chase you all he wants to try to get to me, but he won’t ever get close enough to hurt you. We won’t allow it.”
“I know.” Preston swallowed, the sound audible. “But what about you two?”
X smirked. “Baby, I literally nearly unalive men on a weekly basis. You think that asshole can do a fucking thing to me? And Shane is safe, too. Probably even safer than I am. One, this guy doesn’t want him, and two, Shane was literally the Special Ops of Special Ops.”
My lips quirked with an aborted smile. Preston laughed, and the sound settled me. “Special Ops of special Ops?” he repeated.
X smirked, rolling with it since it had Preston loosening up a bit and relaxing again. “Fuck yeah. Kind of hot, too, don’t you think?”
Preston’s next laugh was a little husky, and when he glanced up at me, there was a soft heat there that had my own body answering in turn. “Yeah,” he whispered.
I hummed and grabbed his plate, sliding it back in front of his seat. “While I’d love to explore whatever you have in mind right now, I want you to eat more.” I dropped a kiss to the top of his head. “And I need to finish my food, too.”
“Food is power,” X drawled. “And this bacon is fucking orgasmic.”
I sighed, even if I was amused. But the way Preston beamed at X? I knew he was being obnoxious on purpose just to keep Preston happy. And fuck it all if I didn’t adore X for that reason alone. Sociopaths could be selfish as fuck, but X was proof that they could also be selfless for the right person.