Page 19 of Fallen Hero

With a smooth lift of one eyebrow, he asked, “You don’t do teams?”

“No.”

“Thought you had a hacker assistant.”

“I do.”

“You don’t consider her a part of your team?”

After the stunt Atlanta pulled, I wasn’t sure I considered her anything. But that was for another day. “I work alone.”

Mason’s gaze went from perusal to scrutinizing. His study of me was intense and uncomfortable. An anger-fueled stare down was one thing. Mason observing me like he was reading my deepest, darkest secrets—no.

“I get that,” he finally said.

I didn’t see how that was possible when he was literally part of a team.

“I don’t think you do,” I stupidly mumbled.

“You can’t be part of a team without trust. Tom’s as untrustworthy as they come, and it doesn’t sound like the hacker chick is any better.”

For some reason, even though Atlanta went behind my back and I wasn’t sure I could forgive her, I didn’t like hearing Mason call her untrustworthy.

“I don’t agree with how she handled the situation, but she’s had my back a lot over the years.”

“Yeah?”

“She’s the best investigator I’ve worked with. She never fails to get me what I need when I need it, and some of the time she’s a step ahead of me and predicts what I’m going to ask for. She helped train me for fieldwork, and when she did, she didn’t go easy on me. She’d kick my ass, and before I could drag myself up off the mat, she’d tell me an enemy wouldn’t pull punches, so neither would she. But even with all of that, I still don’t know if I’ll ever trust her again.”

“Justifiably so.”

This was one of those times when I wondered what a normal person’s response would be. Someone who’d lived untouched by the atrocities I’d seen. Someone who didn’t have a dead sister and blood on their hands. Someone who hadn’t dedicated their life to killing as many evil men as possible.

In a moment of sheer idiocy and curiosity, I asked, “Do normal people forgive?”

Mason’s eyes flashed with what looked like panic before he blinked it away.

“I don’t have the first fucking clue what normal people do. I just know what I do.”

My curiosity turned morbid when I pushed for more. “What do you do?”

“I don’t give anyone my trust. They can’t break what they don’t have.”

Wise words to live by. “Smart.”

Mason shifted, yanked out a pillow from behind his back, and tossed it next to him. Why did he have to look so damn good in my bed?

“Stick with me. I’m full of good ideas.”

He looked more like he was full of delicious mistakes.

“So you say.”

“You look dead on your feet,” he noted.

He wasn’t wrong, but screw him for pointing it out. “Thanks,” I said dryly.

“Come lie down.”