Raiden (The Kent Brothers #2) - A.M. Hargrove Page 0,46
work when her call came.
“I miss you.”
Her soft laugh rained over me, making me more aware of her absence. “Raiden, I just left this morning.”
“I know. I still miss you.”
“Hopefully we’ll be home soon. At least the rental house is super nice. Drex did a marvelous job of finding this place.”
“Scottie, did you honestly think he’d put you and Gemini in some shithole?”
Chuckling, she answered, “I didn’t give it a thought. I only knew we’d be out in the middle of nowhere, so I just figured it would be a simple, barren place.”
“I’m glad it’s not.”
“So am I.” She yawned into the phone.
“Hey, you need to crash. It’s late over there.”
“Yeah, I’m super sleepy. I’ll call you when I can tomorrow.”
I’d never thought of my house as being an empty shell before. It was always comforting to come home. But tonight? Not so much. Had Scottie put her imprint on it already? Was that why I was feeling this way? Or was it only because of her absence, and would I grow used to it after a while? I hoped it was the latter because if it wasn’t, that signified something I wasn’t ready for. Yes, I enjoyed our times together. She was brilliant, witty, sexy as fuck, beautiful, and everything a man, especially this one, could desire in a woman. But she also had a dangerous job, and I wasn’t sure I could handle that part of her. It wouldn’t be fair for me to ask her to give it up.
The other thing… our relationship was too new for me to have these intense feelings for her. Maybe I should talk to Acer. He and Isla went through something similar. Perhaps he could advise me, particularly on the job part.
As if he’d read my mind, the phone buzzed, and it was him calling.
“Hey Little Guy.”
“Big bro, what’s up? Thought I’d check in since you were an empty nester.”
He was referring to the fact that the house was empty with Scottie, Drex, and Gemini being gone. “Right. It’s weird, I have to say. I’d gotten used to all the chatter going on.”
“I’m sure. Isla tells me they landed and are in the houses.”
“I heard from Scottie and she said the same.”
“That was good news.”
“Hmm. Ace, can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“How do you deal with the danger of Isla’s job?”
“To be honest, I have a lot of trust in her abilities. That stems from when I saw her in action. If you recall, I was in the field with her. She was very impressive.”
“What about now?”
“Raiden, why are you asking me this?”
“Because I can’t stop worrying about Scottie, damn it.” My little brother had the audacity to laugh. He fucking laughed at me. “Can I ask what is so damn funny?”
“The mighty Raiden has fallen.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” His statement genuinely puzzled me.
“Seriously?”
“Yes!”
“You are in love, my man.”
A hand flew up in the air in protest. “Wait, a minute. I’m not. It’s just that—”
“Tell it to yourself, but it’s all lies. You’re preaching, man. I’ve been there. I tried to hide from it too. But then I figured what the hell.”
“No! It’s not that way with us.”
He laughed again. “Whatever you say, bro. It’s your world, not mine. Just don’t make the same mistake I did.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
A hiss blew out of me. “This is not the time for you to throw cryptic comments at me, Ace.”
“You’re the one who set us up. I sent Isla away, remember? You and Cruze set it up, so we’d get back together.”
I wanted to punch myself in the head. How could I have forgotten that little tidbit of info? “Jesus.”
“You really have it bad, man, and I’m not kidding.”
I guess I did. Was I that blind? “Can I ask you something else?”
“Anything.”
“Were you as much of an idiot as I am?”
Now he let out a belly laugh that nearly burst my eardrum.
“I was the absolute worst. So my advice to you is not to be as much of a dumbass as I was.”
“Point taken.”
“Raiden, if your feelings are genuine, don’t waste time. Our lives on this earth are short. We never know when our time is up. Make the most of each day.”
“You’re right.” He’d been through hell and back and had emerged a changed man. His outlook on life was more meaningful than any of us could understand, but I got it. “When Scottie gets home, I’ll have a talk with her.”
“A talk? You sound like you’re getting ready to tell