The Insiders (The Insiders Trilogy #1) - Tijan Page 0,30
this was the mama bear coming out. She was upset when she talked about her files. Her voice rose another decibel when it came to Seraphina. I heard Matt’s name mentioned and it went up again, but when she got Cyclone’s … Full. On. Screaming. I couldn’t tell if it was because he was the baby or because he was her favorite. My guess is that it was a mix of both.
“… get it all back.”
“You’re damn straight you’ll get them all back,” she snapped. My chair wasn’t even right next to the door. There was about five yards separating me from the door, and when someone walked inside and I glimpsed her, I saw that she was completely on the other side of the room. Her heated level was impressive. She had to be close to boiling.
Kash was talking again. I couldn’t make out the words. He was being more discreet, but I could hear his own frustration. Judging by how he’d handled me when he caught me, he was as pissed as she was. He was just keeping it together. After sitting here, I knew another reaming was coming, once he got me alone. That was, if he got me alone again; if they reported me or kicked me out, I was sure Kash Colello would find time to kick my ass. I had a gut feeling that if anyone did any of his charges wrong, he annihilated them.
I let out a sigh, resting my head back against the wall.
There were two security guards standing at the ready, one at each end of the hall. It was because of them that I wasn’t paying attention until I heard, “A friend of Kash’s, huh?”
Aw, not good.
Matthew Francis was coming my way, his hands in his pockets and his eyes fixed right on me. He was dressed in trendy skinny jeans, a black long-sleeve hooded shirt, and a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead.
I didn’t know what lie to go with, so I kept silent, watching him warily.
Instead of sitting, he grabbed the chair next to me and turned it around so he was facing me. He sat down, straddling it, and folded his arms over the back, his head leaning forward to scrutinize me better.
I looked down.
He was studying me way too intensely.
“Bullshit,” he breathed out.
“What?” I looked back up.
His nostrils flared. “I say bullshit. If Kash walks out of that room—”
“I don’t care whose daughter she is, I want her gone!”
“You don’t have the authority to make that demand.”
It wasn’t Quinn’s scream that startled us, though the scream took precedence. It was Kash’s calm retort that had both my brother and me rearing back in surprise.
We could hear her gasp from inside.
“No offense,” Kash snapped, “but her placement isn’t up to you, Peter, or anyone else. It’s up to me, me alone. And I say she stays here.”
“Kash—”
“Enough, Quinn.” He was walking to the door. His voice was getting louder, clearer. “I’ll get her to erase everything she took, but she stays where she is. That’s final.”
“Kash! Do not walk out that door, not like that, not after what she’s done. Kash—”
He shoved open the door, took in the sight of me, took in Matt’s presence, and raked a hand through his hair. “Fuck me.” Then he was off. He snapped his fingers, pointed at me, and barked, “Follow. Now.” And he didn’t stop.
Matt hopped up from his chair, hurrying after us. “Hey, Kashy. How’s it going?” He snickered under his breath, shoving his hands back in his pockets.
“Not now, Matt.”
Coming up to the door leading outside, Kash turned, grabbed for my arm, and used his back to slam the door open. It was one of those that could be pressed and shoved open. He pulled me with him without missing a beat, and once we were outside, he urged me next to him. His hand came to the small of my back, but once he saw that I was keeping up with him, his hand fell away. He leaned forward a little, his shoulders hunching forward, and he shoved his hands in his pockets almost the same way Matt had as he walked toward me in the hallway.
My brother wasn’t walking that way now. He jogged to catch up, moving past us and turning to dart backward. His eyes were dancing, sparking even, and half of his mouth was up in a grin. “So. Can we talk about the elephant on the estate here?”