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“It’s just fun to tease him?” Pony offered with a grin.
“Exactly.” I blew out a sigh as I pushed open the door to an empty guest bedroom. Fuck…had Max really always been this hot? I mean, my feelings for him had started out as pure infatuation, so it made sense. But time had made me forget how incredible his body was. Or maybe it really had gotten better since the last time we’d seen each other. Either way, it didn’t matter. I had to stop staring at him or he was going to realize that I was checking him out. “So, you can probably crash here if you want.”
“Are you staying here? At the White House, I mean,” he added quickly.
“No, I’d been subletting my place in Georgetown and fortunately the last tenant had just vacated when I got called up again, so I’m across town.” I’d thought that information would be welcome news, but for just a minute I could have sworn disappointment flashed across his face. Well, maybe I’d just imagined it.
“Yeah, this should be fine,” he said, tossing his knapsack on the floor next to the bed. “I’ll need to head back to the hotel and grab the rest of my stuff later.”
We stood there for a minute, the silence becoming heavier the longer it stretched between us, but I wasn’t really sure what to do now.
“Hey, Cookie?” he asked softly.
I turned around to face him and watched as he chewed on his lower lip for a moment.
“Yeah?” I asked, when he didn’t speak again.
“Are we good? I know we don’t have the best history between us, but I’m really hoping we’ve moved past all of that.”
Damn. He made it sound so easy. Just move past years of animosity and grandstanding. Have me forget his constant need to be right, to be the center of attention. Have him forget what a bastard I could be? Let it all go and just start over?
“Dude, we’re going to have to see,” I said finally. “I know I’m just as culpable for our past, but there’s too much going on right now for me to promise to be nice to you.”
“Fair enough.” He grinned, his eyes sparkling as he nodded. “As usual, I’ll just have to be the bigger man.”
“Fuck off,” I complained, but couldn’t hold back a laugh at his teasing. “Let’s get back downstairs and figure out what we’re doing.”
Chapter Four
~Max~
“If I have to watch this video one more fucking time I’m going to lose it,” Cookie complained as Scout started up a recording of the fuel truck theft. “Nine different government agencies have studied this thing,we’vestudied it, what could you possibly still be looking for?”
“Anything we missed,” Scout answered, his tone a little too calm, as if he were purposely refusing to feed into Seamus’ frustration. “Plus, Pony hasn’t gotten to watch it yet.”
“Is it exciting?” I asked.
“No,” Scout admitted. “And Cookie is right, there’s probably nothing more to glean from it. But—”
“But we’re sick of sitting around doing nothing so we’ll watch it again,” Cookie said. “This is crazy.”
“No shit,” Raptor agreed.
“No, I mean, this is crazy,” Cookie repeated. “How is it possible that after weeks, we have nothing? No leads. No suspects. No fucking clue about why it’s even happening?”
“Look, we’re all frustrated,” Zane insisted.
That much was painfully clear. I’d never seen the members of Phoenix Squad snap at each other as much as I’d witnessed in the few hours I’d been there. Every man in that room was on edge and they were taking it out on each other.
“I know I’m the new guy,” I said softly.
“Bring it,” Zane said, turning to look at me.
“Cookie is right.”
“We know that,” Scout said.
“No, no. I mean, he’s right that it’s weird you don’t know why it’s happening. I mean, someone is out there effectively trying to take the country hostage, but they haven’t asked for anything. In fact, they’ve tried to hide the truth of what’s going on behind planted information. If it’s about body count, they’re doing a piss-poor job.” I paused to take a breath and Cookie immediately cut in.
