Chapter 32
Thirty-Two
The morning is awkward, or I am anyway.
I passed out in York’s bed with him last night.
It was a tight squeeze, but that’s not the issue.
The issue is that I’m not convinced no one overheard us last night.
They may have been drunk, but there is no way any of them were that drunk.
No one has said anything, of course, but we weren’t the first up, so obviously someone wasn’t intoxicated enough to require extra sleep .
. . and if that’s true, then someone heard something.
To say nothing of the empty sofa bed this morning.
By almost noon, everyone has had enough food and coffee to ward off the headaches and nausea, so we get down to business.
“All right.” William rubs his brow and rolls out a piece of paper. “Let’s go over this.”
The blueprints are smoothed and held down with coffee mugs as he leans his elbows on the table.
I’ve never asked and always just assumed that York was in charge, but the more I watch them, the more I think .
. . William is the one in command. It makes sense, since he is the one that took on the Raven contract and York was the one sent on the side mission for me.
It also makes sense why York seems to protect him. He stopped me from getting into it with him the other night. He punched William for shooting me, but he didn’t kill him . . . I guess expecting him to kill anyone for my benefit is a wild ask.
I lean back and look at him for what feels like the first time. How did I miss something that important?
“Essentially, we’re all a distraction to buy August time to get in the building and upload the virus,” William clarifies.
“No, I’m not uploading a virus; I’m plugging in a drive and hightailing. The upload is on an automated timer.” August shakes his head. “Not even I have the balls to sit there and attempt a hack.”
“Whatever.” William rolls his eyes. “Tripoli and I will be up high, here and here, to provide cover fire if required.” He points to two of the X’s.
“Carter will be getting the party started with an explosion here.” He points to another mark just down the street.
“And York will have his back while he’s prepping. ”
“I don’t need to go far,” August cuts in. “I just need to plug in the device at the security desk and get out. The upload will be on a ten-minute delay, so they don’t lock down with me inside.”
Scanning the paper again, I realize this isn’t the Agency building. “What is this place?”
“Black site,” William offers. “Few know about it, so it’s under-manned by comparison.”
“Same computer network though,” August adds.
“Carter and I will be nearby to pick up August when he exits the building,” York says, drawing his finger along the route they’ll drive. “Everyone will be on comms at all times, which means hot mics, so careful what you say.” His eyes drift to mine, but I shake my head and point at the map.
“This won’t work.” I point to the roads around the building.
“They will shut all of this down as soon as that bomb goes off. August will be lucky to get out of the building, let alone off-site. If he does, he’ll have to hike to get outside of the perimeter they create, on foot, before you can pick him up; they aren’t just going to let someone stroll away after an explosion. ”
“It’s the best we can do on short notice with limited resources,” William says through gritted teeth as he pushes his knuckles into the table.
“Then we shouldn’t do it.” I shrug. “Not today.”
“We’ve got a deadline to achieve this. If we don’t meet it, backup will be sent to enforce the objective,” York says and runs the palm of his hand over his short hair. I’ve never seen him do that before. “The last thing I want now is more people getting involved in this.”
“Yeah,” Carter scoffs. “Cause this little Raven is going to get snatched up.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I furrow my brow.
“Nothing. It was just a joke,” he says, not meeting my eyes.
My ass. I clench my jaw for a second and then realize I haven’t had a phone in my hand in a while. “What’s the date today?”
“The fifth,” William answers.
Getting up, I walk out and head into the living room where I dig through York’s black duffel until I find a phone.
With a bit of nervous energy, I twist a lock of hair as I wait for the phone to turn on and then start typing.
When the message goes through, I delete the history out of habit and sink back into the couch.
“When are you going to explain the messages to me?” York asks from behind me.
I exhale. “Maybe never.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“Tough.” I toss the phone onto the bag and stand up. “You don’t get to know everything about me.”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“Mm.” I roll my eyes.
“I’m not the only one asking,” he adds.
“They aren’t my problem.” I jerk my head toward the other room. “They’re your problem. I didn’t ask to be here; I didn’t ask for any of this.” I pause, biting the inside of my cheek, before finding my resolve. “Honestly, I don’t care what questions they have.”
Narrowing his eyes, he hisses in irritation as he comes around the couch. I stand my ground, and he closes the distance between us, imposing himself in my space.
“I can make you care,” he threatens. “I can make you think twice about how you speak to me.”
“You can try.” I lift my chin. “But let’s be honest, York, your little lessons are just rewards in my eyes. You want me to behave a certain way, but I never will, so there are no ends for you to justify your means against. Fuck if I don’t like the feeling of you trying, though.”
“Hm,” he grunts, tipping forward slightly. “Your dissatisfaction is painful to me. I’m wounded that my dissatisfaction means nothing in return.”
“Your dissatisfaction is a prelude to things that make me fucking wet just thinking about them . . .” My voice breaks. “It definitely affects me, insofar as it makes me want to behave worse, not better.”
“Theresa . . .” he purrs as he tucks a lock of hair behind my ear.
A throat clears, and I nonchalantly look around York to find William watching us. “We aren’t done.”
“Sorry,” I tell William, and then press up onto my toes slightly and kiss York on the cheek.
The way he looks down at me, so caught off guard, is priceless. I let my hand graze his stomach as I step around him and head back into the dining room.