15. Chapter 15
Chapter 15
“Got you all set up,” Lynn said as I sat in her office on Wednesday morning and slid the last of the paperwork across the smooth glass top of her desk. “Your paychecks will be sent directly to your bank account.”
Lynn was the office manager at DFW Security Force and Journey’s wife. I’d spent the past two days with Journey, learning the ropes of her job. She sat beside me in a padded chair and rubbed her belly.
“You all right?” I asked.
Her dark dreadlocks bounced as she nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. Just feeling tight.”
When she winced and moved her hands to her lower back, Lynn and I locked eyes. “Uh, babe. Is your back hurting?”
“My back’s always hurting these days,” she retorted, clenching her jaw.
“More than usual?”
Sucking in a hissing breath through her teeth, she admitted, “Yeah, maybe. It was aching about five minutes ago, but it went away so I thought it was gas or something.”
“Okay, that’s probably contractions. We’re going to the hospital,” Lynn announced calmly, rising and pulling her brown purse from the drawer.
“It’s not time yet,” Journey insisted. “We’ve got two more weeks.”
“Uh-huh. Tell that to him.” She pointed at the woman’s round belly before rounding the desk and squatting beside her wife, her hand tenderly stroking her face. “Remember what the doctor said? Little man is the boss of all this. Not us.”
Journey tilted her head until her forehead rested against Lynn’s. “You’re right. We should probably at least get checked out.”
“What can I do to help?” I asked, resting my hand on the pregnant woman’s forearm.
“Could you get my purse from my office?”
“And get Shark,” Lynn added, pulling out her phone. “I’m pretty sure she’s having contractions, and I need to time them.”
“I’m on it.” Walking briskly down the hallway, I came to the boss’s office first. Through the open door, I saw him softly kissing a petite blonde woman who I assumed was his wife. At least I hoped so.
They both turned to me when I halted just outside the door. “So sorry to interrupt, but Lynn and I think Journey is in labor.”
He stepped back, his hand dropping to hold the blonde’s smaller one as I entered the office. “How far apart are her contractions?”
“Lynn is timing them now, but J thinks her last one was about five minutes ago. I don’t think it’s an emergency yet, but she wants to take her to the hospital.”
Shark kissed the woman’s temple. Maybe he really was a big softy beneath his gruff exterior. “I’ll drive them. Can you come pick me up from the hospital later, Peach? ”
“Of course. I’ll take Harper back to work and feed her. Let me know when you’re ready.”
He nodded. “I’ll stay till the baby is born, in case they need anything. If it’s too late, I’ll call one of the guys to come get me. I don’t want you to have to get the kids out of bed.”
Yep, definitely a softy.
He turned his attention back to me. “Where are they?”
“In the business office. I’m going to grab Journey’s purse.”
“All right. I’ll meet you down there. This is my wife Charli, by the way. Honey, this is Mallori.”
She smiled and unhooked her hand from her husband’s so we could shake. “So great to finally meet you. That’s our little one, Harper.”
While his wife was greeting me, Shark had lifted a tiny little girl in a pink outfit from her car seat. He was nuzzling the infant, and she was munching happily on his chin.
“Dada loves you, baby girl. Can you say Dada?”
“Beau Atwood, she is only two months old,” his wife scolded with a wry grin on her face.
He returned her smile with a chagrined one and shrugged. “Never too soon, Peach. That’s gonna be her first word.” Ignoring the slobber on his chin, he gently returned his daughter to her seat and strapped her in.
After whispering something in his wife’s ear, he handed her the baby carrier and headed down to check on Journey. Charli stared after her husband with a goofy look on her face, and I wondered what he’d said to her .
“I’m just gonna…” I gestured toward the door, and she snapped out of her stupor.
“I’ll walk with you. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.” Charli looped a diaper bag over her shoulder, and we left the office and turned left. “I heard you’re a dancer. Do you ever teach?”
“I’ve taught at dance camps, and I’ve been thinking about doing some private lessons. You know, for extra money.”
Her pretty blue eyes brightened as we walked. “I own a preschool, and one of my students has an older sister who has been looking for a private teacher. Would you be interested?”
My eyebrows lifted. “I’m definitely interested.”
“Awesome! Do you mind if I give her your number?” she asked, pulling out her phone.
I rattled off my number as I located Journey’s green purse and tucked it under my arm. “I’ve been researching what people pay for private lessons in the area, and if I could get at least five students, that would almost totally cover my housing for the year.”
Charli swung her arm holding the baby carrier as we backtracked toward Lynn’s office. “Good. She might be able to set you up with some other girls too.”
Harper made a noise, and I glanced down at her. “She’s a beautiful baby.” She had pink cheeks, short blonde hair, and a button nose.
Charli looked down at her little one, her face the picture of love. “Isn’t she just the cutest little nugget? We have a son, too. L.J. is almost three and so adorable, he’ll melt your heart.”
“I can’t wait to meet him,” I told her.
“Maybe you’ll get to soon. Cam said something about having a party so you can meet the rest of the gang. I don’t think you’ve been introduced to all of Bode’s crew or the Broxtons—that’s Beau’s sister’s family.”
“Sounds fun.”
“You’re not an introvert, are you?” she asked, peering over at me. “Because it’s a lot of damn people when we get together. I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
She was such a sweet person. “No. I was kinda sheltered growing up, so I enjoy getting to know people.”
Her eyes rolled to the ceiling. “I’m the baby of my family, with three bossy brothers and an even bossier sister, so I could’ve used a little shelter at times.” Charli stopped beside the door to the lobby. “I’m gonna scoot before my child gets hungry and demands boob. It was so nice to meet you, Mallori.” And with a wave of her fingers, she was gone.
I walked more swiftly toward my destination and peered into the office to find Shark and Lynn helping Journey to her feet. As soon as they made it to the door, she stopped, her brown eyes wide.
“Oh shit.”
“What?” Lynn asked, and for the first time, I saw her calm demeanor break just a bit. “Are you okay, babe?”
“My water… I think it just broke.”
We all looked down at the small puddle forming on the floor.
“Greatttt!” the pregnant woman wailed. “Now my uterus water is all over the office.”
Shark cringed a little and then patted her shoulder. “It’s fine, J. We’ll get maintenance up here.”
“But…” She gestured toward the floor .
“Charli’s broke in the middle of the grocery store, if that makes you feel any better.”
“Which aisle?” she asked, scowling at him.
“Uh, by the milk, I think.”
“Huh. That’s a busy one. That does make me feel better.”
Shark chuckled and guided her over the puddle while meeting my eye. “I’ll call them,” I mouthed before handing the purse over to Lynn. “Good luck, you two. I’ll be thinking of you.”
“We got this,” Journey assured me, “and you’ll be fine.”
“I had a good teacher.” For only two days. Yikes!
“Hey,” I said, poking my head inside Cam’s office on Friday, two days after Journey and Lynn’s little boy made his appearance. I’d seen pictures, and he was a gorgeous baby with a mop of curly black hair and skin somewhere between his biological mother’s dark and Lynn’s caramel hue.
“Come on in,” he said, waving me in. Hawk was sitting across from his desk and smiled at me when I entered.
“I was wondering if you could look over this schedule for me before I turn it in to Shark. This is my first time doing one, and I want it to be perfect.”
My cousin took it and looked it over, bobbing his head up and down before handing it to Hawk for his perusal.
“Looks good, but why don’t you have Woody and Taz working together on the Brenton case? ”
“Because it’s right when Taz eats her afternoon snack, and she gets snarky when she’s hungry.” I widened my eyes in faux-fear. “I’m a little afraid of her when she hasn’t had a cupcake.”
Both men burst into laughter as Hawk handed me back the sheaf of papers. “Good idea. I thought she was going to shoot my kneecap off when I ate the last doughnut last week. Make sure to tell Shark your reasoning. He’ll get a kick out of it.”
“I will.” After one week on the job, I was feeling more comfortable around our boss, and he’d relaxed around me as well.
“Sit. I wanted to talk to you about something,” Cam ordered, and I took the chair beside my roomie. “I wanted to have a little party so you can meet everyone. What are your plans for tomorrow?”
“Oh, I was going to meet up with some people from my cohort. We were supposed to go last weekend, but the plans fell through. I can cancel though,” I added quickly.
“No, it’s cool. We can do it next weekend if that works for you.”
“Yeah, sure. Sounds good.”
Hawk was quiet, and when I looked over at him, he was scowling. “Who are these people you’re going out with?”
“Just some future classmates. Lauren, Megan, Connor, and Scott.”
“And how did you meet them?” he questioned, leaning back and crossing his arms over his broad chest.
“Well, we had an online orientation, and we all started chatting. Kind of hit it off. Lauren and Scott are from the area, but Megan and Connor just moved here too.”
“So you’re going out with strangers?” he asked, his tone outraged.
I refrained from rolling my eyes. Barely. “They’ve all been accepted to the same PT program I have. Everyone has to pass a background check, and you get rejected if you have any criminal history. Calm down, Dad.”
Ignoring that last jab, he demanded, “I want their last names.” Cam’s eyes flicked back and forth between us in amusement.
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
“And you think you’re the boss of me?”
Hawk uncrossed his arms, threw his hands up in exasperation, and let them fall to his lap. “Cam, help me out here.”
I shifted my narrowed gaze to my cousin, and he gave an apologetic shrug. “Wouldn’t be a bad idea, Marshmallori. Just to make sure nothing slipped beneath the radar.”
With two sets of determined eyes staring at me, I relented with a huff. “Fine.” Cam slid a pen and a sheet of paper across the desk toward me, and I wrote down everyone’s last names. “Would you like their blood types and their mothers’ maiden names as well?” I asked with saccharine sweetness.
“If you have them,” Hawk replied without even a hint of a smile.
“I was kidding, you buffoon.” I caught a glimpse of white teeth before he shut down his smile.
“Pain in my ass,” he mumbled.
I hid my own grin and vowed to myself to annoy Hawk Gentry’s bossy ass as often as possible.