Chapter 3 #2
“Waiting on Satori and Kade. They’re going through intake now,” Carter tells him, and his eyes widen.
“We’re actually working with those pompous assholes?”
Zeke doesn’t like Sahara—never has. He always said they’re too flashy—too cocky with their work. Which, I agree, but they also had more resources at the time. Unfortunately, that may not be the case anymore.
“They can help us through this shit show, and then we’ll go from there.
Okay? Let’s get the people taken care of,” I say back to him as softly as I can, but it comes off more authoritative.
He just nods in response and aggressively tosses his tissue in the trash can across the room, making the shot.
I scoff and shake my head, silently acknowledging his tiny tantrum.
As if mentioning their names summoned them, Ezra escorts Satori and Kade through the door. Satori’s presence is just as unnerving as before. He stands tall and confident, like he’s already decided that this is his new home.
I don’t fucking like it.
He’s going to learn very quickly that while he may have been in charge before, that he’ll be far from that now. These are my men, my organization, and if he thinks his input will ever come before theirs, he’s in for a rude awakening.
Kade’s appearance catches me off guard; looking nothing like I expected.
We’ve known each other for years, but virtually, and I’ve only ever seen pictures or seen his face on a video call.
He’s shorter than I expected, standing fully at about five foot seven, and his hair is shorter than the last time I spoke to him.
It’s bald on the sides, and shaved on top like he’s in the military, while Satori has clean cut, wavy hair that lays backward.
Kade takes one look around the room and runs his hand over his practically nonexistent brown hair before having a seat on the opposite side of me and my wife.
Satori is smart enough to sit beside him, and away from us, but is dumb enough to give Ashia the same not-worth-a-shit look that he did before.
Does he not like women? I’m going to guess and say everyone in his organization are males, and that might all but confirm my suspicions.
Men like him don’t sit well with me, so I’ll be sure to make this as fun as possible for him.
Not.
“Thanks for coming.” I look directly at Kade and speak, intentionally avoiding Satori, and he nods back—finally acknowledging me with more than a nervous glance.
“Thanks for having us,” he says, and his body language eases, like he feels better knowing that I’m speaking to him now.
“Who do you have that’s ready for deployment?”
“Well, we have fifty—” Satori starts, and I cut my eyes to him, instantly feeling them burn with abhorrence.
“Yeah, no. I’m talking to Kade,” I interrupt and immediately look back over to my friend—not missing the way a subtle grunt slips from his mouth. Kade looks over at Satori, then back to me, and I don’t let the hardness of my gaze falter.
“Um…we have fifty men geared up and ready. All have been filled in on what you expect of them,” Kade says.
“And what did you tell them?”
“That they’re strictly to assist, and whoever they’re paired with is in command.
They’ll listen. They’re good men,” he reassures me, but I’m not so easily convinced.
I know my men can hold their own, and I’ll never let Satori walk out of here alive if anything happens to them, but I don’t want anything to happen to begin with.
“I assure you, they’re highly trained…” Satori chimes in again.
“And I assure you that I don’t give a fuck. I don’t play around when it comes to my men’s lives, and your bullshit guarantees mean nothing to me.”
Ashia then squeezes my hand—the one still resting on her stomach—and I shakily exhale, feeling the weight of this barreling down on me.
“What else are you all prepared to do to prove you’re not a threat?” she asks with clarity and grace, taking the reins like a true queen.
“Since this is strictly disaster relief, we’ll send them out with no weapons, while your men keep theirs.
That way, we show that we trust you, and you can trust us.
We understand that this is a difficult time, and we don’t want to put any more stress on your organization than necessary,” Kade tells my wife, looking her in the eyes like he respects her, and then she looks back up to me with a loving gaze—instantly easing my worries like she always has.
“I think that’s a good compromise. Yeah?
” She nods lightly as she speaks to me, trying to ease the decision along.
I still don’t trust Satori, and I thought before today that I could trust Kade.
A part of me feels badly for thinking ill of him, but I have to.
My men, my wife, and my baby are on the line by bringing them in here, and this isn’t something I’ll take lightly just because the city is in flames.
“Yeah, we can start there,” I tell her anyway and back her up—especially in front of Satori. If he has an issue with a woman, my woman in particular, making decisions, then this will be a very short partnership. “You got names on your people?” I turn to Kade and ask.
“I just sent all of their information to you and Carter,” Kade confirms, and I look over to Carter. He nods his head, silently telling me he received it. I take a final deep breath, feeling like this might be the worst decision I’ve ever made.
“Alright, let’s get them out on the streets.”
We spend the next hour picking out drop-off points and sending people out in pairs.
Thankfully, we have enough water to distribute cases to all of the homeless shelters, soup kitchens, social services offices, libraries, and pretty much anywhere we can think of.
The moment the drop-offs are complete, Adrien sends out an update with the new locations.
We’re spreading them throughout the entire city—hoping that we can get to as many people as possible, as efficiently as possible.
With the few extra people we have, and trust, I send them out to the next town over to pick up food for all the hospital staff and first responders.
Witnessing what we did today was eye opening, and while we’re doing what we can for the citizens, it’s those workers that are really doing the hard work—being the only thing standing between life and death for some.
They deserve to be treated and taken care of as well, and thanks to my wife’s fiery best friend, I’ve gotten to realize that more and more.
The information we’re receiving from Tony shows that only one of the two city’s water plants were affected, so thankfully, some of the area wasn’t in danger before it was caught.
Though, unfortunately, most of them were.
But it’s good to know that it was localized to one area, and that it’ll be easier to contain.
“What about the analysis on the wells?” I ask Carter now that we’ve taken care of the people.
The chances of either the Attic or our home being targets are slim to none, but I also thought the same thing before.
Then my wife was poisoned. Then she was kidnapped.
I’m not betting on slim chances anymore.
“The examination here at the Attic came back clear. There’s no contamination.
We haven’t gotten the one for the house back yet, but the analyst said he didn’t see any evidence of tampering.
He’s ninety percent sure that one is fine too, but I know you.
So, I’ll notify you when we get that one back. ”
I nod back at him, and I hear Ashia let out a relieved breath. She looks up at me and squeezes my hand a little.
“On that note, I’m going to use the bathroom, and then I think we should start cooking for all of these people.
It’s past lunch now, and I don’t want all of the kids getting hungry,” she points out.
I chuckle softly and kiss her forehead. My adorable, selfless, caring wife.
She’s probably had to pee for the last hour or so and didn’t want to take up a bathroom if someone else here needed it.
“Okay, baby. We’ll wait for you, and then we’ll help set up.”
She nods and kisses my cheek before getting up and leaving the room. I watch after her, of course, unable to take my eyes off her delectable ass.
“Does she always sit in on these meetings?” Satori speaks up with an almost unbelievable tone, and I can instantly feel the familiar wave of anger wash over me.
I slowly turn my head, giving him whatever amount of time it takes to realize the mistake he just made.
The table turns scorching the moment I lay my palms on top of it and stand up, towering over him just to prove how miniscule his presence here is compared to hers.
“Are you going to have a problem with my wife, Macher?”
His eyes narrow and he leans forward in the seat, almost as if he’s thinking about challenging me. I notice the way his jaw tightens, and his lips flatten into a tight line. Surprisingly, he shakes his head defeatedly, like instead of winning an internal battle, he lost one.
“No. No problem.”
“Good, because if you disrespect my wife, or so much as make her uncomfortable, I will fucking end you. You’re in her kingdom now, and you’ll do well to bow down.”
That’s when the fire burns in his eyes, and he slowly stands to match my height.
“And what if I don’t?”
My teeth grind against each other with how forcefully I’m clenching my jaw, and the uncomfortable grit makes me shutter.
“Then you have no place here. My wife holds the ultimate authority in this world. If she tells you to kneel, you kneel. If she tells you to wash the dishes and take out the trash, then that’s what you fucking do. We don’t belittle a woman’s presence in my domain, and certainly not my wife’s.”
We stare at each other for a moment, glued in a contest for dominance, until he finally gives in with a pretentious smirk and a choked huff.