Chapter 301 - Claimed By My Stepbrother (Cadell Security Series)

Hallick’s POV

This f.ucking sucks, I stare at the blueprints that Harrison brought me an hour ago unseeingly, unable to focus my mind on the task in hand, instead the image of a certain blonde keeps forcing it’s way into my mind.

I want to know if she’s OK, what she’s doing, if that f.ucker Lomcroft is keeping his hands and his charm to himself. My hands ball into fists on the table, one curling around the pencil I’m supposed to be using to mark out weak points, as I growl angrily. Traitorous thoughts of Benny leaning against the counter in the bakery invade me, the asshole giving Seona every inch of his smooth talk that I’ve seen him use on the women at clubs on the few times I’ve been forced to go by the team. My woman laughing, leaning in to him, those innocent doe eyes looking up at him with trust . .

SNAP! I look down in vague surprise to find my pencil snapped in half, one part still gripped in my fist that is almost white with how tightly I’m clenching it, the other half rolling lazily across the mahogany wood of the conference table that I’m seated at.

‘Woah’ comes the voice of my younger boss Avalanche, or Gage as I need to now think of him as he’s no longer part of my team, f.uck even I’m not a part of my team anymore. I swallow down that morbid thought, as the soldier walks further into the room with two coffees in his hands, eyeing me as he approaches, ‘something bothering you man?’

I shake my head stiffly, after all, what can I say? Yeah, I’m f.ucking jealous about my brother in arms, a man I would trust with my life, possibly hitting on the woman that I desperately want, yet I have no claim too . . yep, that makes a world of f.ucking sense.

‘Just the job’ I mutter darkly, trying to grip the broken pencil between my thumb and forefinger to draw a wonky circle around an air vent by the hotel toilets.

A fresh pencil comes into my peripheral vision, and I glance up to find Gage beside me, placing my coffee on a coaster as he wiggles the pencil at me.

‘Thanks’ I grunt, taking it from his hand, and leaning further over the huge piece of paper in front of me.

‘So, what have you got?’ the younger twin asks me conversationally, dropping into the chair beside me and peering over my shoulder at the drawing.

I shrug noncommittedly because honestly, I have nothing, a bit steaming pile of nothing except nail marks in my palm and a tension headache from scowling to much over the unwanted thoughts in my head.

Leaning back in his chair, the younger soldier nods, taking a sip from his own mug, ‘you know’ he murmurs, ‘you could just save yourself the internal meltdown and call her . .’

My gaze snaps to the man beside me, as he watches me in amusement over the rim of his mug.

‘Who?’ I grunt, sliding my gaze back to the table to avoid the soldier’s s.hit eating grin.

‘Who he says, the Queen of Serbia, who do you think? Seona’ Gage scoffs.

I stare a hole in the blueprints as I hunch my shoulders, ‘what for? She’s got Lomcroft there, they’ll ring if he needs backup.’

‘Ahh, we’re still going with denial, good to know’ the cocky man beside me muses, tapping his nail on the side of the mug.

‘No idea what you are bleating about’ I retort roughly, ‘you here to work or just to annoy me?’

I can feel the smirk on Gage’s face even as I studiously refuse to look up at him.

‘Just checking on my favourite employee’ the asshole replies easily.

I snort loudly, ‘you talk a load of s.hit’ I grumble back, making the man beside me chuckle.

‘Says the man who can’t even admit to himself that he’s struggling with being away from his woman.’ I can’t stop my gaze from cutting to Gage, the younger soldier grinning widely at me in return.

‘I don’t have a woman, nor is my head in anything but this job’ I huff even as my own sub conscious whispers liar at me.

‘Yeah, I remember my brother saying something similar when he was trying to convince himself that Eden wasn’t his end game’ the younger man muses. ‘He had some stupid idea that he didn’t deserve her because of the s.hit we’ve seen . . you wouldn’t happen to understand that would you? Because I see a lot of Eden in Seona, my step sister didn’t seem to care that my brother had darkness in him, in fact, I think she quite liked it.’

‘She isn’t my woman’ I mutter reluctantly, unable to think of a retort for what Gage is saying, I have to keep repeating it to myself, even as my chest lurches from the thought of maybe, somehow getting what my friends already have.

‘Only because you haven’t put it out there’ Gage pushed on mercilessly. ‘Funny, I always looked up to you man, thought you had balls of steel . .’ He sips his drink again as he eyes me, ‘disappointing to see the man who had my back in gunfire cowering like a kid over owning his s.hit with a woman.’

‘I am not scared’ I snap, my attention now fully on the man beside me.

Yes you are, that damn voice in my head taunts, you’re scared and you know it, scared she’ll want you because you are safe then throw you away when she really sees how f.ucked up you are.

My fists start clenching again as I try to shut out the goading voice in my head, wanting to get up and punch something as it only gets louder.

Gage nods as his phone chirps, the soldier standing up and stretching before tugging the cell out of his pocket, a smile already on his lips that tells me that the message is from his woman, Hali.

Reading quickly, his grin widens before he pockets the phone again, focusing back on me again, ‘just ring her Hallick’ he tells me firmly. ‘It’s up to you if you want to bury your head in the sand, but to everyone else its damn obvious how you feel about her.’

Leaning over me, the younger man plucks the pencil from my hand easily.

‘Just as a precaution’ he comments with a wink, twirling the pencil around his fingers before placing it on the polished wood beside me. ‘We may be doing well right now, but we can’t afford to keep replacing boxes of pencils because of your frustration.’

Giving me one last s.hit eating smirk, the soldier saunters out of the room, no doubt to take an early lunch to go see his girl and as I watch him leave, I suddenly feel unbearably f.ucking lonely.