Chapter 20
Zeus
Up early for his run with Tiger, it was no problem to get over to the office before Yas was even awake. He was keeping an eye on Sarah’s house and on his own camera doorbell for Yas passing by when she walked Hope. Was it possible that she wouldn’t walk by his house? Sure. But he doubted it.
Likely, she was sleeping in, and he was glad of it since he doubted she’d gotten good sleep the night before.
What did surprise him was when he got to the office and realized he wasn’t the only one there.
It was early enough, he’d expected to be, especially on a Saturday.
When he realized it was Drew, he was less surprised.
The man had been putting in long hours even before someone had snuck into the office to plant false evidence for the FBI to find and knocked Drew out at the same time.
It had been set up in a way to make it appear as though it was possible Zeus could have been the culprit.
Once he’d found out that Noelle was cheating on him with Devlin, he’d quickly realized the call from her that day had likely been to ensure he wasn’t in the office and could therefore be put under suspicion.
That part had worked, especially after it became apparent that Noelle and Devlin were together. The team had been suspicious of him.
As he would have been of him in their positions.
But he’d found the planted evidence and scrubbed it from their files after showing Lincoln, which meant there was nothing for the FBI to find when they’d shown up, thanks to an anonymous tip.
They’d all known where that tip had come from.
Devlin had made it his mission to take down Lincoln and the Black Fox team as revenge for being fired.
Apparently, he didn’t consider having an affair with Lincoln’s wife and embezzling money from the company to be just cause.
Because he was a fucking sociopath.
At any rate, Zeus was tempted to just avoid Drew, but after the last time they’d been alone in the office together, and Drew had been attacked, that probably wasn’t the best choice.
He sighed inwardly and walked over to Drew’s office door.
The big man was in there, locks pulled up into a kind of messy bun on the top of his head, black t-shirt stretched over brown muscles, gaze intently focused on something on the computer.
Zeus didn’t make the mistake of thinking that Drew didn’t realize he was there, though.
Ever since the office attack, the man had been hypervigilant.
“Morning,” Zeus said. He doubted much more than acknowledging that they were both in the office would be necessary.
Drew’s gaze flicked up to acknowledge him now, and he grunted something that might have, charitably, been interpreted as a greeting.
Good. Interaction complete.
Zeus was about to turn away and head to the back supply where there were some of the spare security systems for clients—he was just going to grab the best one, and he’d pay Lincoln back later—when Drew cleared his throat.
Pausing in the doorway, Zeus looked back over his shoulder to see what he wanted.
The expression on Drew’s face did not look happy.
“Do you have a minute?” Drew asked.
Why did he feel like he was going to regret this? But Zeus turned back around. As long as Yas didn’t decide to go home in the next few minutes, he had a minute. Especially since Drew rarely voluntarily talked to him. Whatever he wanted, it must be important.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I need to try to find someone from just their name.” Drew sat back in his chair, his expression turning aggrieved as he waved his hand at the computer in front of him. “Need to diffuse your bomb, and I’m your man, but all of this searching stuff is driving me up the fucking wall.”
“Good to know. What name?”
“Pete James.”
The name made Zeus freeze in place, but Drew didn’t notice because he was already scowling at his computer again.
“Do you have any other information to help pin him down? That can’t be that uncommon of a name.”
“It’s not, which is part of why this is so fucking annoying.
” Drew huffed as he poked something on the keyboard with unnecessary force.
“I have more information about his wife than him. Her name is Stacy James. I can email you what I have about her. Please keep it confidential. She stayed at Naomi’s shelter, and right now, her husband is looking for her. ”
Same man as the one who had shown up at Yas’ door looking for Stacy. Zeus wanted to ask more questions—like, did Naomi know Yas? Had Shitbag Pete shown up at Drew and Naomi’s door? How did Drew know that Shitbag was looking for his Stacy?
This was the first olive branch Drew had held out between them, and Zeus wasn’t sure how far he wanted to extend his own branch. Better to start out by getting the information Drew wanted, then seeing how things went from there. Maybe he could ask Yas about it, too.
He hadn’t last night because she’d clearly needed an escape from thinking and worrying about the situation, but they’d have to talk about it later today.
Especially now that he knew there was a connection between Stacy James and Naomi Murphy.
Zeus preferred going into a situation with all the information in hand he could possibly have, so he’d do the research first, then admit to Drew he already knew who Pete James was.
Maybe. If he felt like Drew needed to know.
But he wasn’t going to share immediately.
Not until he knew all sides of what was happening. Then he could decide if he wanted to share and how much to share.
It was possible Drew would find out that Zeus also knew someone Pete James had targeted and read something unexpected into the common ground.
Maybe even think it was some part of an evil mastermind plan with Devlin.
Zeus was now going to do a deep dive to make sure the man had no connection with Devlin. Just in case.
“What do you want to know about him? Anything in particular?”
“Location, assets, anything that might be useful in a divorce.” Drew looked grim. “He’s got a history of domestic abuse with Stacy, but I don’t know if actual police reports were made or not.”
There were, although Zeus suspected they’d been heavily edited from what had actually happened.
He wasn’t going to tell Drew that he already had all this information, though.
First, because then he’d have to tell Drew how and why, and secondly, because now he wanted to do a deeper dive on both Shitbag and Stacy.
“Got it.” Zeus turned to go again.
“Hey, Zeus.” Drew cleared his throat as Zeus looked back over his shoulder. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
He would have done it even if Yas hadn’t been tangentially connected, but now he had double the reason.
And he had some questions for Yas.
Yasmine
Not only did she sleep in, but Yasmine slept hard.
The lack of sleep from the night before, combined with absolutely fantastic sex, had drained her.
Even when she did wake up, she didn’t get up right away, which wasn’t like her.
It was just too easy to loll in bed and stretch and think about how incredibly satisfied she felt.
Mornings like this didn’t happen often, especially these days.
Yeah, she would not object to hooking up with Zeus regularly. She just had to watch herself to make sure she didn’t get too attached.
Which was why she did not immediately check her clock or jump up to get ready so she could see him sooner.
Nope. She was going to take her time. Though she wasn’t going to dress in sweats today just to put him off.
Obviously, that hadn’t worked, anyway. Even just going back home, she really didn’t want her neighbors to see her totally raggedy.
It was Hope’s snuffling that finally got her moving. The dog hopped up happily when Yasmine got up, which meant she’d made the right decision.
“Hey, pretty girl,” Yasmine said, giving the dog’s ears a ruffle as she yawned and covered her mouth with her other hand. “How are you feeling this morning? You slept as hard as I did.”
Hanging out with Tiger must have worn her out a bit.
That or being back at home, even if Sarah wasn’t here.
Yasmine felt a little guilty about having taken Hope home with her, rather than staying at Sarah’s immediately, but it really would have given her almost twice the commute from work.
Plus, Sarah hadn’t invited her to stay yet.
“Maybe we could stay here tonight, too. Since it seems to be good for you,” Yasmine murmured.
Then immediately started second-guessing herself.
Did she really want to stay here for Hope’s benefit…
or for hers because Zeus was right next door?
Crap, was she already going down her usual cycle of getting way too attached and thinking about what she wanted with him—even if right now what she wanted was focused on orgasms?
Was she doing this for herself or for the dog?
Because if it was for herself, she needed to go home tonight.
On the other hand, it wasn’t like she could keep spending the night.
This would be a one-time thing because of Hope.
Which meant it was for the dog. Even if Yasmine did end up benefiting from a second night of fantastic sex…
and feeling very safe because she would be difficult to find and had Zeus sleeping right next door.
“I’ll think about it,” she told Hope, then gave her one last pat before getting up. Hope jumped down from the bed at the same time as Yasmine stretched.
She headed to the kitchen to feed Hope before getting into her actual stretching routine.
Thankfully, she’d almost completed it by the time Hope finished her breakfast and came over to see what Yasmine was doing.
Since her current position was on the floor, it was easy for Hope to get in her face, horrifying doggy breath and all.
“Oh… no… Hope!” Yasmine couldn’t help but laugh as the dog turned away but sat down, trying to seat herself in Yasmine’s lap.
“You are not a lap dog!” She gave Hope’s silky coat a good rubdown anyway, from her head all the way down her back, before giving the dog a little push to get her up and moving.
Shaking her head, still smiling, Yasmine finally reached for her phone to text Zeus. She’d done a good job of her normal routine and not rushing to get in contact with him. If she got a little thrill at pulling open her texts with him, that was normal.
It wasn’t every night that a girl got multiple orgasms.
Yasmine
Hey, I’m up and getting ready to go. I’ll probably be ready to head home in about thirty minutes.
He texted her back only a few minutes later when she was brushing her teeth to get rid of any morning breath. While she’d brought food for Hope, she’d planned to go home to eat breakfast for herself.
Zeus
Sounds good. I just got back from getting a security system for you.
Yasmine
I was going to order one.
Even if she hadn’t been able to make a decision yesterday because she didn’t feel like she knew enough to make a good one. She wasn’t sad to be provided with one, but at the same time, she was a little annoyed at his high-handed behavior.
Wouldn’t getting something like this be considered boyfriend-ish?
On the other hand, he did work in security. Maybe it was more natural for him.
Zeus
Now you don’t have to.
Yasmine
Thank you. What do I owe you?
Because letting him pay for it was definitely veering too much into relationship territory.
Did Yasmine let her boyfriends pay for things?
Absolutely. She might be an independent woman with financial means of her own, but that also meant that she knew what she was worth.
Just because she could do things and pay for things on her own didn’t mean she should have to when she had a partner. Or even a potential partner.
But Zeus wasn’t her partner and wasn’t going to be. Therefore, he shouldn’t be paying for things for her. She’d let him buy dinner last night, that was true, but that was partly because she hadn’t really been thinking about it. Next time, she’d insist on paying to keep things square.
Zeus
How about a blowjob after I install it for you?
Yasmine stared at the screen of her phone.
Why was it so hot when he said such crass things? A little rush of heat went through her at the idea of being on her knees for him, his cock in her mouth, as a thank you. She had no idea what to pay him, but on the other hand… he was in security, and they were going to be hooking up.
Maybe paying him back with sexual favors was the way to go.
With her boyfriends, she’d always either let them pay for things she thought were appropriate or she’d paid for the things she’d wanted. Making Zeus’ proposition entirely different from anything she’d done before.
So be it.
Yasmine
If that’s what you want.
Zeus
That’s exactly what I want.
Her pussy clenched, breath hitching at his quick response.
Well. This was certainly going to be a more interesting afternoon than she’d planned to have.