Page 72 of Thaddeus

God, I loved hearing that.

* * *

Lunch was delicious. Kyle was a great cook, and Thad had been right, Kyle fed him, too.

I found I really like Tatiana and Brooks. Both of them were open, funny, and welcoming. Kyle had been his platoon’s medic while he was a SEAL, and had graduated a few classes after Thad. He was also open and funny. Max graduated in the BUD/s class after Thad and he was not open. He was watchful. Though he did seem to have a sense of humor and had teased Tatiana about sniper school. From what I could glean, Max had been a sniper while a SEAL and Tatiana had taken some sort of sniper training at a place called The Farm. I didn’t know what that was, only that it had something to do with the CIA. Which kind of freaked me out thinking about Tatiana as some sort of badass CIA agent.

I wasn’t sure what I thought a CIA agent looked like, maybe more like Men in Black, where the agents wore dark suits, thin ties, and always wore shades to cover their stares. What I never had pictured was a beautiful, sweet woman who made a table full of badass men smile and laugh.

Then there was Declan. He was not a former SEAL, he’d been a Marine—former Force Recon then he’d gone into the CIA. He’d mumbled half of his answers to the questions I’d asked, so I thought he’d said he’d been a deep-cover agent—but I wasn’t sure about that. What I was sure of, was Declan scared the hell out of me.

During the entire time we sat around eating lunch my eyes kept going to his damn throat. Which led me to think about my sister and how she’d basically saved Declan’s life. It also made me think about her standing over a dead man, a man she’d killed, and no one, not even me, batted an eye. I was hoping it was the shock of seeing my sister again and not that I’d become so desensitized I no longer valued human life.

One fun fact I had learned about Declan was he had a twin sister named Violet. She was married to a man who also worked for Zane Lewis, named Jaxon. The only time during our lunch when Declan had a real smile was when he talked about his sister. Though I could sense there was some underlying pain there, too.

After lunch, Tatiana had called a woman back in the U.S., Faith, and had asked about international dog rescue organizations. The woman had sounded pleased Tatiana wanted to help the pit bulls that Jefferson had owned. She’d given Tatiana a few names with the promise of more information in a few days.

Now I was lying in bed next to Thad trying to think about anything other than the fact I was lying in bed next to Thad. That was because I was trying not to freak out—I was indeed in bed with Thaddeus.

“Ask away, agápi mou.”

“What?”

“You said you had questions about my job. Ask away.”

“Oh.” Now that I was relaxed, lying in bed next to the man who I’d loved my entire adult life, yet hadn’t seen in ten years, I couldn’t think of anything good to ask. “Tell me about Zane.”

“Zane is one of the toughest men I know. He also has the biggest heart, which he tries his best to hide using extreme irritation to do it. He bitches about everything, though it’s all an act. Earlier when he was complaining about building a daycare center it was pure bullshit. It was his idea. His brother Lincoln and his sister-in-law Jasmin have twin boys, he wants those boys at the office where he knows they’re protected. His wife, Ivy, is due with their child soon, and there’s not a snowballs chance in hell that kid will be out of his sight. He has a business to run, therefore that kid will be at the office. He loves his wife more than I thought it was possible for a man to love his wife. She had a shit life before she met Zane and he’s determined to make sure nothing bad ever touches her again. He carries the weight of death on his shoulders and mourns every man he’s ever lost in battle. That happens daily. He never stops feeling that guilt. He treats every man and woman he employs as his equal not his subordinate. He values loyalty and hard work. He demands the latter and earns the former. You’ll never have a better man at your back.”

Wow, none of that sounded like the asshole who had strong-armed me. Though, as Zane had explained, he was negotiating a deal and as it happened the deck was stacked in his favor and he used it to get what he wanted. And as much as I didn’t want to like the asshole, I couldn’t help but to love how much he adored his wife.

“What company do you work for?” I asked.

“Z Corps.”

“Z Corps? And Zane owns it?”

“Yep.”

“Z Corps, really? Can one be so narcissistic they name their company Zane Corps?”

“You have no idea how much he’d love to hear you say that.” Thaddeus chuckled. “And most people think the Z stands for Zane and he doesn’t correct them. He gets off on people thinking he’s a conceited prick. As a matter of fact, he’s the first to tell everyone he’s the biggest dick in the room. But the Z does not stand for Zane.”

“What does it stand for?”

Thad was quiet for a moment and I was beginning to think I shouldn’t have asked. I knew there were things about his work he could tell me, he’d straight out said it.

“Z is short for zabulus. It is Latin for devil. Zabulus Corps translates to Devil Brigade. He didn’t think the CIA, DOJ, or the president would like signing checks to the Devil Brigade. It just so happened the Latin translation of devil began with a Z. Though, Zane does enjoy code naming our operations after porn star actresses. He gets a kick out of knowing that some high-ranking politician is reading a mission brief named after an adult film star.”

“That’s actually kind of funny.” I chuckled.

“It is. What else would you like to know?”

“Where do you live?”

“Nowhere.”

“What do you mean nowhere?”