12. Chapter 12
Chapter 12
You can change the world if you care enough.
Berlin poked her head out of the fridge as Chance strode into the kitchen after doing a check of the safe house, even though she’d told him it was clean.
“You sure this place is okay?” he asked as he sat at the kitchen table.
The house belonged to Redemption Harbor Security, and they used it as a safe house for themselves or more often women on the run from abusive partners. When it wasn’t in use, the crew occasionally congregated over here. Most of the neighbors assumed the place was a VRBO rental and they liked that just fine. It kept anyone from asking questions or trying to get to know them.
“We’re good,” she said around a yawn. She wanted to work, but knew she was close to crashing. Though if he made a move…she didn’t think she’d turn him down.
“You need sleep and…I do too. Is there anything good in there, or should we call for takeout?”
She pulled out a few boxes. “Tons of leftovers.”
He blinked at the array of boxes, clearly from different restaurants. “I take it this isn’t all yours.”
“Nope. But it’s fine. We always order extra for later. What’s your preference?”
“Italian works,” he said, nodding at one of the boxes.
She pulled out a bowl of butter noodles for herself while he pulled out something more substantial.
“So tell me about this ‘we,’” he said as he grabbed bottles of water for them along with cutlery.
She plated their food and put his in the microwave first. “Well, I like the people I work with. They’re all trained in the way I imagine you were in the army.”
“All of them?”
“Except me.” She lifted a shoulder, then paused when he straightened. “What is it?”
“Someone’s here,” he murmured, reaching for his pistol. “I hear a vehicle pulling up.”
Crap, normally she’d have gotten an alert on her phone but it was charging in the other room where she’d dumped it and their bags. Before coming here, they’d stopped by his place to grab his stuff, then hers to do the same. It had been a long night—morning at this point—and all she wanted to do was sleep, then crash. “Let me check the cameras,” she murmured but he was already moving to the side door. “Could be Bradford coming by.”
Chance gave her a weird look, but kept his alert position by the back door.
She hurried to the other room, scooped up her half-charged phone but stopped when she heard a familiar voice.
“Who the hell are you?” Adalyn demanded.
“He’s with me and everything is fine!” Berlin called out as she hurried into the kitchen, right around the time the microwave beeped.
Oh, and it wasn’t just Adalyn, but everyone .
What. The. Hell.
“What are you guys doing here?” she asked as she made her way to the microwave. “I thought the job would go a couple more days.”
“We wrapped up early.” Adalyn eyed Chance, who was leaning against the countertop, watching quietly, his weapon tucked away.
“And all of you decided to come here instead of going home?” She looked past Adalyn to Rowan, Tiago, and Bradford. No Ezra, since he was still on his honeymoon, and damn, she missed him.
They were all eyeing Chance with suspicion and that just annoyed her. They should know her well enough that she wouldn’t have brought someone here if she thought they were a threat. They should trust her at this point.
“When you didn’t respond to my texts, I got worried. Then I heard from Camila that you helped her with something,” Adalyn said.
Sighing, she put her plate in the microwave and set Chance’s on the table. “Eat,” she murmured. He had to be starving too.
To her surprise, he moved to stand next to her instead of taking the plate, almost in solidarity as he faced the others.
“Well I’m fine,” she said to Adalyn and the guys. “And you can all come inside. You look menacing standing huddled like that. Everyone, this is Chance, our new client and my friend .” Sure, she might be open to more than friendship, but now wasn’t the time to think about that. She quickly introduced everyone, then pulled her plate out of the microwave a second before it beeped.
Everyone sort of mumbled greetings, but the guys were acting weird and watching Chance like he was a coiled rattlesnake. And so was Adalyn for that matter. When Berlin picked up her plate, Chance did the same and the two of them sat.
But at least everyone moved into the kitchen more naturally, sitting at the table with them.
“So what are we helping you with, Chance?” Rowan, the friendliest of all of them, asked as he sat at the table. But even he looked edgy. Instead of his normal teddy bear vibe, he looked like a mean grizzly. She wondered if Reese and Hailey knew about the crew just showing up here and made a mental note to call them. Sometimes she hated that they weren’t working in the same office anymore. Or state.
“We’re helping him find his brother.” She had a feeling that Chance was going to be super annoyed with her for telling them, but he’d get over it. Because there was no way she’d walk away after helping him get this far. She just hoped he didn’t contradict her about him being a client.
Bradford had headed for the fridge at least so he wasn’t hovering, but Adalyn and Tiago sat with them too and yep, they all looked…intimidating. Or like they were trying to intimidate Chance.
She frowned at them, but thankfully Chance didn’t seem to notice. Or maybe he just didn’t care. “And we’ve got a good lead,” she continued before anyone could respond.
“Yeah, I heard from Camila that you got tangled up with the Uptown Street Kings. Jesus, Berlin,” Adalyn snapped, clearly out of patience. “You should have waited for us.”
“Hey, Berlin was incredible,” Chance said, nudging his plate away as he frowned at Adalyn. “She’s one of the most capable people I’ve ever worked with, and I used to work with a lot of analysts. She’s more skilled than all of them combined. Because of her, not only do we have a lead, but she acted quickly and saved a young girl’s life last night.”
Berlin had told him later about the girl in the bathroom, hoped she’d made it home. Camila hadn’t said anything about the neighbors calling 911 so apparently the girl was keeping her mouth shut about the whole thing.
She blinked in surprise at his heated words and found herself smiling at him. “Thanks. I liked working with you too. And for the record,” she said, turning to the others, “he took out two of those guys without breaking a sweat. I was never in any danger.” Probably not true, but she was going to lie her face off right now. It seemed like the smarter option.
“Well, he is a former Green Beret,” Adalyn said, watching him with a hard expression.
Chance went still, then looked at Berlin.
“I didn’t say anything!” Frowning, she turned back to Adalyn. “How do you know about that?”
She gave Berlin a get real look. “I had Hailey run his information to see what we were working with. Then when she couldn’t dig any deeper without setting off alarm bells, Skye made a few calls. We’ve got your file and it’s impressive. But your brother is not. He’s got a pretty long record of making bad decisions.”
Berlin made another note to yell at Hailey for not just asking her about Chance. “So what if his brother has made some bad decisions?” Berlin snapped, shoving to her feet. “I thought we helped people in trouble, and I’m helping Chance whether everyone likes it or not. You guys don’t own me.”
Adalyn blinked in surprise and held up her palms. “I know that. We were just worried about you.”
Her temper was still running hot. “Did you really think I didn’t do my homework? That I don’t know the things you’re telling me right now? You wouldn’t go behind any of the others and check up on them if they brought in a client.”
“Yeah, I would.” Adalyn cocked an eyebrow. “I’d ask you to run anyone I wasn’t sure about—and I have.”
Okay, that was actually true. Damn it! “Yeah, well, this is different. You’re all ganging up on me right now and it’s bullshit.”
Adalyn cleared her throat. “No—”
“Yeah, we kind of are,” Bradford murmured from the fridge where he was pulling out more food.
And that was why he was her favorite, always having her back.
“Sorry, B,” he continued. “I was worried when you called me, and that’s on me. I think my worry rubbed off on everyone else.”
Some of her anger faded and she sniffed once. “Fine, you’re forgiven. But Hailey is not,” she said as she turned to Adalyn.
Adalyn winced slightly. “Don’t be mad at her.”
“Too late.” She sniffed again. “And you know what, we’re exhausted. So I’m going to finish eating, then sleep for a few hours.” Berlin didn’t miss the look Rowan shot Tiago, who cleared his throat.
“You know what? I’m exhausted too,” Tiago said. “I’m gonna head home to Fleur and get a few hours of shut-eye. But I’m sorry, Berlin. It’s not an excuse—we’re just being overprotective. We know how damn capable you are. That was never in question.”
A little more mollified, she nodded at him. “Thank you.”
Sighing, Adalyn stood with Rowan. “We’re going to head out for a few hours and give you space, but we’ll be back by noon to talk about the plan going forward.”
Rowan leaned over Berlin, kissed the top of her head. “I’m a dumbass sometimes, B. Sorry for getting ahead of myself.”
“No arguments here,” she muttered, which just made him laugh.
“Come on Bradford,” Rowan said.
“Oh. Oooh. Okay, so we’re all leaving,” Bradford said, clearly realizing it was time to go. “I’ll just bring this plate back later.” He nodded at Chance once. “Nice to meet you.”
Chance simply nodded back at him, watching him and the others closely.
It was clear Adalyn wanted to say more, but she ended up leaving with everyone else.
“Sorry about that,” Berlin murmured once they were alone again.
Surprising her, Chance picked up her plate and took it to the microwave. It had gotten cold while she’d been sitting there. “Don’t be sorry. They’re right to be worried. I’m a stranger to them, and my brother does have a bad reputation.”
“They should trust me,” she muttered.
“Maybe it’s not about trust, but just…them loving you.”
She frowned at him. “How about you don’t be logical and just let me be mad?”
He snort-laughed, but she could see the exhaustion creeping in around his eyes. Not that it took away from how gorgeous the man was. Jeez, tall, muscular and deadly capable was definitely her type. Just throw an adorable kitten in his arms and he’d be her kryptonite.
“I figure we’ve got about five hours before they’re back, and I just need four to sleep.”
“You sound like me,” he murmured as he pulled her plate back out. “But I say we aim for five hours. Look, I want to find my brother more than anyone, but at this point we know he took off on his own. We’ll be no good to him if we can’t think clearly.”
“You’re right.” Ugh, and she hated that she needed to rest. She wished she could just plug herself in and keep going.
“Two words I love to hear,” he said, sliding her plate in front of her before heading back to the fridge.
“Don’t get used to it.”
The sound of his laugh warmed her from the inside out. She’d already liked him from their online gaming; she hadn’t expected to like him in person quite so much. He was even better than she’d imagined.
Normally people disappointed her, but it was the opposite with him. And that scared her.