Ash’s eyebrows shot up. “You think he’d go against Sparks’s orders?”
“Hold up.” Sloane held on to his side as he sat up. “Orders? What orders? What the hell are you talking about?
“Shit. He didn’t tell you?”
“Clearly he didn’t.” Sloane didn’t like the sound of this, and his best friend’s hesitation didn’t bode well. “Ash, what’s going on?”
“We’re off the case. Sparks put us on leave. Seb is lead agent on this now.”
Sloane was silent for a moment. He didn’t know what he found harder to believe, Sparks pulling his team off the case or Dex conveniently forgetting to mention it. He wanted to think it might have slipped Dex’s mind, but his partner wasn’t nearly as absentminded as he pretended to be. Which meant one thing. “Shit. Dex is going to go after Hogan on his own.”
“How do you know?”
“Why else wouldn’t he tell me? I can’t believe he lied to me.” How could Dex look him in the eye, tell him he loved him, and lie to him, especially about something this dangerous?
“Technically he didn’t lie. More like, withheld information.”
Sloane gaped at Ash. “Seriously? Not helping.”
“Sorry.”
“You have to stick by him. He’ll get himself killed.”
“What? You don’t think your boy’s got the skills?”
“Biology, Ash. Hogan is as big as Hobbs exc
ept he’s a killer. He’s meaner, angrier, and doesn’t care who he has to take down to get what he wants. He tried to kill us and almost succeeded. Had it been Dex, Calvin, Rosa, or Letty, they’d be dead now. Hogan won’t stop until he’s gotten revenge on the remaining members of the Westward Creed, and if Dex gets in his way….”
“Yeah, all right,” Ash groused. “I get it. I’ll keep an eye on him. So does this mean you’re not going to tell him you know?”
“Not yet.”
“Is that really how you want things to go?”
Unbelievable. “Are you giving me relationship advice?” He needed to think about his next move, but he was too exhausted right now.
Ash appeared to be mulling over Sloane’s words when he shook his head. “Man, we are both so fucked.”
“Yep.” Despite the situation, Sloane couldn’t help teasing. “You’re in love with Dex’s brother. Do you know what that means?”
“First of all, adopted brother. They don’t share the same genes. Second of all, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Those two are attached at the hip. They hang out all the time, borrow each other’s stuff, share a lot of the same quirks, get excited over the same things, are both sugar addicts, and total geeks. You’ll have Dex in your hair. All. The. Time.”
Ash’s horrified expression had Sloane laughing.
“You are such a dick, you know that? I hadn’t even thought of it.”
Sloane couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “Still interested in being part of the family?”
“Not even Daley can ruin what I feel for Cael.”
“Wow. Then it must be love,” Sloane teased.
Ash jumped to his feet and started fiddling with all the equipment around Sloane’s bed. “Where’s the morphine? I need to shut you up.” Despite the low growl, Sloane knew his friend was teasing. Sloane batted his hand away with a laugh.
“Stop. You’re going to break something, and then Maddock’s gonna lose it. You know how pissed he gets when we break shit.”