She shot me another grin that was half a frown. Another look only Bren seemed to have perfected. Didn’t know how she did it, but I loved her for it. “Cross and I went back to Cougar Lanes. We broke in. He wouldn’t let me in a room, said I shouldn’t see it, and when we came back last night, he called Channing about it.”

I waited, but she didn’t continue.

Okay.

Bren was saying things, giving me crumbs, but she couldn’t bring herself to really say what she needed to know or hear or be reassured about. I had to put my thinking hat on for this one.

She told me what they did. Coolio. Breaking and entering was always a good time.

Cross called her brother about it, so yeah, he found something out that would upset B. That’s a no-brainer and made sense with everything else happening. And here she was, finding a spot to watch over a bunch of homes like she used to, and I was the one she called.

Why the fuck was I the one she called?

I was thinking I needed to run down what she would’ve gotten from the other two…

Jordan was Mr. Cut Off right now. He was in a dark place. Bren was usually in a darker place, so maybe she didn’t want to go to an even darker than normal place? And with Cross… yeah. I was thinking it would’ve been the same. The two of them were tight, but they were tense. Cross didn’t fuck around. He got to the point of shit, no matter the consequences, and then I could assume the two would move to the rabbit part of their relationship, because that was another thing J and I knew. B and C loved fucking. A lot. But cheers to them. Each person should get their rocks off as many times as they could.

I felt it was a worthy mission for the world’s population.

So. Me. I was back to me. I wasn’t as intense and dark as the other two. I could get there, mostly when I wanted to bust heads, but sneaking a peek at Brennie Bren, I wasn’t getting that vibe either.

She didn’t want dark.

That was it.

That’s why I got called, and then I grinned, knowing instantly what she needed.

I threw an arm around my girl and yanked her into my side.

“Zellman!” She laughed.

I ignored that ’cause I was just giving Bren what she wanted. She wanted to laugh. She wanted to smile, but she also didn’t want to avoid it anymore. That wasn’t her style either.

That I could do, no problemo.

“Okay. Let’s break this down.”

She stiffened.