AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The place is full of happy and excited energy, yet why is it that I feel the opposite? Why do I feel like one wrong move could land me in serious shit? Why is my skin crawling and my brain screaming run?
“What were you saying?” she asks when she gets herself back under control.
“Pop’s birthday meal?”
“Oh, that… yeah, I’ll let you know.”
I nod in reply, my gaze catching Mel’s as she comes out of the back kitchen with two plates of food. My stomach rumbles at the smell and the sight of it.
“Here you go, hon,” Mel says, setting the plate down in front of me.
“Thanks, Mel.”
I wait until she sets Geena’s down and walks away before looking up at Geena’s scowling face.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, picking my burger up and bringing it to my mouth. I can almost taste the meat and the homemade sauce that sits between the bun and the meat.
“She’s always calling you pet names.” She shakes her head and looks at me. “She knows you’re my boyfriend, why does she do that?”
I take a bite of the burger and chew slowly, my eyes closing halfway at the taste. I almost wish I would have gotten a side of ribs too.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah,” I mumble before swallowing the burger. “I’ve known her since I was a kid, there’s nothing to it, she does it to everyone.”
She rolls her eyes and looks over at Mel where she stands talking to Barney before cutting her gaze back at me. “She needs to learn not to.”
“Geena,” I sigh. “I’m here with you and she’s married. Just let it go.” I place my burger down and take her hand in mine, holding it on the top of the table and not moving my eyes from hers.
“Yeah.” She smiles and squeezes my hand before letting go and picking up her own burger, but it doesn’t go unnoticed her giving Mel dirty looks for the rest of the night.
“So, you make all of the equipment you guys use here?” Dean asks.
I move my eyes from the new surveillance device that I’ve adapted. I want something that is small and can record in real time and then connect to a server, which in turn makes the recording into a video that can be accessed by any of the team. I also wanted it to have a GPS location of its own with the ability to be switched on remotely.
“Sometimes,” I answer, lifting my eyes to his where he sits next to me at my computer station in the warehouse. “Most of the time I adapt what I already have and make them better.”
He nods as he watches me attach the speaker inside the device that is no bigger than a baby’s fingernail. It’s discreet and untraceable to anyone but me. I know I’m not out on jobs often—most of the time staying in the van that I kitted out myself with all kinds of devices and electronics—but I know that what the guys do can be dangerous, and anything I can do to help keep them safe but also have the evidence to back up what we do is my top priority.
“So…” I clear my throat and close the back of the device, setting it alongside the other four that I’ve just adapted. “Kitty says you’re going to be staying a while.”
His blue eyes lift to mine. “Yeah.” He shrugs. “I have a few months before I have my next assignment so I’m gonna catch up with Kitty and make sure that she’s doing okay.”
“Yeah.” I swallow against the dryness in my throat.
I still feel responsible for the situation that Kitty got into. I caught her taking those pills after she should have stopped and I knew as soon as I looked at the label that she hadn’t gotten them from her doctor, instead she was scoring them. I should have known better than to trust her when she said that she would stop. Addicts will say anything to keep their addiction going, but at the time, I trusted what she said. I wish I hadn’t because I could have put a stop to it all and got her the help she needed sooner.
It all worked out though because she ended up going to rehab and she came back the same bubbly, sassy, Kitty we all know and love.
“She’s doing good right now, although I haven’t seen her much, she’s spending all her free time with Charlie.” He shifts in his seat and leans forward, his arms hanging loosely over his thighs, the tattoos that cover them moving as his muscles tense. “I mean, I get it. I really do. I just don’t have much to do at the moment, so I’m kinda bored.”
My eyes move to the office door that sits on the other side of the warehouse, right across from me. “Have you thought of asking Ty?”
“Asking him?”
“Well, you’re trained, right? Ex-marines?”
“Yeah.” He sits up straighter, his eyes widening as he gets what I’m saying. “You think I should ask if I can help out for a while?”
