Sean: A Stepbrother Romance (Coded for Love 3)

Small but wiry, he came back up fighting.

Blows were exchanged. Sean’s heart hammered against the wall of his chest.

He ducked a blow but it caught the side of his nose.

He felt dampness on his lips.

Then Draco was behind him. “Leave it, Sean!”

His face was still clenched but Draco was right. Anything he did to these guys might come back on his kin.

He covered his clenched fist with his other hand, and eyeballed the guy, jerking his head. “Get up and get out of my sight.”

“Until we meet again.” The gopher pointed at him. “I’ll be staying with you right through the job, to make sure you don’t go chicken on me and do a runner.”

“Suits me fine.” Sean smacked his open palm against his clenched fist. “We can finish this then.”

Sean watched as his adversary strolled off. The guy was limping and holding his side. “He’ll be lucky if he can fuckin’ walk at all when I’m done with him on Friday.”

Draco reacted, his exp

ression thunderous. “You said this goon knows where Rowan and Pixie are, don’t antagonize him.”

The comment only added fuel to Sean’s raging anger. Draco was right.

Sean turned and punched the wall. Pain shot up through his hand, but it wasn’t enough. The deeper he got into this, the darker things got, Rowan and Pixie’s images growing more distant.

Draco shoved his hands though his hair, his eyes wild. “Who the fuck does he think he is, this Delahane?”

“It’s the way he works. He uses prison as a recruitment center. He sources people’s weaknesses, as well as their skills.”

Rory zoomed in on his bike, back from where he’d parked up on a street corner a block away. Sean had sent him there to keep him out of the way, under the pretence of watching to see if the gopher came alone.

Rory pulled off his helmet. “He wasn’t alone. Got into a four-wheel drive with two, maybe three other guys inside. It was difficult to be sure, blacked out windows.”

“Okay.” Sean had hoped the gopher was working alone. There’d have been more chance to dupe him. Nothing seemed to be going his way. Again, he hit the wall.

“Sean!” Rory looked at him, alarmed. “You aren’t going to be any good to anyone if you can’t even fuckin’ use a keyboard. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Sean wasn’t done punching the wall, but Rory was right, and it wasn’t doing him any good. Besides, his head had started pounding. He took the helmet Rory held out to him, and then wiped his face with his T shirt before he pulled on the helmet.

He climbed up behind his brother, riding pillion.

“Catch you back at the house later,” Draco called out, while he pulled his phone form his pocket.

Rory lifted his hand to Draco, revved the bike, and shot off into the traffic, weaving through the crowded streets of London like a local. Sean was impressed. They’d all three learned their way around before he was banged up, but not like this. Rory was riding like a courier on a mission.

Sean closed his mind off to the traffic and noise, working through the instructions, trying to figure a way out, his thoughts dark and brooding.

Chapter Fifteen

Brooding on it wasn’t helping.

By the time they got back to the house, Sean decided there was no way out—not if he was to protect Rowan and Pixie. When they dismounted, Rory opened the hidden gate and pushed the bike up the path to the storage unit

“Sorry, bro,” he offered, once Rory stowed the bike securely. “You were right. I can’t get out of it.”

“You just got to do it.” Rory’s serious expression showed he’d been thinking about it too. “As far as I can tell, the big worry is if they want more out of you afterward.”