Chapter 6
Zeus
Work in the morning flew by, though Hope didn’t really settle down. Zeus was starting to worry she was going to wear herself down. She jumped up at every noise outside, and once she was up, it took forever to get her to lie down again. Was she doing herself harm with all of that? He wasn’t sure.
Right around lunchtime, he noticed a little blue car parked in Sarah’s driveway, just barely visible through the tree in his front yard.
Maybe someone stopping by to pick up her work or something.
He didn’t get a chance to go find out because Tiger chose that moment to barf in the middle of the living room, something he did when he drank his water too fast. By the time Zeus cleaned it up, the car was gone.
It didn’t really matter. He still hadn’t heard from Sarah, though he’d called the hospital and had been told she’d been admitted.
They couldn’t give him any other information because of HIPAA’s privacy laws.
But if he didn’t get an update soon, he would take a peek at the hospital records for himself, just to know what was going on.
Sometimes, having hacking skills came in handy for personal reasons.
As much as he hated to leave Hope when she was clearly struggling so much, Zeus had to go into the office. He got his stuff together, then hesitated. Hope was back to walking around, whining in that low, plaintive way that tugged at all his emotions. She was looking for Sarah.
With him gone, would she settle? Or would she keep looking without him there to coax her back onto the couch or into lying down? He’d done that multiple times now. Maybe it would be better to take her back to Sarah’s. She might keep looking for Sarah, but at least she would be in a familiar space.
He could at least try it.
“Come here, Hope. No, Tiger, you’re staying here.
” Not that his dog gave up hoping he’d be included, his whippy tail thudding against the wall as he doggy-grinned at Zeus, sure that he’d be getting his leash on, too.
Zeus just shook his head in amusement. Both dogs could have easily been named Hope; they certainly had it in their personalities.
“Come on, sweet girl,” he said, opening the door to let Hope out in front of him. “Tiger, sit.”
From the way she tried to zoom home, Zeus figured he was making the right decision.
They got into the door of Sarah’s house, and she went around from room to room while he stood in the entryway, waiting to see what would happen when she realized Sarah wasn’t there.
After a minute, she came trotting back to him, gave him a glance, then hopped up onto the couch, climbing quickly onto its back, which was pushed up against the large window at the front of Sarah’s house.
Her view would be obscured somewhat by the bushes in front, but she would be able to see anyone coming or going.
She might be waiting a while.
Zeus rubbed a spot on his chest, going over to give her a last pet. Her head was resting on the back of the couch, between her paws, but she looked up at him and gave another little tail wag.
“I’ll be back to take care of you tonight,” he murmured. “Be a good girl.”
Her tail thumped against the top of the couch cushions as she watched him go. Zeus hoped she actually got some rest up there. He felt reasonably sure he was making the right decision about leaving her here instead of at his house.
Hopefully.
Still, he couldn’t help but worry, which meant he wasn’t in the best mood when he got to work.
Thankfully, the only two people in the front office were Jennifer, the receptionist and office manager, and Jensen, who was one of the team members Zeus got along better with.
He was also the youngest of their team, which was how he’d earned the moniker ‘Baby.’
“Hi, Zeus,” Jennifer said, smiling warmly as he walked through the door.
A young Black woman with warm, light brown eyes and long braids pulled back into a high ponytail, she was way too young and sweet for him, but she had Jensen tripping over himself to flirt with her.
Not just him, either; there was also a doctor—a surgeon—she was dating.
So far, she didn’t seem in a hurry to choose between them.
“Hey, Jennifer. Baby.” Zeus nodded at Jensen, who was leaning against Jennifer’s desk. If Zeus had to guess, Jennifer had probably had lunch with her doctor today—Jensen always hovered around her desk in the afternoon when she did.
“What’s up, Chive?” Jensen grinned at Zeus, clearly pleased with himself for today’s nickname.
Jensen wasn’t just called ‘Baby’ because he was the youngest; it was also because the team had been nicknamed the Spice Doms by the submissives at the local BDSM club.
All their call signs went with that. Their team leader, David Bowers, was Ginger.
Their sniper, Claudia Delgado, who was also the only woman in the group and a dominatrix to boot, was Scary.
Posh went to her spotter, Mason Bahrami, who was also the team’s therapist and profiler.
That left Drew Murphy, who was the real muscle of the group—and that was saying something next to David and Zeus—as Sporty.
Whoever their tech person had been before Zeus, apparently, they hadn’t been a part of it, so now the team was going through their spice cabinets and trying out different names for him.
All cooking spices and herbs, for some reason, rather than some singers’ names, which would have made more sense to Zeus.
He accepted the razzing because he knew that was part of being accepted to the team. Besides, he didn’t really care what they called him, as long as they were saying it to his face.
Which was why it didn’t bother him when Drew walked by a moment later and hit him with a hard glare. His open suspicion was something Zeus could respect a hell of a lot more than if Drew was two-faced about it. They exchanged looks of greeting but not nods like Drew and Jensen did.
If Drew ever decided to trust Zeus, Zeus would know it.
“Time for training,” Drew said, heading for the elevator. The training rooms and gym were all on the bottom floor of the building. Zeus could have gone straight there, but if he was being honest, he was hoping to run into Lincoln.
Ah, well.
“Bye, Jen,” Jensen said, grinning at Jennifer.
She smiled back at him flirtatiously. “Bye, Jen.”
“You two are weird,” Drew muttered as Jensen followed him and Zeus into the hallway and hit the elevator button. He reached up to pull back his long locks and piled them on top of his head, securing them with a band to keep them out of his way while they waited for the elevator to arrive.
“Why are we weird?” Jensen asked, tilting his head to the side and frowning.
“Shouldn’t you be using each other’s full names instead of shortening them to the same name?”
Jensen shrugged as the elevator doors opened. “I think it shows that we’re made for each other, unlike her and Dr. Dick. We even have the same name. It works for the Taylors Lautner.”
“Who?”
Zeus got into the back of the elevator as Drew stared at Jensen in confusion in front of him. He leaned back against the elevator wall, staring up at the ceiling while listening.
“You know, Jacob from Twilight.”
“No, I don’t know, and aren’t you a little young for Twilight? And a little manly?”
“My mom likes the movies, so I watched them with her, which I am secure enough in my masculinity to do. I’m not worried I’m going to turn into a girl just because I like the Twilight movies.
” Jensen grinned. “Besides, the ladies dig guys who enjoy watching chick flicks with them. Haven’t you ever watched a chick flick with Naomi? ”
Drew snorted.
“Naomi would rather watch a slasher film than a chick flick. I’m pretty sure romcoms are her idea of a real horror movie.”
Naomi was Drew’s wife, who Zeus had heard about but hadn’t met yet. Hm. Maybe he should try to do more team-building stuff outside of work. Not really how he wanted to spend his free time, though.
It was a thought for the future, if it started to feel necessary.
“Well, Jennifer likes chick flicks.” The elevator door opened, and Jensen stepped out. “Which is good because I do, too. Anyway, Taylor Lautner’s wife is also named Taylor Lautner now that they’re married. And, famously, he dated Taylor Swift at one point, too.”
“So, maybe he’s just got a kink about calling his own name out during sex.”
Leaving Jensen with his mouth hanging open, Drew stalked to the door to the gym without a second glance. Suppressing a grin, Zeus followed him, giving Jensen a shrug on his way.
If he and Drew didn’t rub each other the wrong way so much over Drew’s mistrust of him, he’d probably really like the guy.
“Hey, everyone, come on in.”
Turned out Lincoln was in the gym, and Zeus felt some of the tension in his body ease at the sight of his boss.
A little shorter than Zeus, he had a full head of silver hair and a silver goatee.
He was standing next to David, who could have claimed that his call sign ‘Ginger’ came from his red hair rather than a pop singer when he wasn’t surrounded by the rest of his team.
“Zeus, glad you could make it,” Lincoln said. “Any news on your neighbor?”
Zeus shook his head, ignoring the confused glances from the others.
“Alright then.” Lincoln refocused, gesturing at everyone. “Let’s get started then. Claudia and Mason should be joining us shortly. They got a bit held up at the gun range.”
Where Claudia would have been practicing her sniping skills. There was a reason her call sign was ‘Scary’, even though most men noticed her looks first and only learned to be scared when she opened her mouth.
Zeus was surprised Lincoln stayed for the training, doing it alongside them.
This was the first time he’d ever done so.
He started to suspect Mason’s hand in it once the other man showed up and seemed both unsurprised and pleased to see Lincoln there.
Mason kept trying to do team-building stuff while training.
He wasn’t exactly two-faced, but Zeus could tell that Mason didn’t really trust him, yet he kept trying to do trust-building exercises.
No thanks.
Falling onto people and hoping they caught him—or being part of the group catching them—wasn’t going to convince them that he wasn’t spying for Devlin if that’s what they thought deep down. Sometimes, he wished Mason would be more forthright about his distrust, like Drew.
It wasn’t that he didn’t respect Mason; he did, but the guy was almost too smooth. Too polished. Posh was definitely the right call sign for him, but it put Zeus’ back up for some reason.
Having Lincoln there helped more than anything.
Drew kept his comments to a minimum, Zeus felt more comfortable, and everyone seemed more relaxed in general.
It was like having Dad join the team. Not Zeus’ actual dad, but the kind of dad who showed up in TV shows and movies.
The supportive dad who kept everyone grounded and focused.
Zeus didn’t even mind the trust exercise Mason had arranged for the end of the session, playing Never Have I Ever. Much better than falling on people and surprisingly insightful.
“Never have I ever tortured a man’s balls for information, then had him beg me to take him with me,” Lincoln said.
Claudia scowled at him, putting her first finger down, as everyone else laughed. Zeus might not know the story, but he chuckled anyway, amused by her reaction at finally having to put a finger down with the rest of them.
Apparently, she’d never done drugs, she hadn’t touched alcohol until her twenty-first birthday, and she’d never had a threesome, which had left her as the only person with all their fingers after Mason, David, and Jensen had taken their turns.
“Never have I ever had sex at my own daughter’s wedding,” Claudia retorted.
“This is getting oddly personal and specific,” Drew joked as Lincoln scowled and put his finger down.
Which might be the first time Zeus had actually ever heard him make a joke.
The magic of Lincoln’s presence, perhaps.
“Never have I ever cheated on my wife. Especially not at my own daughter’s wedding. ”
“I was getting ready to file because she was already cheating on me,” Lincoln growled, putting his finger down. “It was only technically cheating.”
“It still counts,” Claudia said, smirking.
Zeus was officially starting to get curious.
He’d heard there was some drama around Lincoln and his marriage to his wife, Ashley, but he’d figured it had to do with the fact that Ashley was half his age.
And possibly that her father had been married to Lincoln’s daughter.
Although they were getting divorced now.
Lincoln’s daughter and Ashley’s father, that was, not Lincoln and Ashley.
Everyone turned their heads to look at him, waiting to see what he would say. He’d already put his fingers down for the first three more normal confessions. Zeus considered for a moment.
“Never have I ever passed information from Black Fox on to Marshall Devlin or anyone else outside of the company.”
The way they all froze was almost enough to make him start laughing, but that would have ruined the moment.
After a moment, Lincoln started chuckling, then Jensen’s expression broke into a grin, and he reached out with his palm.
Zeus didn’t crack a smile, but he did give Jensen a high five.
Everyone else was smiling by then, except Drew, and Mason’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.
Drew looked at him with consideration before giving him a slow nod.
Which was better than nothing.
All in all, it wasn’t the worst training exercise he’d ever done.