Chapter 2 #2
I didn’t like the bullshit any more than Zane did, but he wasn’t exaggerating.
Zane only had one-sixteenth of the patience of a normal person and it had been slipping by the day.
If whatever case officer they sent to pick up Rutte and Chen didn’t do a quick pick-up and dash, Zane would be down at the shed and there would more than likely be bloodshed.
So I told him, “Your wife has already assigned me babysitting duty because I was defending your right to use deadly force. I fear what other diabolical plan she’ll put into action if I don’t stop you from making a mess.
So, keep your ass down here in the basement until I have those fuckers loaded up and on their way to Costa Rica or whichever hole they’ll be finding themselves in while they learn a fun new game called No Lube. ”
Zane cracked a smile.
I wasn’t sure if it was me mentioning his wife and kids or me reminding him it wouldn’t be long before Rutte and Jun De were tortured until the agency thought they wrung every last piece of intel out of them.
His smile died when he growled, “I want this shit done.”
That meant he missed his wife and kids and wanted to get home. Not that his wife and kids were back in Annapolis—they along with the rest of the families were in safe houses in Tennessee and Kentucky.
I didn’t have anyone waiting for me. I had a spider planet that was probably very nearly dead. Another sign I couldn’t be responsible for keeping anything alive.
And as much as I wanted to get back to my condo, as long as Stella was hanging around I was perfectly fine staying out on the farm. Which was nothing more than a training facility with an old farmhouse and some bunk houses in a small town on the eastern shore of Maryland.
“I hear that.”
I turned and took the stairs two at a time.
As soon as I hit the living room, I found two women facing off.
One pissed off, one looking like a scared jackrabbit.
Lore turned her glare on me. Penny was slower to turn and when she looked at me, she barely contained her flinch.
In the short time I’d been in Penny Cox’s presence, I couldn’t get a read on her.
One minute she was twitchy and nervous, the next she was fine, even going as far as showing she had a backbone.
For whatever reason, Lore seemed to loathe her.
The rest of the team liked her. Kira especially.
I didn’t have an opinion mainly because she wouldn’t be around long enough for it to matter.
But the weird looks she gave me were getting tiresome.
I was a lot of things, and one of them was honest—at least with myself—so I didn’t pretend not to notice the attention I got from women.
I knew women liked what they saw when they looked at me.
I knew they liked what they got from me when we hit the sheets even better.
My conceit was founded in fact. Further, I knew shy women tended to be awkward.
However, I was over the looks and flinching and stumbling every time Penny got near me.
I jerked my chin at Lore and asked, “Ready?”
She gave Penny one last scathing look. When she looked back at me, some of the scorn had bled out but there was still plenty of apprehension.
It took only a second for Lore to clear trepidation and replace it with one of her stone-cold stares.
I wanted to chase the unease, push it to my advantage until the Lore facade fell away.
I liked Stella on her back foot. No, I fucking loved when the woman was backed into a corner and she unleashed that mouth of hers.
I didn’t know for certain, but it was a good bet I’d like that sweet mouth better when it was wrapped around my cock instead of spewing attitude. Though I liked that too.
“Ready for what?” she rapped out.
“To take out the trash.”
Her lips tipped up. Not into a smile. A smirk. One that wasn’t only hot as fuck, but it made her look like the sexy villain from a James Bond flick.
“Oh, clean-up. My second favorite thing to do.”
I didn’t have to ask because I knew the first had to do with torturing a man. If it wasn’t a turn-on watching her work, it would’ve scared the fuck out of me. The chick was no joke when it came to interrogation.
“Um…Cash?” Penny called.
I heard Lore’s grunt of disapproval, which would’ve made me laugh if I wasn’t annoyed and in a hurry.
I was no less annoyed when instead of talking, Penny just stood there like I didn’t have better shit to do than have the woman stare at me.
“You need something, Penny?” I prompted.
She jolted like it wasn’t her who’d started the conversation.
Annoying.
“I…um… you’re busy now but later can we…um…talk?”
Good Christ. The stammering.
“Not to be a dick, but I got shit to do later. If it’s important, I’ve got five minutes before I gotta bounce.”
There was some worrying of her bottom lip, which I had to admit was cute. Shy and stammering did nothing for me. But some guys got off on that shit, and she was pretty enough she could work that and turn attention. Just not mine.
“How about tomorrow?” she pushed.
Lore made another disgruntled sound; this time it was more of a gurgling than a grunt but no less irritated.
“Sorry, Penny, I’m on the road first thing in the morning. Again, if this is important I can give you five minutes, but make your decision quick. I’ve got someplace I need to be.”
Some of the color leeched from her face.
What she didn’t do was make her decision, so I made it for her.
“How about this? If you’re still here when I get back, we’ll talk.
If not, get my email from Kira.” When she didn’t so much as acknowledge my response, I looked back at Lore who’d inched her way toward the front door. “Let’s roll.”
Without a backward glance, I followed Lore out of the farmhouse.
“You up for a walk, or do you want to drive?” I asked.
Her answer was silent, but when she took off toward the trail that would wind around the bunk houses and eventually leading to a wooded area that would open to the back field, her preference was clear—walk.
The shed was at the back end of the property. It was a haul but not that far.
As soon as we cleared the bunk houses, I broke the silence, “What’s up with you and Penny?”
“Penny?” she spat like she could barely tolerate saying the woman’s name.
“Yeah, Penny, you know, the blonde you keep grunting and growling at. Not to mention every time you’re in the same room with her you look like you’re devising new and fun torture techniques to add to your repertoire.”
“I don’t waste time torturing meaningless twits.”
I believed that but it still gave me nothing.
“Seriously, what’s your problem with her?”
“I don’t have a problem with her.”
That was a straight-up lie.
“I think that’s the first lie you’ve told me.”
She nearly stumbled but quickly recovered. “Trust me, it’s not.”
This chick was a trip. She might’ve been the only person I knew, besides Zane, who freely admitted she’d blatantly and shamelessly lied straight to your face with no remorse. That was, ironically, next-level honesty.
“I’m not counting the bald-faced lies you keep spouting out about not wanting me, when we both know you do.”
Unsurprisingly, Lore didn’t bite.