Giorgio (Vigilance 1)

“I had no idea. I thought… Is my judgement really that bad?”

“No. You told me you sensed something was off. And you didn’t do what he wanted. You refused to let him share you or take you to a party.”

“I did. I knew something was wrong from the beginning. I’m never ignoring my instincts again.”

“Good. Your instincts are there for a reason, but these men are damn good at convincing their victims to do what they want. And if we’re right, they’ve been doing this for years.”

“Years?”

“Yes, but we’re going to put a stop to it.”

Instead of looking crushed now, Lane looked furious. “Damn right we are. I want to help.”

“No.”

“Alan, the congressman, and the rest of them have to be stopped. If I can—”

“No. I need you safe.”

“I need him to pay.”

“I will make sure he does, but—”

A knock at the door interrupted me.

Lane tensed.

“That’s probably Leo and Niall. We’ll discuss this later.”

He glared at me.

“Don’t move.”

“I—”

The look I gave him must have shown him how serious I was.

I moved toward the door with my hand on my gun. When I looked through the peephole and only saw Leo and Niall, I exhaled, releasing some of my tension.

“It’s them,” I said as I opened the door.

Lane stood and walked toward us. I saw the appreciative looks Niall and Leo gave him. Niall was gay, and Leo was bi—X was the only straight man in our organization—and usually I was happy to discuss our mutual appreciation of men. Right then, I had to fight the urge to reach out and take Lane’s hand or wrap my arm around him to stake my claim.

I didn’t want them to know there was more between Lane and me then a professional relationship, but I was probably fooling myself that I could hide it from them. Still, I wasn’t going to be that blatant. It was bad enough I’d broken down and confessed to Devil.

I turned to Lane. “You’ve met Leo already.”

“Yes, I have had the pleasure,” Leo said.

I scowled at him. “Lane is our client.”

“And we’re going to do everything we can to protect him.”

“Yes, we are.” But he’s mine.

“I’m Niall. I’m the most civilized one of us.”

Lane took Niall’s extended hand.

Leo snorted. “He’s the one who’s best at hiding who he is behind a civilized mask.”

Lane glanced between the two of them.

“Trust me,” I said, “none of us are civilized. We wouldn’t do what we do if we were.”

Niall snorted. At least he wasn’t wearing one of his I’m-in-the-FBI suits. I was sure he wore them solely to intimidate people; he couldn’t possibly think they were comfortable. Today he had on dark jeans and a tan sweater. He still looked way more put together than me or Leo. He’d even gelled his wavy blond hair. Asshole.

Leo wore his standard black t-shirt and ripped jeans. I couldn’t think of a time I’d seen him in anything else unless we were in the field.

Lane took us in. “You all seem very comfortable with each other.”

Niall huffed. “You could say that.”

“Somebody has to be willing to yank the stick out of his ass,” Leo said, looking at Niall.

“So do you all just know each other from working for the same agency?”

Leo looked at me. “How much does he know?”

“More than he should.”

“Fuck, Giorgio,” Niall growled. “We can’t—”

“He needed to know, okay? Don’t push me on this.”

Niall’s eyes widened, and he glanced at Lane, coming as close to smiling as I’d ever seen him when he was sober. “This is a very interesting development.”

Leo smirked at him. “I told you.”

Lane’s expression showed his confusion. “I’m missing something.”

“Are you?” Leo asked. “Because I can—”

“Enough.” I’d had it with their games.

Niall’s eyes widened. “Wow. It’s even worse than I thought.”

“I called you two assholes here so we could figure out how to take out a man involved in fucking trafficking and implicated in the death of at least two young men. The man who’s been stalking Lane, the man who sent someone to attack us, despite us going to the middle of nowhere. Maybe you could take that seriously.”

“Wow, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed.”

I was going to kill Niall before the day was over.

Lane snorted. He looked like he was trying to hold in a laugh.

“Don’t tell me you find this funny too?”

“I just didn’t think bodyguards or assassins or whatever the fuck you are would be so…”

“Immature?” Leo asked.

“Yes.”

Mittens chose that moment to chase a jingly ball into the room. She abandoned it when she saw us all seated around the table. After sniffing our shoes, she hopped up into Niall’s lap. He stiffened, holding his hands up so he wasn’t touching her.

“Oh, she wants to make friends,” I said knowing full well Niall didn’t like cats.

“Sorry. I’ll get her.” Lane scooped her off Niall’s lap.