chair.
“Yeah. All good,” he assured me, his icy eyes meeting mine, giving nothing away.
“Good.” I crossed over to the sofa and sat down, pulling my girlfriend onto my lap and burying my nose in her soft hair. “Miss me, baby?” I ran my hand down her arm, and she shivered.
“Always.”
“Have a word with your girlfriend.” Cassius was suddenly leaning forwards, his gaze fixed on mine. “Winter here thinks I’m winding her up. I told her that goats have rectangular pupils, and she refuses to believe me.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I blinked, the sudden change of pace giving me whiplash.
“Goats. You know, goats.”
“Yeah, I know what goats are,” I said dryly.
“Their eyes have rectangular pupils. It’s true, you can google it if you don’t believe me.”
“I’m not googling it because you’ll laugh at me for being gullible and falling for your joke,” Winter huffed.
“It’s not a joke, babe. Guaranteed.”
Whatever she was going to reply was lost as Weston and Lena walked in.
“I got the go-ahead to reveal a few key points about my reason for being down at the docks,” Lena announced.
Finally.
She sat back, cool and collected. “I was sent down to investigate. My boss had reason to believe that—”
Cassius interrupted her. “Your boss? You’re getting paid to do some dodgy shit? You’d better explain yourself right fucking now.”
“Cass, please.” She rolled her eyes, clearly not taking it seriously. Fuck, if that was Winter, I’d… Yeah, best not to think about that.
“I’m investigating an illegal dog-fighting thing. Look, I don’t know much myself, if that’s what you’re worried about. I only do the odd thing here and there. I get sent instructions from my boss, do it, then go. It’s something I’ve been looking into for a while. You know I can’t stand the thought of animals being mistreated. The other, unrelated reason I had for being at the Cavendish party that I mentioned earlier? Other than getting the ID? That was all to do with the dog fighting.”
“Lena,” Cassius groaned. “How did you even get into this shit?”
“That’s a story for another day,” she said firmly.
“Fuck. That dog fighting. I saw the video at the party,” Winter said, her voice soft and sad. She exchanged a look of understanding with Lena, both of them communicating without words. As I studied Lena, suddenly she didn’t seem like Cassius’ little sister anymore. She looked like a woman on a mission. Determined, focused. Like my girl.
Fucking great.
I shook off that worrying thought and focused on her words as she continued. “The reason I was at the docks is because we had a tip-off that the dogs were being held at an Alstone Holdings location. All I was doing was sneaking down there to check it out. As it was, I found nothing. No evidence.” Her gaze shifted slightly to the left, and I studied her closely. She seemed cool and collected, but I could see where she was digging her nails into her palm. There was something more she wasn’t telling us, I’d bet money on it.
“Now you know, and that’s it. Satisfied?”
“Not even slightly,” Cassius growled. “I’ll say it again, how did you get into this shit?”
“Save it for another day, mate.” Weston frowned at him. “It’s late, we’re all tired and on edge. Lena? You want a lift home, or do you wanna stay here?”
“I’ll stay,” she said decisively. “I’m tired, and I already told Mum I wasn’t coming home tonight. And yes, she knows I’m with you, Cass, before you ask.” With that she left the room, with a final glare at Cassius, and I heard her stomping off up the stairs.
I exchanged glances with my boys, before speaking to Winter in a low voice. “Do you think she was telling us everything?”
Winter shifted, moving so she was sideways on my lap, and tilted her head to face mine. “No, I don’t. Not for one minute.” She bit her pouty bottom lip, deep in thought, and my gaze zeroed in on her mouth. Fuck me, she was sexy. I leaned forwards, running my thumb over her mouth.
“Enough of the lip biting, Snowflake. You’re making my dick hard.” I kissed her, unable to hold back, and she sighed, putting her arms around my neck, scraping her nails across the back of my neck and making me shiver.
“Can you not do that now? Please.” We sprang apart to see Weston throwing us a pained look.
“Sorry,” Winter said, although she didn’t sound sorry at all. “Do you have anything from