Never Gonna Happen - Cynthia Eden Page 0,46

to decide what happens in my life.”

Antony’s gaze swept over her. “No, you’re definitely not the kid who used to tail after me.” He nodded. “Okay, I’m a spy. But you can’t tell anyone, understand? You can’t blow my cover and I—”

“It’s not like I’m going to broadcast it on the evening news,” she huffed. “And, besides, I’m pretty sure your cover is blown. At least, that’s…wait, isn’t that what you told Sebastian? That’s what started this whole mess. Your cover was blown so you told him to protect me.”

Antony gave a grim shake of his head. “I didn’t contact him. My cover wasn’t blown. That’s what I was saying to Sebastian a few minutes ago. I never sent him a text. I never warned him that you were in danger. I never asked him to protect you.” He advanced toward Sebastian. Gave him a weary smile. “But, damn, man I am grateful to you. I am so glad that you were there for my sister. So glad that I can always count on you to do the right thing with her.”

Oh, yeah, this was going to turn bad very, very soon. “About that…” Sebastian began.

Antony clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You carried her to safety? You brought her into your house?”

“He’s been giving me twenty-four, seven protection,” Alyssa murmured. Did her cheeks pinken? It looked as if they did.

Antony smiled at him. “Above and beyond. That’s what you do. Go above and beyond. You are the best friend I’ve ever had, and you have no idea how grateful I am to you. Thank you for everything that you did for Alyssa. I’m sure she appreciated all that you did.”

Her cheeks didn’t just pinken. They went pure red.

“I think she liked some parts more than others.”

Her head whipped toward Sebastian. Her eyes flared.

“I’m sure of it,” Sebastian added softly. “The highpoints are burned in my memory.” A highpoint…his mouth between her legs and her coming for him.

“That’s great,” her brother said.

Um, probably not so great for him.

Antony backed away. “But you don’t have to worry any longer. I’m here. I’ll take care of her.” Another nod. “Alyssa, until we can figure this out, you can stay with me. I’ve got security to match the setup at Sebastian’s place. I’ll contact my handler, and we’ll figure this out in no time.” He seemed utterly confident.

Alyssa frowned at him. “Dex has no idea what’s going on.”

Antony blinked. “You’ve already met Dex?”

“Yes, and he doesn’t know who is after me, either.”

Sebastian rolled back his shoulders. “He’s working on it.”

“Working on it?” A furrow appeared between Antony’s brows. “Hell, if he thought my cover was blown, I’m surprised I didn’t find him camped out in this office with you.”

Sebastian was a bit surprised by that, too. “I’m sure he’s watching things.” Dex always did.

But he didn’t think Dex was the only one watching. The perp had played him, all along. This had never been about Antony.

It was about me.

Me and Alyssa.

“If I’d had any idea this was going on, I would have come back sooner,” Antony told Alyssa. “You know that, don’t you? I’d never leave you in danger.”

“You haven’t heard anything?” She tilted her head to the right and studied him. “Haven’t seen anything on social media? Didn’t catch any of the news stories?”

“I had some soul-searching to do. When I go dark, I go dark.”

“The timing of that is too coincidental.” Sebastian’s body was tense. This couldn’t be overlooked. “In order for this to all work, our bad guy had to know that you were going to be out of touch.”

Antony stiffened. “I didn’t tell anyone what I was planning.”

“He used your phone. How the hell did he get your phone?”

Antony’s brows furrowed. “Told you, I left it in my office. But…when I got here tonight, I looked for it. It wasn’t in my desk. Someone took it. At the time, I thought maybe you had snagged it, but, hell, guess not, huh?”

“Definitely not.” Every red flag was flying. “He knew you were dark. He counted on that to work this whole situation. He wanted me with Alyssa. He wanted me close to her.” Maybe that shooting outside of the theater…hell, he’d thought that they’d gotten lucky and the shooter had missed her but… “What if he intended to miss?” Sebastian demanded as he thought this scenario through to its end point.

Antony’s brows rose. “You need to back up because I am not following where you’re leading right now.”

“Alyssa was shot