Chapter Twelve #2
Dare. His friend. Ben hadn’t realized how much he’d wanted to talk to him.
“I’m here for the drama,” Tasha announced.
He frowned Tasha’s way. “We don’t use that word around Kenz.”
Her smile amped up mightily. “Then things are going great.” She moved past him. “Hey, Kenz, why are we neglecting drama now? I thought we loved drama.”
Tasha walked in and Kenzie leaned out like she’d expected they were coming. “Cooper said some mean shit about me and my drama and Ben took offense because he’s my dream Dom and he knew I would want him to valiantly defend me.”
“I was not being mean,” Cooper contested.
“He’s not actually capable of being mean.” Kala strode forward and hugged her sister. “How was the flight?”
“Good, and even better since I smell pulled pork,” Tasha said, hugging her back. “Are we doing sandwiches or tacos?”
“Tacos and nachos,” Kenzie replied. She looked soft and sweet in her yoga pants and T-shirt that hid all the marks he’d put on her.
His girl liked when he went wild on her.
He’d never gone wild on anyone before. Only her. Only ever her.
“Oh, man, I know that look,” Dare said.
Dare. He could talk to Dare. He felt something weird. Something infinitely warm and satisfying.
He thought it might be joy.
He hugged Dare, who chuckled and did the whole manly hug thing.
“I’m glad you’re here.” The man had cut his honeymoon short, and Ben was pretty sure it was because Kenzie had asked them to. Because she’d known he needed support.
He stepped back, letting the wave of emotion ease his soul.
It was time to stop being suspicious. Time to accept that maybe he was in a good place.
“Come on in. These two know nothing about baseball,” he said with a grin.
Cooper straightened up and looked slightly offended. “Dude, I played all through high school.”
Dare put a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “And this man was scouted by every team on the East Coast. Let a couple of Canucks teach you something about America’s game.”
Ben shut the door as TJ started talking shit and Kenzie was dancing around the kitchen with her unique energy and the game went on. Ben joined them and for the first time felt like maybe, just maybe, he belonged here.
Week Two
“Yes, that’s Claire.” Sosa stared down at the picture. “She is okay?”
“No one is ever okay,” Gabby replied, staying back.
Kenzie watched them. She was actually getting to the point where she could handle Sosa. Gabby was easier, but she was also far more distant. They were working with Ariel and Penny and Kenzie’s mom to get down as much about their organization as they could remember, which was a lot.
If they could trust them.
“She’s in police custody right now, but we’re working to get her out,” Kenzie explained, trying to handle the situation with delicacy.
“She’s a terrible assassin.” Kala didn’t understand the meaning of the word.
Kenz sent her twin a what-the-hell look since they’d already talked about how to handle this.
Kala shrugged. “They caught her at our house. She didn’t even know Dad wasn’t there, and if the dogs weren’t in Colorado, she probably would have killed them.”
Sosa’s eyes went wide. “No. No. Claire would never kill poor puppy. Only humans. We are not monsters.”
Gabby nodded. “Humans are terrible. Dogs are good. So are cats.”
“Claire is allergic to cats so she might…” Sosa allowed with a shrug. “I mean she is assassin. We’re not known for being kind.”
“She would not,” Gabby argued. “She would get some medications and keep cat. I already told her when we kill all the people who harm us, we’re getting cat and living in the forest.”
“I have thought about that myself,” Kala agreed. “I called it my bog witch era, but I was getting goats.”
Kenzie stared down at the picture. The girl couldn’t be more than twenty-one or twenty-two.
She had the same haunted look she saw in Gabby and Sosa’s eyes when they weren’t shoving bravado around to cover up how vulnerable they felt.
Sometimes they were like kids, excited about exploring the world around them.
Other times they shut down like they knew it would all go to hell and there was no reason to pretend otherwise.
Ben could be like that. Especially the first week. Before Tasha and Dare joined them, Ben was wary about everything but playing with her. Then the Dom came out and there was no hesitation.
But last night the club had been open to the OGs and the younger set had put together a movie night and Ben had laughed and joked with the guys.
He’d given Cooper shit and made sure TJ had an extra sandwich.
He sat with Tim and Dare and talked about Canadian things like ice hockey and whatever curling was.
He’s fitting in nicely, her sister had told her.
He’d even had dinner with her dad and only told him twice that he would murder him in a dark alley one day but he probably wouldn’t even know who was killing him because the dementia would have taken hold.
Her dad thought that was hilarious and went on about Ben’s hair.
It was good hair. Strong, thick hair. That hair wasn’t going anywhere soon, but it didn’t matter because she loved more than his full, luxurious head of hair.
Her dad thought that all men’s hair should be either buzz cut or super long so it went into a queue.
Not a ponytail. Which Ben pointed out since her dad’s hair was slightly below his shoulders at this point.
He’d asked her dad how he liked his man bun.
They were getting along well.
So why did something feel off?
“I like goats,” Sosa said, still staring at her friend’s mug shot.
“They are used in witchcraft,” Gabby complained.
“Good. I would like to be learning the witchcrafts.” Sosa was unperturbed. “I would like to curse people and send horrors their way. It would be fun hobby.”
“Yeah, it would be,” Kala said with a wistful sigh.
Sosa looked to Kenzie. “They will kill her in jail. They have to know something is wrong by now.”
“They think we’re all dead.” Gabby sat back in her seat. According to Vivi, Gabby hadn’t been sleeping. She wasn’t taking to the new life the way Sosa was, but it could be a lot of factors.
Including the one where she couldn’t trust that she would survive and that life could be good.
Kenzie’s life felt really good right now.
They worked well together. They’d been to a compound in the Scottish countryside and recently had spent three days watching a tiny apartment in Amsterdam. Everything went well and when other guys hit on her, Ben stayed cool and calm except for the one who put a hand on her.
They had ridiculously hot sex that night.
She was starting to see how they could work together. They’d gotten excellent intel out of the occupants of that apartment. All it had taken was watching them for a couple of days.
The woman worked for Disrupt Europe and probably had no idea she was facilitating terrorism, but she had led them to the accountant who almost certainly did.
It was all about getting the right data.
Huisman was in hiding and they needed to figure out where he was, but it seemed buried in piles and piles of red tape.
His foundation was connected to a multinational conglomerate with more arms than they could count.
This was the real, rough work of espionage. Digging into the data, trying to find the clues they needed to pinpoint where Huisman would be.
“I will miss Claire. She was good friend.” Sosa sat back like the younger woman’s fate had already been decided.
“She’s going to get out later today, and we’ll help her disappear,” Kenzie explained. “It might take a day or two, but she’ll be here soon. We’ll even send a bodyguard with her.”
Sosa sniffled. “Sorry. She is scared we are going to be found. They won’t let us live. And our other friend is there.”
Kala stared at her, blue eyes assessing. “I’m surprised they keep sending you in. It’s almost like you’re being used to test our boundaries. How many missions have you completed?”
“Many.” Sosa’s shoulders straightened. “So many, I cannot be counting.”
Kenzie doubted that. Oh, she had no question the young woman was good with a sniper rifle, but she didn’t know hand to hand at all. She was catching on quickly, but it made Kenzie wonder.
Were they assassins or Trojan horses and they were the dumbass Trojans who let them in?
“But you don’t have the names?” Kala asked. She’d been going between being their fun big sister who brought them beer and watched music videos with them to their interrogator.
It did seem to keep the girls on their toes.
“We were given photos, and our handlers knew all the proper informations,” Sosa said defensively.
She’d mentioned this before. “So you have handlers. Do you know their names?”
“I am to call them Mister or Missus. They change often,” Sosa replied.
“When we were younger, they traveled with us and pretended to be our mom or father.” Gabby seemed utterly forlorn.
Vivi had been working with them under the guise of being their guide. Ariel was having therapy sessions with them but thought they were still hiding something.
“But you didn’t have a handler for this job?” Kenzie asked.
“They say we’re trustworthy now.” Gabby’s chin came up with something akin to pride. “We even get some money and a nice hotel room. That I will never see again because you catch me.”
“Sorry about not letting you kill my father,” Kenzie said with a long sigh. “I’m sure your life was way better before.”
She shrugged. “I like the city. Dallas is nice. I’ve been a few times.” She glanced down at her watch. “I’m going to get ready for my session with the doctor.”
Sosa stood as well. “I’ll talk to her. She’s worried about Claire.”
They walked out, and Kala’s brows rose. “She’s been to Dallas before? I thought they weren’t allowed out of Europe. From what I’ve pieced together they’ve worked strictly in the Schengen Zone.”