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Saff winced and squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh, Jesus.”
“I tried calling her, but she ghosted me, then she called me this morning with an attitude."
She groaned. “That sucks.”
“It’s fine. As long as I can avoid Gabe this morning, all will be good. I don’t think I could take a Kira-Gabe double hit.” Also, I couldn’t look at him after that kiss.
"I'm sorry. He has been extra grumpy lately. I don't know what's wrong with him. Sometimes I think it's work, but he won't talk to me. I worry he feels weird about the wedding, like he's lost me, but I know he's happy I'm happy. What did he say this time?"
There had been lots of times when Gabe acted like a massive wanker. But over the last year or so, ever since Saff and Lock moved in together, he had been worse and worse to live with. If he missed his sister, he just needed to say he missed his sister. Instead, he took it out on all of us.
He had looked a little shell-shocked at the wedding. Like he wanted to bolt.
“When I get back, we’re doing drinks,” Saff promised. “Then we’ll throw darts and picture my brother's head. Remember when we used to do that? That was fun."
“It was, and you’re on. Now if I know you, you’re already packed, but you desperately want to double-check everything.”
Saff bit her bottom lip. “It never hurts to be prepared.”
Giggling, I hugged her tight. “I’ll miss you. Send photos.”
When she was gone, I headed down the hall past Gabe's office, trying to both walk quickly and tiptoe to the elevators that led to the training floor.
I sucked in a deep breath. His door was closed, and he likely wouldn’t even notice that I was passing by. So why were my palms sweating?
Oh fuck, don't be a ball sack, Smith.
I marched briskly past his door, and he called out to me the moment I passed by the security camera. "Monarch!"
Fuck all.
I sighed and then did an about face and opened his door. "Yes, Spy, is there a problem?"
His jaw ticked. "No, there is no problem."
"Okay, then in that case, I’ve got new recruits to torture, and I need to get ready."
“Aren’t you always ready?”
He's trying to pick a fight. Don't respond.
See, that was the problem every time I was anywhere near Gabe. Didn't matter if it was an actual goddamned mission or if we were sitting at the lunch tables. My smartass mouth couldn't help but spout off. There was a big giant proverbial red button glued to that man somewhere in my mind that said, 'Go for it. Poke the bear. See what happens next.' I had some sick, sadistic compulsion to just go to that well every damn time with him. Some kind of silent code words I would say to him.
Yeah well, what was the silent code for, 'I think you are a sexy beast’?
But I couldn't do that today. Not after that hot-as-the-sun kiss.
So I had to drop my best Mr. and Mrs. Smith style line.
“I’m always ready to kick arse, but I do take my job seriously. Every recruit is different. I need to know how far I can push them. What buttons to push to make them lose it. I don’t just turn up and let them fight. I need to know how to dig into their emotions.”
“I’m shocked you put in so much effort and thought.”
I ground my teeth. “I’m sure you wouldn’t understand.” Why was he like this? I questioned everything about wanting him when he was like this.
He narrowed his eyes. "Oh, original. You're calling me a robot when you’re generally over-emotional and undisciplined."
I smiled sweetly at him. “If you weren't my Ops Command, I would set your car on fire. I mean, I want to make it original, you know. Something like Waiting to Exhale.”
