AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Butch and I close up shop, gathering our things. We head to the top floor to retrieve the rest of our team.
The fourth floor is eerily quiet. Most of the staff has left for the day. A room with glass walls is lit near the middle of the floor. Inside, Simone works diligently over her files spread across the glass table. Several stacks surround her working space. She must have put a good dent in her caseload. It’s not surprising—Simone is a wiz at tracking numbers.
Punk is pacing the room behind Simone’s chair like a caged lion. He needs to be let out for the night, or he’s going to be one irritable bastard.
I knock on the open door. “We’re calling it a night. Let’s roll.”
“Thank fuck,” Punk mutters, breezing past me to escape into the main office area.
Simone doesn’t move, either too engrossed in her work or ignoring me. Knowing my woman, it’s probably both.
Backtracking into the hall, I approach Punk. “How was it?”
My best friend shrugs. “Boring as fuck-all. I don’t know how Simone does this for a living without losing her shit. No wonder she’s always ornery—she has mathematical constipation.”
Butch has to cover his face to hide his laugh.
Punk prefers the stealth or top security cases our MC takes on. The more action, the better. But not all Mercy Ravens assignments are the run-and-gun kind. You need to take the desk jobs with the fast-paced ones, too. Out of our four-person crew, he’s definitely going to have the hardest time working on this mission.
“Did Cynthia make any appearances?”
“Nah. She strode past the conference room several times, probably checking to make sure her limp-dick boyfriend wasn’t hanging around Miss Priss.”
Trent ducked out on me and Butch a handful of times throughout the day, claiming he had other things to check on. “Did Trent drop in?”
“No. I saw him walk through the office twice, but he was a man on a mission. He glanced at Simone but averted his eyes when he saw me. No other activity, aside from Simone mumbling numbers and running calculations. Oh, and she muttered a few threats, swearing to do you bodily harm for the stunt you pulled earlier.”
Fuck.I rub the back of my neck, sighing. “She’s not going to make this easy on me, is she?”
“You think?” Punk mocks. Beside him, Butch sniggers, not bothering to hide it anymore.
I turn my attention back to the conference room, where Simone continues to work. Her pouty mouth moves as she does the math in her head.
“Well,” Punk taunts. “Go grovel already. Some of us want to eat tonight before we have to do this shit all over again tomorrow.”
Butch ushers me in the direction of the conference room with a sweeping grand gesture of his arms.
“Assholes, the both of you.”
My brothers smirk, watching as I make my way on the eggshell path toward Simone. The windowed walls give them a first row seat to witness my ass being handed to me. We all know Simone’s ruthless when pushed too far. There’s no chance I’m getting out of this without a thorough tongue lashing.
At the threshold, I steel my spine and walk in like I would any other situation. I’m a hardened biker—nothing intimidates me.
Nothing aside from the bombshell in stilettos sitting in front of me.
It’s fine. I’ll crank my allure level to max, buttering her up nice and good. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to appease her until I can get her back to the hotel. I’d prefer she chastises me in private.
“Numbers,” I purr, turning on the fuck-boy charm.
Simone slaps her hands on the table as she stands. “Don’t you dare try to ‘Numbers’ sweet talk me, you arrogant ass.”
Damn.Too bad I’m not a snake charmer to tame her viper-tongue.
“Baby, can we do this back at the hotel?” God, I sound pathetic, hearing the plea in my voice. The guys are going to heckle me for sure.
Simone ignores my request with a flip of her hair over her shoulder. She straightens herself, hands on her waist and cocking a hip.
Ah, shit.Her battle pose is activated. There’s no waiting until later. Shit’s going down now.
