AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You have your own place now and everything?” I asked.
“Oh, yes.” Steffie beamed with obvious pride. “Blaze found the perfect apartment for me nearby. I pay for it all myself with my earnings—a woman needs some independence. Now I have a space just for me.”
I could tell how much that mattered to her. Maybe I understood that emotion more than she realized. I’d had a space of my own in the household, but even those rooms hadn’t really been mine. Everything that’d belonged to me in the household had been constructed around their needs and what they wanted from me.
“I’m glad you got out of that awful situation,” I said honestly.
Steffie nodded and went back to her cleaning. “They didn’t have to offer their hands to help me up, but they did without hesitation. I’d do anything for them. I’d kill for those boys.”
Her faint accent that I couldn’t quite place thickened her words, and I could hear the slight warning behind them. Hurt them, and you’ll regret it. But after the rest of her story, I respected her more for her vehement devotion.
“They’ve earned it,” I said, and she smiled again.
With the dishwasher empty and Steffie reabsorbed in her tasks around the apartment, I meandered over to the television. I hadn’t had much chance to make use of it in my past life. Maybe it could provide the stimulation my body insisted I still needed.
I picked up the remote and flipped through the channels, wishing I knew how to bring up that show Blaze had tracked down for me with the spy lady and her husband. None of the scenes that flashed by me grabbed my attention. I started hitting the button so hard that I’d already switched channels when my gaze caught an image that made my heart stutter.
I flipped back as quickly as I could. The newscast was just cutting away from Damien Malik’s face. “With Representative Malik’s proposal shut down by one swing vote, it remains to be seen what steps he’ll take next to forward the party’s agenda,” the reporter said in that droning monotone they all seemed to use.
Then she started talking about a heatwave in Alabama, as if I cared about that. I glared at the TV, but the force of my will couldn’t make the show switch back to talking about Malik again.
Oh, well. It wasn’t as if it’d sounded like what they were talking about connected to the household anyway. It’d just be easier for me to understand Noelle’s interest in the man if I knew more about him.
What had his recent proposal been? Something to crack down on criminals, like the guys had said he liked to do?
I shut off the TV and leaned back on the couch with a deep sigh.
A familiar baritone voice carried from one of the bedroom doorways. “You look like you’re contemplating the meaning of life.”
I jerked straighter on the sofa and turned to meet Julius’s assessing gaze. Something about the boss of the crew always made me want to impress him, to show how together and capable I was—as if I hadn’t already proven that in both my dealings with his crew and the history of assignments they’d only just realized belonged to me.
“Not exactly,” I said. “Just the meaning of the household.”
“Come up with anything?” he asked, ambling over.
I couldn’t stop my gaze from lingering on the ample brawn of his massive body flexing beneath his fitted T-shirt and dark jeans. Anyone with eyes could have recognized that he was one prime specimen of manhood. The kindness Steffie had told me about somehow brought that appeal into even sharper relief.
I shook myself mentally. Less than a week ago, I’d hooked up with Talon. Yesterday I’d been admiring Blaze’s looks and kissing Garrison. And now some part of me was wondering what it’d be like to have the man in charge pinning me down on this sofa?
Was there really anything wrong with that? If I was interested in all of them, and they were interested in me…
Maybe there wasn’t a problem with that, but I didn’t actually know that Julius was interested in anything other than maintaining the order in his home now that I’d crashed into it.
“No,” I said, remembering his question. “I guess that’s the problem.” I turned back around and frowned at my hands in my lap. “Every part of my body is clamoring to do something. To take action. But I don’t have anything to do.”
Julius leaned against the back of the sofa at the other side, a few feet away but close enough that my skin tingled with my awareness of his presence. “What did you do at the household when you were between missions? It doesn’t sound like they had you constantly on the go.”
“No,” I admitted. “I guess it’s just… I’m not really between missions, am I? I’m on one right now—the one to figure out where I came from, who exactly took me, and why—but I have no idea how to carry it out. So far Blaze has been doing all the work. I don’t have any innovative computer programs I can put to use.”
Julius hummed, the warm sound washing right through my nerves. “Well, I’m not sure I can help you with that mission, considering I don’t have any action I can take toward it either while Blaze is still working his technological magic. But how would you feel about putting your skills to use in other ways in the meantime?”
My gaze shot back to him, a jolt of adrenaline racing through me at the implication of his words. “What did you have in mind?”
Julius smiled, his deep blue eyes brightening at my enthusiasm. “How would you like to work with the Chaos Crew on a job?”
I blinked. It was hard for me to imagine being part of their work. The two jobs I’d witnessed—after or nearly at completion—had been a totally different style from my type of job. The way the crew worked was purposefully messy and, well, chaotic. And they obviously had their roles down in perfect cohesion and cooperation.
He continued before I could reply. “If you’re not comfortable with it or you want to recover more from your injuries before pushing yourself, you’re under no obligation, but I’d love to see the infamous Ghost at work.”
