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“And how is the reconciliation going?”
“Excellent,” Zane replied with a satisfied smile. “I never thought this kind of happiness was possible for someone like me.”
Linc poured a cup of coffee and drank half of it down. “I’m glad to see that the therapy is working and you’ve come to a different conclusion.”
Zane popped a bagel into the toaster. “How’s it going with Lucy? Are you done with the store?”
“The store’s rehab is complete, and, luckily enough, I’ve got three jobs lined up.” He leaned against the counter. “I’m going to see what I can do about making Haven my home.”
“Really?” Zane said with surprise. “I thought you would return to Virginia Beach and work with Rorke at SAI.”
“That was the backup plan.” Running his hand over his jaw, he frowned. “I didn’t enjoy the personal protection gigs and don’t have much interest in doing security site evals or becoming a gun for hire.”
“I felt the same way when my brother offered me a job after I retired.” He grabbed the bagel from the toaster and spread peanut butter on it. “Have you heard much about this plan Lucy and the women have put together to teach Ken a lesson?”
“No, and it’s making me a lot more uncomfortable than I’ve let on.” He shook his head. “Has Olivia told you anything?”
“Not really.” He took a bite of his bagel and then wiped his mouth. “I think Callie is involved somehow.”
“What do we know about her?” Linc asked. “Is she really an operator?”
“Birch knows her, so I assume she’s the real deal.”
“We’re talking about your brother, who’s in black ops, right?”
“Yes, the very same.”
“Damn.” He stared into the distance and wondered how messy things were going to get. Would it make sense for him to have a face-to-face with Ken? Perhaps he could show him the error of his ways and explain why backing off would be in everyone’s best interest. If Lucy and her girl gang went ahead with their plan, they could be in danger.
“Don’t do whatever you’re thinking about,” Zane said quietly. “If you interfere with Lucy’s plan, then you are all but guaranteeing the demise of your budding relationship.”
“I can’t just stand by and let something happen.”
“Riding in on your white horse without an invitation will send the wrong message.” He took a slug of his coffee. “The Bennett women have been handling life on their own and doing a hell of a job. The last thing they need is one of us acting like we know better.”
“I’m well aware of their independence and ability to handle things,” he replied with frustration. “I just want that asshole to understand that being a man of peace doesn’t make me unskilled at war. And messing with Lucy is essentially messing with me.”
“Guessing he already knows that.”
“I don’t want there to be any confusion.” He rinsed his cup and put it in the dishwasher, wondering how in the hell he was supposed to stand on the sidelines. Would it be that bad to send Ken a message? It certainly didn’t seem like it since he was just providing backup.
Feeling confident that Lucy would see the efforts in a positive light, he gave Zane a nod and strode out of the kitchen.
It was just going to be a conversation.
How could anyone object to that?
Thirty minutes later, Linc strode into Ken’s office and looked around. It seemed the king of pressed jeans had a decent IT business going. Two college-aged kids were working on hard drives with a third building, what he assumed to be a motherboard. “Good morning. Does anyone know if Ken is in?”
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Linc tipped his chin at the man who’d stomped out of an office. “Thought we could have a chat.”
“What the hell for?”
Linc pointed to the kids with their mouths hanging open. “Do you want to share the finer points of your personal life?”
“I have nothing to hide.”
