Chapter 16
Blayke
Iwas alone in my bed when I woke up, which I decidedly wasn’t a fan of when I’d gone to sleep wrapped around Noah’s tiny body. But when I found her in the kitchen a few minutes later with coffee and breakfast ready for me? My grumpiness immediately bled away.
I was so in love with this woman.
“I came down early to make you breakfast and coffee.” She pointed to the bar stool. “Sit.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I quickly took a seat at the bar, and Halo, who was sipping on his own cup of coffee, shook his head at me. “What?” I grunted, quickly cutting off a piece of egg so I could fork it into my mouth. I was starving. Noah and I had stayed up half the night having sex.
Literally the best sex of my life, at that.
He snorted and shook his head. “You’re so fucking whipped.”
I shrugged one shoulder, not even bothered. So what if Noah had me by the balls? I was right where I wanted to be. “So?”
Alejandro stepped into the kitchen and made his way to the coffee maker. Geek stumbled in shortly after, his hair a mess, his too-big t-shirt falling off one slender shoulder, and his sweatpants twisted around his legs. I chuckled at the sight of him, then focused back on my breakfast.
“We riding out soon?” Gidget grumbled from the other side of Halo as he set his empty coffee mug down.
“What area are you planning to scout?” Noah asked, leaning against the kitchen counter and cradling her own mug of coffee in her hands.
Gidget frowned at her. “We answer to you?”
I grunted in annoyance, shooting him a warning look. Gidget, while quiet, could be a real fucking asshole. “Noah is an extension of me. Treat her as such.”
Gidget was clearly disgruntled but he nodded once, nonetheless. Noah arched a brow at me. “I don’t need you to fight my battles for me,” she said coolly. “I can handle men with small dicks who need to act all big and bad when he thinks a woman has stepped out of line.”
Halo whistled low. “Burn,” he whispered. “To both of you.”
“Fuck off, Halo,” Gidget growled.
Halo pouted at him—bottom lip poked out and everything. Noah rolled her eyes at Halo’s antics. “Halo, I don’t need commentary.” God, she was so damn perfect. She was so in control and sure of herself, and I was so here for it. She looked at Gidget. “So? What area are you two working?”
“Fifty miles east of here,” Gidget told her. “I already pointed it out to Geek.”
“We’ll work the same area we were in yesterday,” I told Noah.
“So we don’t have to stop for food, we’ll need to pack snacks.
Maybe some sandwiches. I don’t want us in a restaurant like we were yesterday.
” Too much could have gone wrong, and it almost had.
I was alive because of Noah. Otherwise, my brains would be splattered all over the walls of that place.
Johnston would’ve been left without a vice president, and Noah would’ve lost me.
A world without my bright ass personality in it? It was a pitiful one.
“You going to be more aware this time?” she snarked. “Don’t put me in a position where I have to save your life again, Blayke.”
I winked at her. “I’ll do my best, mama.”
Alejandro glanced at his watch. “I’ll get teams set up in both areas so they can be doing lookout.
They’ll be inconspicuous. You won’t see them.
If someone sees something you should be notified of, one of them will contact you on your burner.
” He looked at me. “If this escalates, Blayke, do not forget I will call in reinforcements. You’re on my territory, and if something happens to you here, that will cause problems I frankly do not have time for. ”
I flattened my hand over my heart and fluttered my lashes at him. “Awe, you do care, Garcia.”
He rolled his eyes. “I care about my alliances, Blayke. That is it.” He jerked his chin toward Noah. “And I like her. She doesn’t take your shit. You all could do with being knocked down a few pegs.”
I laughed. “That incredible woman knocks me down multiple pegs a day,” I assured him. “I’m loving it.”
“Can we not insinuate sex this early in the morning?” Geek groaned, dropping his head to his folded arms. “I really don’t want to ever hear it, but definitely not now. It’s too early.”
Noah condescendingly patted his shoulder, and when he lifted his head to look at her, her smile was sickly sweet. “Grow up, Geek. Someone will soon come along and give you reasons to insinuate sex as well.”
His cheeks flushed bright red, and I chuckled before shoveling the last bit of my breakfast into my mouth.
“I need to get dressed,” I told Noah. “Can you handle packing snacks and—actually, forget it.” I felt like asking her to do anything in the kitchen when I was more than capable of doing it myself would get my balls twisted and ripped off. “I’ll handle it after I get dressed.”
“Whipped,” Halo hissed at me as I stood.
I slapped my hand along the back of his head. Noah was looking at me, amusement glimmering in her eyes. “So it is true when they say you reflect the company you keep,” she mused as I rounded the bar to rinse my plate and put it in the dishwasher. “Growing some brain cells, Blayke?”
I gripped her chin with my free hand and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “What can I say? You’re rubbing off on me, mama.”
She snorted and smacked my ass. “I’ll pack snacks and sandwiches. Get dressed. We don’t have all day.”
I mock-saluted her, making her narrow her eyes at me. Then, I spun on my heel and headed for the stairs, whistling a cheery tune as I did so.
“When Johnston sees how he lets you treat him, he might blow a gasket,” Alejandro mused, his voice faint.
“That sounds like his problem, not mine,” Noah retorted.
I chuckled. If it meant I got to keep her, then Johnston could lay into my ass all he wanted. That woman fucking owned me.