Her Dirty Archeologists by Mika Lane

Chapter 20

DRAKE BANCROFT

I hated to depart the next day. We all did. It had been a short but sweet respite.

And sexy as hell, too.

The beautiful Fleur couldn’t get enough of us, and we were all too happy to service her.

I’d never been part of a man-harem before, but it was one of the hottest experiences I’d ever had. Watching her get serviced by the other guys was almost as sexy as going to town on her myself. Our next mini-break could not come soon enough.

But for now, it was time to get back to work. We had important things to do. And to be honest, I was actually looking forward to getting back to the site. The break had been exactly what we’d needed, and everyone’s energy buzzed as the Jeep bumped over the dusty roads toward camp.

I felt a surge of adrenaline as we got closer. Everyone quickly unloaded and threw their things in their respective tents. We headed to our site like it was a long-lost friend.

But it immediately became clear that something was off.

“Hmmm. I left my tools right here,” Penn said, frowning.

Jonas ran around the periphery of our grid. “What the fuck? Where’s the piece of pottery we were digging up?”

I looked over at our neighboring camp. I’d asked them to keep an eye on our things while we were gone.

This was not good. Not at all. And I was getting pissed.

“Um, do you think the looters were back?” Fleur asked with wide eyes. “How’d they know the one night we’d be away?”

Good questions. All good questions.

And no big surprise, Brad was watching us from the next camp. So I waved him over.

Happy for an invite, he hustled in our direction.

“Hi, guys, Fleur,” he said, his gaze resting on her a bit longer than it should have.

She reflexively crossed her arms over her chest.

I ran my fingers through my hair. “Um, Brad, someone’s been in our campsite.”

His eyes got wide. “Really? Is something missing?” he asked with fake-ass incredulity.

“Yeah, Brad, some of our shit is gone,” Penn said from between gritted teeth.

“Oh man. That sucks. Majorly.”

The lack of concern in his voice said it all. “You know, I did see some folks snooping around over here. I was too busy to come over and see what they were up to, though. Damn. That’s a shame,” he said, shaking his head.

Seriously?

“So you just let them have a field day here?” I asked.

Penn and Jonas looked like they wanted to take out the asshole themselves.

But Fleur was the one who really laid it down. “Brad. You said you would keep watch while we were gone. But actually, you were not able to and in fact watched someone loot our site. Did I get that right?” she asked, getting in his face.

He took a step back. “Um. Well, sorry, but I had my own work to do. You know, we’re making some good progress on our site and I can’t just drop everything—”

He took another step back, and then another, because Fleur had a finger poking right into his chest.

It actually looked painful.

“Since you’re so useless,” she said in a raised voice, “why don’t you get the fuck out of here!”

“Why don’t you take it easy—” he started to say.

But with a firm hand on his shoulder, I turned him in the direction he’d come from. “Fleur’s right, Brad. It’s best you get back to your own camp now.”

He hustled away, but not without throwing a few dirty looks over his shoulder.

Fleur was pale, and distractedly played with the ends of her hair. “I… I’m not comfortable with this looter business. Not at all. We need to do something about this. I’m going to my tent to think this over.”

She hobbled away.

“Well, isn’t that the shit of it,” Penn said.

I couldn’t even see straight. “Fleur’s idea was a good one. I’ll be in my tent for a bit. I need some time.”

To cool the fuck off.

Although how I was going to cool off in the desert was beyond me.

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