de jour on the Reaper’s face. “Something other than Stefano worrying you when it comes to her?”
Paynne swiped a hand over his short hair, and after a brief eye-meet with Eva, he said gruffly, “We’re looking into it. I’ll know soon enough.”
Okay. That piqued Gabriel’s interest.
“You need any help with whatever you find, let me know,” Vincente offered, which, coming from him, wasn’t a surprise considering how he’d lost his own little sister.
“Thanks,” the biker said with a brisk nod, “but I won’t be sharing this one if anything turns up.”
Gabriel yanked out his phone and shot Maks a text with Nika’s info, asking for a full rundown—criminal record, if any, bank records, hospital visits, credit check. It was amazing what one could piece together with a little information. If the redhead was in some sort of trouble, there was no sense in her going it alone.
He got a response within seconds.
On it
Check Kevin Nollan too. Same addy
Got it. See you in a few
V bumped his shoulder. “You have a private room downstairs where we can meet up for an early lunch tomorrow?”
Gabriel glanced at Eva and noted how pale she was. She was understandably scared. This whole scene might be nothing new to them, but to her it was completely foreign, and even though she was doing the best she could to keep up, it was taking a toll. She’d had enough for one day.
“I’ll book a room.” So much for getting it over with now, he thought as impatience ate at him. Had shit not blown up yesterday, he’d have made that trip to New York and this might have been over by now.
“Let’s move.” Vincente motioned to Paynne and Alek to follow him out and the three of them nodded good-bye to Eva before they disappeared. Jak, too, took his leave, but he didn’t go beyond the study that was off the dining area.
A few silent beats followed the mass exodus before Eva’s gaze swung his way. When she saw he was already looking at her, her lashes fluttered in a nervous blink before she broke the contact by glancing around the room.
“I don’t know about you…” She cleared her throat. “But my brain is ready for a vacay. Wanna veg with me?”
He let her wait for as long as it took to text Jak, delegating the booking of a room to him, then he slipped his phone into his pocket.
“I’m all yours.”
EIGHTEEN
Oh, how she wished that were true, Eva thought as she eyed that huge body she couldn’t get enough of.
But first… “Can I ask you something?”
A glint of humor flashed in Gabriel’s eyes. “Stalling?”
Her breath caught. Sexy beast. “Not for long.”
The humor sparked into a flame. “Ask.”
“Why did you send Caleb to New York?”
He approached as he answered. “Rather than have a stranger shadow you, it made more sense to bring in someone familiar.” He winced a little. “If I’d known his sister might be in trouble, I’d have left him here and gone with Plan B. Too,” he added before she could say anything, “if I’d known my cousin would get as close to you as he did, sending in anyone else wouldn’t have been necessary at all.”
“Your cousin?”
An entirely masculine sound of amusement came from his chest. “Your roommate’s regular booty call.”
Her jaw dropped as she pictured the handsome business major Tyla had met not long before grad. “Alesio is your cousin?” Of course he was, she realized as she looked at Gabriel now and belatedly saw the similarities between the two men. Alesio had hooked up with Tyla often enough to have become a permanent fixture around their apartment, and he’d become friends with all of them.
“Our fathers were brothers.”
Holy shit. “So he was only around because he had to be?” That was kind of insulting. Even though she knew he and Tyla were no more serious than any of the many partners Tyla had brought home, Eva had liked Alesio. His positive, playful outlook had been just what she’d needed at the time.
Gabriel chuckled as he slid an arm around her, his fingers going under the hem of her shirt to stroke the bare skin of her lower back. Shivers climbed her spine. “Es loves women, sure, but he’s no prostitute. No one forced him to screw your roommate just so he could keep an eye on you. That was just a bonus.”
“By the sounds that used to come from Tyla’s room, there was definitely no forcing going on.” She went