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I didn’t sleep.
I rarely did.
But I was up and across town at five to nine, making my way through the office doors, finding the guys of Hope’s crew all standing around having coffee that smelled burnt.
“Mr. Alcazar!” Mike, the boss, greeted, eyes wide. “We weren’t expecting you.”
“Nah, didn’t think you would be,” I said, looking ‘em up and down. “‘Cause you wouldn’t want me dropping in when you’ve been lying to me, now would you?”
Honestly, the panicked fucking look they all shared was worth dragging my ass over to their office.
I guess you didn’t want to get caught screwing over a client in general. But even more so when said client is the head of a fucking cartel. One known for snuffing out anyone who fucked with them.
But, fuck, they looked like they expected me to pull out a gun and drop them all right there.
It’d been a while since I’d seen something quite so fucking funny.
So I was going to go ahead and have a little fun.
“See, I don’t know who the fuck you think you’re messing with here,” I said, taking a couple of slow steps forward, watching them tense.
“No, we would never mess with you,” Mike insisted, holding up a hand. “I just don’t think you understand.”
“Educate me.”
“Hope is not…”
“She ain’t what?” I asked when he paused.
“She doesn’t have her license yet,” the redhead, Liam I think it was, said.
“Come again?” I asked. From my estimation, her ass had been working there for six or seven years. Longer than necessary to get her license in the state.
“She doesn’t,” Mike confirmed. “She can’t be on your case.”
“See, actually, I’m pretty sure the way it works is, she can’t be working alone. She ain’t.”
“Our policy is just that she can’t work big cases anymore,” Mike insisted.
“I don’t give a fuck what your policy is,” I said, taking another step forward, getting a sick rush of satisfaction as they all took one back.
“Oh, for chrissakes, A,” a female voice said from behind me, making all the men’s shoulders loosen up.
Like they knew they were saved.
Which was pretty fucking ironic, since they didn’t want anything to do with the woman who was saving ‘em.
“Hey, mama,” I said, turning to shoot a smile in her direction. “Wasn’t expecting you so early.”
“Clearly,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Or I wouldn’t be walking in on you scaring the shit out of my coworkers,” she said, but there was the tiniest hint pleasure in the brightness of her eyes.
‘Cause if anyone had a little threatening coming to them in her eyes, it was these fucks.
“Oh, we were just having a little… chat,” I said. “Ain’t that right, boys?” I asked, looking back at them.
“About what?” Hope asked.
“About the merits of being honest,” I said. “And true to your word. All that elementary shit.”
To that, Hope let out a sigh as she put her to-go coffee cup on her desk.
“Alright, look, he saw you guys working his case. The jig is clearly up,” she said.
“We were trying to explain to Mr. Alcazar here that you don’t take the lead on cases.”
“And I’m sure Mr. Alcazar,” she repeated, a heavy bit of sarcasm slipping into her words, “would be willing to compromise. Isn’t that right?” she asked, looking at me.
I looked back for a moment, long enough that she actually squirmed a bit. And Hope wasn’t the kind of person to squirm.
I couldn’t help but wonder why.
“I might be persuaded,” I agreed, looking at her still. She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, exposing four different piercings on her lobe, and one on the cartilage.
Nothing flashy.
Just silver studs and a bar.
“Look, he just wants me on the case too. He’s not going to have a problem with you taking the lead, so long as I am on it.”
“Why?” Mike barked at her, that barely-disguised hint of distaste in his words.
“‘Cause I said so seems like an appropriate response,” I said, glancing over at them. “‘Cause I’m paying you to do what I say is another argument,” I went on. “‘Cause I’m not afraid of doling out some consequences if I am not gettin’ what I paid for.”
“Why her?” Mike clarified.
“‘Cause I think she’s hungrier for it,” I said, shrugging. “And I think you fucked yourself over by making her that hungry. So you only got your own bitch asses to blame for it. Figure your shit out. I am not going to give you another chance to fuck with me,” I told them, making my way to the door. “Hope, I better be seeing you,” I said, getting a chin incline from her before I was gone.
On the walk back to the car, I couldn’t help but replay her squirming, the hair tuck.
And maybe overanalyze that shit.
Was she uncomfortable because her coworkers were around?
Or was it a different type of… discomfort?
