Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
The base is packed with their soldiers. Arlo’s outside, chatting in a hushed tone with Cove, a little away from the entrance.
I watch them through the big mirror of the kitchen area while pouring myself a glass of water.
I sip on the cold water, turning away from the window and staring into the spacious room that’s being used as the main space to regroup.
Aria is in the corner with Freya.
Freya looks… well, as good as expected. Her eye’s still patched, but overall, she seems like her old, grumpy self.
However, only Freya knows how she’s truly feeling, and despite how cold she is usually, I’ve grown fond of her.
It might be seen as naive, but I see her as a friend, and I’d want to be there for her if she’d let me.
My eyes move to the left when I’m approached by a shorter girl. She’s blonde, with a small, soft smile on her face. She’s holding a glass of water, though her hand seems to be trembling.
“Hi!”
Her voice is rather high, and I can’t help but chuckle. For whatever reason, she seems nervous to be around me, and I find it adorable.
“Hello.”
“I’m Jewel,” she introduces herself, and I shelve her face and name in my head. I’ve always loved remembering people’s names, because I hate not being remembered. I’d imagine it’s the same for everyone.
“Blair,” I extend a hand for her to shake, and she takes it, almost too eagerly.
“I know!” She beams. “You’re the boss’ girl, right?”
“Whose?” I ask immediately, then backtrack. I forgot Arlo is these people’s boss. With a chuckle, I lower my head. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
“I’ve heard great things about you!”
“Have you?”
She nods. “Freya talks about you a lot. She really seems to like you.”
A frown etches on my face. Not once did I allow myself to think that Freya liked me as a person. She always acts like I’m an inconvenience, and given the way she treats people, I highly doubt she likes anyone.
“She does?”
The skepticism in my voice makes Jewel squint her eyes, but not in a hostile manner. More like, she’s trying to understand the reason behind my bewilderment.
“She does,” Jewel echoes.
I clear my throat. “I’m sorry, but who are you to Freya?”
“Oh!” Her eyes light up. “I’m her wife.”
My hand stops mid-air as I’m about to take a sip of my water. Jewel looks at me with beaming eyes, and my brain short-circuits for a fucking minute. How in the fucking hell is Freya, the grumpy cat, married to a ray of sunshine like this one?
“I… You’re her what?”
Jewel nods. “Mhm! I’m her wife, see!” Excitedly, she shows me her wedding ring, and I have to do a double take.
The band is gold, with small rubies on it. It has a certain elegance to it that I haven’t seen before, and although the band is on the thinner side, it looks perfect. It’s one of the prettiest wedding bands I’ve ever seen.
“Oh, it’s so pretty. Why rubies, though?”
“Ruby is my birthstone,” Jewel states matter-of-factly. “And Freya’s is sapphire, so she has a few of them on hers.”
I’m still reeling from the shock that Freya is fucking married. I never noticed the wedding band — then again, I never truly looked. But still, to know someone’s putting up with that stoic personality on the daily makes me shudder.
“That’s very cute,” I mutter, unsure of how to proceed with the conversation.
“You know,” she finishes drinking her water, setting the dirty glass in the sink behind me. “Freya is rough around the edges; everyone knows that. But deep down, she’s just really scared of being unlovable.”
That hits me harder than I thought it would
Slowly, I look across the room, spotting Freya chatting with Aria in the same spot as earlier. Though this time, her eye darts to her wife every few seconds, paying no mind to me at all.
But there’s something in the air that makes me pause. The pull between the two is definitely there, and either Jewel is oblivious to the stares of her wife, or she’s pretending not to notice them.
“Anyway,” my attention is drawn back to Jewel when she speaks. “Are you nervous?”
“About tonight?”
She nods.
“A little,” I admit, setting the glass aside. “But I have Arlo by my side.”
“That’s true,” she hums. “He won’t let anything happen to you. I’m kind of anxious, too.”
“Oh?” I lift a brow. “Why?”
“It’s been a while since I was out in the field, you know? I got myself poisoned a while back, and it took me a while to recover. So, I’m scared I won’t do good.”
“What is, exactly, your expertise here?”
Many people here are just regular shooters, great fighters with an even better aim, and there are a few trained hitmen just like Arlo. One of them, Raven, enters from the basement, dressed in his attire, with his long, curly hair tied in a high bun.
“I like hitting things,” she smiles warmly, and I’m thrown off. I’m either dealing with a psychopath or someone innocent who can’t grasp the severity of this work.
“Hitting things?”
“Mhm,” she nods. “I have a metal bat that I added spikes to. They’re very, very sharp and can kill people.”
“No doubt.” I take a step back, looking at her thoroughly.
She’s a lot shorter than me, but now that I’m looking at her with a critical eye, I see that she’s got a great build. The bat in question is heavy if it’s metal, and it takes strength to swing that thing. Her arms are toned, biceps showing through the thin jacket.
“Don’t worry, my aim is good!”
“Then, you shouldn’t be anxious, either.”
She sighs. “I wish it were that easy. Sometimes, it feels like I’m not good enough for this line of work, you know? Especially when my wife is a freaking poison master. How do I ever compete with that?”
“You don’t,” I state bluntly, knowing that in terms of brilliance, Freya’s mind is one of a kind. “But why would you want to compete with your wife? You are both good, just at different things.”
Jewel takes a moment to soak in the words, then nods. “You’re right, sorry to be bothering you with my issues, especially since it’s our first time meeting.”
“No worries,” I smile. “I could use a friend or two around here.”
“Well, Freya, I and a few other girls go out regularly. It’s nothing fancy, just a dinner or gathering in here and playing poker for fun. You can always join. The next one should be in a week or so.”
“I’d like that,” I offer her a smile.
“Good, I’ll let you know when everything is scheduled.”
Jewel opens her mouth to speak again, but she’s interrupted when we’re approached by Raven.
It’s the first time I’m seeing him up close, and he’s taller than he looks.
The dark, curly hair has a few strands falling out of the bun.
There’s warmth on his face that’s a rarity to see in this line of business, especially at times like these.
“Hey,” he greets Jewel, then nods at me. “I finished cleaning your bat. I left it with Freya.”
“Great! Thank you. Are you ready?”
Raven nods. “I’ll be going first, with Keith. He’ll be watching my back while I’m on the roof of the house.”
“From what I’ve seen, the house is rather big,” I quip, and the two turn to look at me. “And it has good security. How will you get in?”
“I’m good at being a spy,” Raven smiles cheekily. “X taught me a few tricks that I’ve used. It will be hard, but if done correctly, definitely not impossible.”
“Speaking of X,” I swallow, remembering the last time I saw him. It’s thanks to him that Arlo came to find me, but I haven’t seen him since. I’m not sure if he’s even alive, and given his contribution to saving me, I wanted to thank him. I never got the chance to. “Has anyone heard from him?”
Raven shakes his head. “When he completes a mission successfully, he disappears for a while. A year ago, we had this big mission, and he wasn’t seen until it was time to deal with Simmons and find the girls.
A group of us started betting on his whereabouts.
Some said he has a whole-ass family somewhere; the others were convinced he had another organization he was working for aside from Hudson’s.
Some were even talking about him being involved with the cops again and trying to ruin the business. ”
“And?” I urge, curiosity in my voice. “Has anything been proven correct?”
“No,” he sighs in disappointment. “Arlo shot all the rumors down and told us to mind our business. I did, however, press for more information. The only thing Arlo said was that he trusted him and not to question his authority. The betting ended there.”
“Do you think he’ll reappear at some point?”
“Oh, definitely. Arlo knows how to find him if he needs to. Why? Did you need him, or something?”
“Not necessarily. I just never got to thank him for helping me out.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he knows you’re thankful. Besides, he’s bound to come out of his hiding place when he runs out of cash.”
“Since we’re on the topic of X,” I clear my throat. “What’s up with his scar? I’m assuming that’s why he got the nickname X.”
Jewel and Raven look at each other, silently having a conversation. Although it makes me feel left out, I don’t press for more information until they decide what to tell me. It’s not like it’s any of my business, but I am rather curious.
Jewel looks at me, then speaks in a lower tone.
“He used to be a CIA spy. I’m not sure of the details, but he was caught during a mission.
The scar X on his face was engraved by his captors.
He was tortured for four months straight, and that was the last time X ever spoke.
No one knows if they took his tongue or if he chose not to speak, but it’s been years.
No one has heard him talk. That was his last mission, too. He quit the CIA afterwards.”
My heart sinks to my stomach. I can’t even begin to imagine the horror he went through and the trauma that he was left with. I shudder at the thought, looking away for a moment.