Following Fabian by Holley Trent Read Free Book Online

they’re getting some help from local rogue Were-creatures. There were some Cats lingering around the camps, and I heard one of the shifters say they stunk of Jacques.”
    “That helps a lot. If Sarah were mobile, she’d probably get a read on him quickly, but her doctor has prohibited her from traveling right now.”
    “And you have, too, I’m sure.”
    “As if I could tell her what to do.”
    “I know you well enough to know you’d try, and if your first attempt failed, you’d resort to cheap tricks.”
    “You’re right. You do know me well enough, but if it were your wife and your daughter, you’d be unreasonable, too.”
    “Maybe.”
    Fabian had no way of knowing. The closest thing to a father he and Felipe had from the time they were four was Jacques, and that relationship was obviously rife with dysfunction. It was good to know that Felipe preferred to act on instinct than to emulate what he’d personally experienced.
    “Listen, Astrid needs to speak with Sarah, so will you hand her the phone?”
    “Certainly. I’ll see you soon, I hope.”
    “Within a week, come hell or high water.”
    “Why?”
    “Astrid will tell you. Has to do with those Bears I mentioned. Love you.”
    “Yeah. You, too.” He padded out of the steamy bathroom and approached Astrid at the desk where she was furiously pecking her laptop keyboard, forming silent words with her lips as she typed.
    “Phone,” he said, and she looked up, eyes widening as she wrapped her fingers around the phone and took in the sight of him. She did a quick scan from his naked shoulders down to his waistband, lower, then back up to his face.
    He hadn’t taken her for a prude.
    He let the corners of his lips quirk up. Oh, she was going to be fun to play with.
    She swallowed and pushed her chair back as she placed the phone against her ear. “Uh…this, this is Astrid,” she said, and her voice bore a note of strain, as did the corners of her eyes.
    She couldn’t pretend he didn’t affect her. She’d just showed her cards, after all.
     

CHAPTER SIX
    Holy shit, he was distracting.
    Astrid tried to focus on putting all the right digits into her phone in the correct sequence, but every time Fabian moved in her periphery, she had to look at him.
    Although he was thinner than his probable usual weight, he had a phenomenal physique. He’d worked hard for it on those trapezes for a lot of years, though. Only a small percentage of what he and Felipe had done for the circus had been smoke and mirrors. Yes, sometimes one or both would phase into their invisible forms to confuse the crowds, but mostly the thrill show was all them, flying from one flimsy swing to the next.
    Felipe had said he was happy to be done with that part of his life, because at thirty-five he was “too old for that shit,” but did Fabian miss it? What would be his livelihood now? Would he be as adaptable as his brother?
    Astrid gave up on dialing Eric’s number, and turned her attention to the semi-clad acrobat perched on the end of the bed.
    His wet hair draped over his shoulders, and he batted a knot out of a section with her comb.
    “Dress, please,” she pled.
    He looked up from his hair and raised an eyebrow. “What?”
    “Dress. Uh…wait. Where’d that book go?” She shuffled through the sheath of papers on the desktop until she found the little dictionary. She turned to the D section. “Uh. Por favor, vestirse. ”
    “Why?” His lips quirked up at one corner, and he went back to detangling his long hair. Even Felipe didn’t grow his hair that long, and maybe Fabian didn’t generally either. Perhaps she should offer him her little pair of nail scissors.
    She narrowed her eyes and watched him make frustrated swats at his hair.
    Nah. The hair kind of reminded her of one of those hot Scotsmen on the covers of romance novels set in medieval times. She wouldn’t tell him that, though. That would be admitting she read those things, and that she gave any thought to