Shadow of Sin(2)

“Nothing wrong with a little workout. You should try it.” Caleb backed off his pace a bit. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t happy to hear his brother’s voice. His family kept him grounded. Kept him sane. Even when they annoyed the crap out of him.

“Have you seen my abs lately?” Alec joked. “Keep running, old man. Gotta stay in shape if you want to keep up with a young stud like me.”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “You called at this hour to give me shit? I’m hanging up.”

“No, wait, don’t hang up,” Alec rushed. “I need your help.”

“What’s up?”

“It’s, uh, well —”

“Spit it out, Alec.”

“I need your help with Samantha.”

Perfect.

Samantha Quinn. The last thing Caleb wanted to do was talk about his sister’s best friend and gigantic pain in his ass. Right after getting his eyes gouged out and his fingernails removed. And he certainly didn’t want to talk about her while his skin still vibrated with echoes of the past.

“Can’t this wait?” he snapped, glaring at the ceiling speaker housing Alec’s voice.

“Not really.”

“What’s she done now?”

“She hasn’t done anything. Jesus, Caleb. You really need to get off her ass. She called me for a ride and I’m worried about her.”

Great. Just fucking great. Calling Alec for a ride meant she’d been drinking and was probably causing all kinds of trouble in whatever honky-tonk she’d landed. Someone needed to put a leash on that woman.

“And how is this my problem at three in the morning? If you’re so worried, go get her. Better yet, call her a cab.”

“It’s not that simple and you know it.”

Nothing was ever simple where Samantha was concerned. Not since the day Alec had introduced her to their baby sister, Amanda, who—lost in grief over the deaths of their parents—had been stuck with three older brothers who had no idea how to help her.

Not since the day he and his brothers had charged the woods on horseback, searching for the two teenage girls who had snuck off to drink their fill in secret. That little outing had started Samantha’s incessant need to refer to them as the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Only now it was four, with Amanda’s new husband, Joe, added to the mix. A full set. Caleb clenched his teeth, remembering Samantha’s words.

And damn sure not since the day Samantha had earned herself a stalker by using her law degree to help the battered wife of a powerful man disappear.

His workout ruined, Caleb mashed the button that slowed the machine to a stop. Not waiting, he braced his palms against the handles and lifted his upper body, spreading his legs and settling his feet outside the slowing tread. He grabbed a towel and slung it over his shoulder.

“What do you want, Alec? Because if you’re about to ask me to go pick her drunk ass up, you called the wrong number. Call Brandon or go get her yourself.”

“You’re such a dick. Brandon is at the compound training a group in night surveillance techniques, which you damn well know.”

Shit. Of course he knew. That was all his other brother seemed to do lately—work. Other than himself, Brandon was the only one of his siblings to have joined the military and was closest to him in age. They had come up with the idea of Martin Tactical together, both with a driving need to stay sharp, even out of the game. It was also a way to keep the family together. Close. Where Caleb could watch out for them. Protect them.

“Would you rather I call Amanda? You know Joe won’t let her make that drive alone. Not to mention it would take her well over two hours to get there.”

Caleb sank down on the sofa, putting his head in his hands. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. All he wanted was a moment, just one moment of peace. Was that too much to ask? He wiped his head and neck before leaning back into the cool leather, draping the towel across his legs.

Amanda was the whole reason he tolerated Samantha in the first place. If she hadn’t gotten through to Amanda after their parents died … well … Caleb shuddered to think how different things could be today. For that alone he owed Samantha a debt. And it looked like he was about to make another payment.

“And besides, you’re closer.” Alec’s sing-songy voice grated on Caleb’s nerves.

“You don’t sound too concerned.”

“I mean, I’m a little concerned. After the vandalism at her office and the break-in at her apartment … of course I’m concerned. But this is Sam we’re talking about. She can take care of herself. She’ll be mad as hellfire that I sent you but…”