Eye of the Beholder

Jamie gasped, furious. “You leave Vincente alone.”

Whoever he was, he needed his ass kicked.

“It’s those gold lame briefs. They get you every time.”

Travis winced. No fucking way. He was not shoving his ass into gold lame briefs. Even for Jamie.

Hell, he didn’t even do that in the seventies.

“Oh, fuck off, Jeff.” Jamie flipped her brother the bird before limping back into the bedroom, the door slamming shut behind her.

“On that note…” Jeff cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Hey, pervs! I’m heading out.

I’ll bring back some non-ass-tastic food, okay?”

“Oh, God.” Jordan’s mortified whimper had Travis almost smiling again, but the thought of fuckhead Vincente kept it from materializing.

“You keep praying to me, baby, eventually I’m going to answer.”

Jeff rolled his eyes at the sound of Logan’s voice, but he was smiling as he headed out the door.

Travis stared at Jamie’s closed door, one thought running through his mind.

Who the fuck was Vincente?

Chapter Four

Toni studied Solberg closely. Something just wasn’t sitting right with her, and it started and ended with her new partner. “Where the hell did this information come from?”

“Anonymous tip, but the man hasn’t been seen in over a month.” Solberg shrugged. “It’s worth a look.”

She tapped her finger against her mouth. Maybe it was just her instinctive dislike of the guy that was making her dislike his tip. “What’s your gut say?”

“It’s legit. We’ve had more than one tip. It’s not like we’re going on one phone call here.”

She nodded slowly. If he was on the up-and-up then it was worth checking it out. “Okay. Research the company, see if anything’s changed there. I’ll check out the family angle.”

“You know the granddaughter was tortured by Mr. Grimm, right?”

“I know. It’s in the file.” The supposed vic was a sicko whack-job, but whether he deserved what he’d gotten or not, whoever had done him should have left him to law enforcement.

“Yeah.” Solberg took a big bite of his Whopper. “Checked that angle out first, thinking it might be a revenge thing.”

Ick. She hated it when guys talked with their mouths full. Like she wanted to see their chewed food.

Blech. “I’ll have to check out the medical records.” She bit into an onion ring, making sure to swallow before continuing her thought. “That makes the wife a much more viable suspect. The father of Ms. Grimm too.” She flipped through her notes. “Fred.”

He nodded, pointing to her list with one of his French fries. “I think we need to check them all out.”

“Okay. You’ve obviously got the family and friends covered. I’ll deal with the business angle.”

“Not a problem.” His false grin was seriously beginning to get on her nerves.

She bit into another onion ring and studied his smug features. Every one of her cop senses was tingling, but she couldn’t put her finger on what the hell was wrong. It was driving her fucking nuts. She couldn’t shake the feeling that some of that wrongness was now directed at her.

What are you hiding from me?

Travis sat in the back of Logan’s SUV and wondered how to bring up what he was sure would be a painful subject. He’d managed to keep Jamie and Jeff from questioning him further, a difficult job considering their cramped quarters and Jeff’s stubborn refusal to allow a subject to die a graceful death.

When he was ready to tell his story he only wanted to do it once, and while both Jamie and Jeff had earned the right to sit in on that discussion he needed everyone there for it. He’d managed to avoid the topic for four days now, but he was rapidly running out of time.

Morgan and Magnus Grimm—the twin half-brothers of Jamie, Jeff and Jordan—and Val had just returned from a job Travis had sent them on. The Grimms were working cases to pick up the slack left by Travis, Jeff and Jordan not being in the office. Considering everything that had happened they’d been more than happy to put in some overtime for him while he made sure their family was safe. Now that the case they’d been gone on was solved to everyone’s satisfaction the men were back, and it was time to come clean to all of them. They were planning on meeting for lunch at the Tait-Saeter condo, something Travis was looking forward to with equal amounts of dread and longing. Finally he’d be able to claim the woman who’d stolen his heart, no barriers or lies between them. He only hoped she could handle what he had to say.

Logan got lucky and managed to find a parking spot just shy of the corner of Ninth Street and Passyunk Avenue. They stepped out of the Lexus and breathed deep, inhaling the scents of the best cheesesteaks in the city.

“Pat’s,” Logan sighed, heading for his favorite eatery.

“Geno’s, you heathen.” Kir planted both feet firmly on the pavement and refused to move, no matter how hard Logan tugged on his arm.

Logan scowled. “Do you want to wait in the car while I get the food, or do you want to come with me?”

“I’ll come with you as far as Geno’s window.”

Travis, watching the frown growing on Jordan’s face, waited for the inevitable explosion. It wasn’t long in coming.

“Oh, my God. Sometimes you two are friggin’ morons.” Jordan stepped out of the back seat of the SUV, looking tired and cranky. The Philly accent was strong, whether from aggravation or exhaustion Travis couldn’t tell. She planted her hands on her hips and stared both of her lovers down, bristling with bad temper. “You—” She pointed at Logan, “—go to Pats. You—” She pointed at Travis, startling him.

“—Go to Geno’s. Jeff, Morgan and Magnus and I’ll take one wit’. Jamie, Kir and everyone else will have one wit’out, and the Wonder Twins want peppers. Oh, and Uncle Val likes provolone.”

“Wonder Twins?” Travis nearly choked trying not to laugh. It was the first time he’d heard Jordan refer to Jeff and Jamie as the Wonder Twins. From the look on her face if he did laugh she’d inflict major bodily harm on his person.

She ignored him. “Each of you get one for each of us, as well as yourselves. We’ll have a steak-off.

You—” She pointed at a surprised Kir, “—get your ass back in the truck and guard mine so Logan doesn’t have an aneurysm. Now move. I don’t like cold cheesesteaks.” She hurled herself back into the SUV and sat with her arms crossed, glaring out the front window.

The men stared at one another and shrugged. Logan and Travis headed for Pat’s while Kir settled into the back seat with Jordan, snuggling her close and kissing the side of her neck. They’d hit Geno’s on the way back to the car.

“Who decided the little dictator should come with us again?” Logan shoved his hands into his back pockets, looking bored. Travis wasn’t fooled, though. Logan was on point, wary of every person who walked by the SUV. He kept an eye on it at all times, his eyes moving between the customers, the car and any possible threats.

“Jamie.” She’d sent them on this food expedition as a way to distract Jordan, who’d been hovering over her like a mother hen and snapping at anyone and everyone who got within five feet of Jamie. The look of relief on Jamie’s face as Travis had dragged Jordan out of the house was worth the grumpiness Jordan was flinging around.

Jeff was also at the powerfully warded condo, keeping watch on his twin. The condo was so heavily guarded now he couldn’t even think how Grimm could possibly get inside. “She said she wanted someone along to supervise us.” Travis barely refrained from rolling his eyes. Jordan could barely keep awake. Right now, the only thing she was capable of supervising were her own eyelids. “By the way, why couldn’t we get cheesesteaks from somewhere closer to us?” He stepped up to the window and placed their order, letting Logan remain on guard.

Logan stared at him like he’d grown another head. “There are other cheesesteak places? Where?”

The man behind the counter laughed as he handed them their steaks. “Exactly. Swear to God, ain’t nobody in