The Arrangement

“Easy,” said Maddox. “It’s not like—”

“For a whole YEAR?”

I was shocked. Stunned. Absolutely livid. But also…

Also I was confused.

“I can’t believe you put cameras in my house!” I cried. “I can’t believe—”

“Not your whole house,” Austin said, his hands out defensively. “Not in your bedroom of course. Bathroom either.”

“That makes it okay?” I asked incredulously. “Are you serious? That’s your rationalization: not in my bedroom, not in my bathroom… just everywhere else?”

“And we didn’t place the cameras there,” he continued. “Your brother did. They were already installed — a security measure, put there by Connor.”

I searched my memory. It came up blank.

“Connor never told me about any cameras,” I said.

“He didn’t get the chance,” said Maddox. He leaned forward too fast, and a flop of blond hair fell over one crystal blue eye. “Your brother put them there shortly before… well…”

I looked down, into my lap. Thankfully he didn’t continue.

“That still doesn’t give you the right to tap into them,” I finally sneered. “Just because they were there, just because—”

“Dallas, stop.”

We all turned at once. The guy they were calling Kane was still leaning against the counter. He still had his arms crossed. But now, he was staring back at us.

“Hear them out,” Kane said in his deep, gravelly voice. “Your brother was our brother too. Much more than you know.”

He caught my gaze, and for some odd reason it calmed me. There was truth in his eyes. And also something else…

Something like sorrow.

“Your brother wanted this from us,” Kane went on. “Looking after you was his last request.”

The words came out slow and even. They were almost haunting. Mechanically, I sat back down.

His last request…

“But I—”

“We haven’t just been looking out for you,” said Maddox. “We’ve been monitoring the outside of your property for signs of them.”

I cocked my head. “The guys in black?”

“Yes.”

Now were getting somewhere. “Who are they?”

“We’re not entirely sure. But we know they had something to do with Connor’s disappearance. Something to do with what ultimately happened to him.”

I pointed at the door. “So why the hell are we even here? If they have the answers, why’d we run in the first place?”

“Because we were outnumbered,” said Maddox. “And probably outgunned. We jumped out of bed and flew out to your place as fast we could,” he explain

ed. “The very second Kane noticed them on the monitors, gathering outside your house.”