CHAPTER TWO

KENZIE

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked Kaylee. I had called her as soon as the guys walked outside.

“I’m telling you, they’re bored. They need the chase. It’s been months since they had something like this to do. Plus, Griffin deserves it for not getting the damn thing when I told him to.” Kaylee’s evil laugh was audible through the phone.

I couldn’t help but chuckle as well. It was one of my favorite hobbies: I loved messing with Griffin. Damn he was so easy. “Where are they being hidden?”

“After Tasha stole them, Marcy took them up to Bob’s house in the hills. That way, Mac won’t get wind of it.”

“So, they are all just gonna go on this wild goose chase for a thief that doesn’t exist?” These girls were as devious as I was, and I loved it—even if they didn’t use explosives.

I hung up the phone quickly when Trey and Griffin stomped into the house. “Babe. Did you see anyone messing with the car?”

“What? No, what happened?” I asked with what I hoped was a concerned expression.

“Someone broke into the car and stole Mikey and Lance’s presents.”

“I told you not to leave them in the trunk, idiot.”

“And, I told you the kid’s a sneak. He would have found the damn things in an instant.”

Mikey had been living with us full-time since Trey woke up from his coma. Shelby continued to try to state her case, but after everything came out about the danger we had all been in, the judge refused to allow him to live full-time with a parent as reckless as she had been that day. Mikey spent weekends with her and she got him every other Wednesday after preschool. She definitely wasn’t happy about it and sneered at me every time she dropped him off. It was hilarious that she thought her little tantrum mattered to me in the least.

“Kenzie, we’re going to the surveillance room to see if we can find anything.” I rolled my eyes at him in response.

When he woke up after the coma, he decided that the condo wasn’t nearly as secure as Griffin’s apartment building. He was convinced that some of Barnes’ buddies would be coming for us and we needed to be prepared. I told him that he was paranoid, but he shook his head and proceeded to get everything from GTT and wired the place up tight.

I dialed the phone and called Marcy. “Hello?” she whispered.

“Pix? Why are you whispering? Is Mac right there?”

“He’s asleep.”

“It’s the middle of the day. What’s he doing sleeping?” I asked laughing.

“I kept him up all night. These pregnancy hormones are insane.” She giggled and I heard a throaty groan in the background.

“What are you doing?” I asked aghast, not believing what I could actually be hearing. “Oh, that’s just gross. I don’t want that image in my head.”

I heard something rustling in the background before she squealed and the phone went dead.

Well that was supremely unhelpful... if not a little bit nasty.

I shook myself, completely disgusted by what I just heard. Crazy, they’re fucking crazy, as in literally. If being pregnant made you a sex-starved nympho, then I wanted no part of that mess.

TREY

I may have been freaking out a little more than I should have. My brother was eyeing me as I combed through the security footage. There was something in that trunk that no one knew about, and I wanted to keep it that way.

“What’s this all about, Trey? Is this more than just some stupid kids’ toys we’re looking for here?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

My brother was laughing at me as he said, “You know that your nose twitches when you lie?”

“What the hell? No it doesn’t, you ass,” I replied and felt my nose twitch. Griffin busted up laughing even harder, so I punched him in the arm. “Fine, the toys weren’t the only thing in the trunk, okay?”

“Little brother, you need to tell me what it is we’re looking for.”

I could hear the wariness in his tone, and after everything we’d been through in the past year and a half, it wasn’t right for me to let him think it was some new the-world-is-about-to go-to-shit moment. “It’s a little blue box,” I said almost too soft, then winced at his look of shock.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Shhh, she’ll hear you!”

“What the fuck were you thinking leaving that in the car?”

“She’s sneakier than Mikey. She would have found it in a hot second.”

Griffin looked at me as though I was dumber than a rock. “Why didn’t you have one of us hide it for you?”

Aww, shit. Maybe I am, but on second thought…

“Um, I don’t know?” I added sarcastically, “The women around here can’t keep a secret to save their lives. Letting my girl traipse off to Somalia doesn’t exactly inspire me to trust them.”

“You gotta let that go, Trey. If they hadn’t, we’d both be dead, and you know it.” Griffin shook his head at me. “I’m calling Mac and Twitch. We need everyone on this if we’re gonna get that ring back.”

“No. They will tell their women. I do not want Kenzie finding out. You know her!”

“As far as anyone knows, we’re looking for the kids’ toys. I won’t tell them what a monumental idiot you were.”

“That’s so not helpful, bro.”