by Addison Jane
“Relationship?”
I choose to ignore the way she looks ridiculously petrified at the use of that word. Instead, being quite content with the position we’re in, and the view I have of her stunning body. Everly is strong, she has tight muscles that you wouldn’t find on any normal girl. I guess I have the cheerleading obsession to thank for that. They aren’t overly pronounced, but give her this toned figure that I find sexy as fucking hell.
“We need to work on your defensive techniques,” I comment with a smirk as I watch her struggle, keeping her wrists pinned to the bed. “I do quite like you in this position, though.”
I dip my head and press my lips softly to hers. Her body melts under me at the gentle and sweet kiss.
“Everly… breakfast is ready,” Sally calls from down the hall, followed by footsteps down the staircase.
Everly pulls back suddenly, her eyes wide. “Shit!”
I let her go with a quick peck on the lips before rolling to the side and bouncing off the bed and onto my feet, landing with perfect precision. “Have you seen my shirt?” I ask, frowning as I look around at the tornado of clothes on the floor. “I wonder what’s for breakfast.”
Everly sits up, pulling the sheet around her to cover her body. “Um… excuse me? Shouldn’t you be going out the window or something?”
I frown but then spot my T-shirt laying not far from where I dumped my pants last night after my run-in with Jack. “Um… no. I’m great with parents. And I’m starving, I’ve worked up an appetite, you know.” I make quick work of my clothes, and Everly is soon leaping out of bed after me when she realizes that I’m not joking around. I’m being completely serious. I don’t want to be someone’s dirty little secret. Especially not Everly’s, because this girl is fantastic and I’m fucking dying to make sure everyone knows that she’s mine.
“Luca…” she warns as I pull on the door handle and step out into the hallway, listening to her cursing and hopping around behind me as she tries to pull on her jean shorts and a shirt—something at least a little presentable.
I take the stairs two at a time, bursting into the kitchen with my arms out wide. “Mama Coal,” I say loudly with a wide grin.
Sally turns around with a knowing smile, rolling her eyes. “Luca, how nice to see you.”
I look around, expecting to find someone else. “Just the three of us for breakfast?” I ask, lifting one eyebrow as Everly runs in, sliding to a stop at the counter, her eyes moving between her mom and me.
Sally smiles sweetly. “Yes, I made enough for the three of us.” She knew that wasn’t what I meant, but I let her get away with it… this time.
“Mom, I… uh…” Everly stammers.
Sally just laughs and waves her hand as if to brush it off, turning back to the stove. “Everly, it’s fine, you’re twenty-four. I don’t expect you to be a damn nun. And you haven’t really seen anyone since Andy left. I’m glad.”
My heart sinks into my gut, and I look over at Everly. “Who’s Andy?” I feel a spike of jealousy inside me. I already hate this guy, and I don’t even know who the hell he is, or why he’s so important that her mom had to mention him.
Everly chews on her lip. “Um… he’s just—”
My phone begins to ring, interrupting her.
I quickly snatch it from my pocket in annoyance, ready to tell them to call me the fuck back but then I see the caller ID, and the annoyance turns to something else. I hold the phone up and move closer to Sally. “Hey look, it’s Jack.”
She blushes, refusing to look at me while Everly appears a mixture of relieved and confused. I hit answer and hold the phone to my ear, but before I can even say hello, Jack is on me. “Get in here, now,” he snaps, and the line goes dead.
“Well then… looks like I have to go to work. Jack must need me for some super-secret spy emergency,” I say, like it’s such a hard work day, dusting my hands together. I grab Everly’s hand before she can run away and pull her in close, then place a gentle kiss on her temple. “I’ll talk to you later. Thank you, for listening.”
She leans into me, nuzzling the side of her face against my shirt like a kitten before she pulls back and looks up. “See you this afternoon for training. Can I use the big gun today?” I see the moment she realizes what she’s just said, and I hold her tightly against me so she can’t run away.
“You used the big gun last night,” I whisper.
Obviously not low enough though because Sally walks out of the kitchen shaking her head and muttering to herself. “Oh Lord…”
Everly finally shoves me in the chest, pushing me backward toward the front door. “Get out.”
“Was it something I said?”
I step out of the elevator and clock Kace walking down the hall toward me. “Hey, you’re here early,” he says, patting me on the back. “Your car wasn’t in the driveway this morning. You stay out last night?”
“Yeah,” I confirm as I point up at Jack’s office. “He wants to see me. You might want to come, so there’s a witness to avenge my murder.”
Kace throws his head back and closes his eyes like he’s praying for patience. “What the fuck have you done now?”
“Luca!” I don’t even have time to reply or defend myself before Jack’s booming voice can be heard throughout The Agency, and everyone turns to look at me as Kace, and I make our way to Jack’s office. We step up the ramp, and it feels like I’m being marched toward death row, the air around me strangely still and silent as I push the door open and step inside. Trying to remind myself to be respectful, at least for Everly’s sake.
Jack’s sitting at his desk, looking perfectly calm.
I fold my arms across my chest and wait with a grin, knowing it’s not going to be that way for long. “We missed you at breakfast this morning.”
Jack doesn’t miss a beat, grabbing the closest item to him—a metal stapler—and hurtling it toward my head.
I duck at the last possible moment, feeling it whizz past, the rush of air moving my hair. It clatters into the glass behind me, and I whistle loudly. “You’re lucky that’s bulletproof,” I comment, turning back to face him.
“Unluckily for you, it’s also soundproof so no one can hear you scream,” Jack throws back. He stands from his desk, moving around toward me. I squash the urge to throw my hands in the air and run away like a little girl, because admittedly, Jack is a scary motherfucker.
Kace holds his hands up and steps in between us. “Woah. Woah. Woah. What the hell is going on here?” he demands while the two of us watch each other carefully. Though, I’m clearly far more amused about the situation than he is.
“Everly,” Jack says sternly. “She’s become like a daughter to me. What the hell do you think you’re doing screwing around with her? She’s not just some girl you can use and abuse and treat like last night’s trash.”
“Screwing? Everly? What?” Kace replies, looking back and forth between us in confusion. “Jesus Christ, Luca… Everly? Honestly?”
“It’s not like that,” I protest, suddenly serious and determined to prove that Everly isn’t just some fling. “I care about her. She’s not just a bit of something to me. She hears me, she knows me, and she listens.”
Jack’s already shaking his head before I can finish. “I don’t care, you need to stay the hell away from her.”
“Fuck off,” I shout. “We aren’t children. We’ll make our own choices.”
“I’ll take you off the team,” he rebukes, standing taller, showing me he’s serious.
Kace and I both freeze for a moment as we process what he’s saying.
It doesn’t take me long, though, and I reach for my gun, unclipping it and tossing it onto Jack’s desk. Then I take out my wallet with all of my ID’s and do the same, all while keeping eye contact with Jack. “Fine, take it all. I don’t give a shit. I’m not letting this get in the way of maybe finding the first real thing I’ve had in a long fucking time.”
Kace stands there and stares in horro
r as I head for the door.
“Fuck,” Jack curses under his breath. “Get back here, you fucking drama queen.”
I stop and look over my shoulder at Jack with my eyebrow raised.
“I needed to know how serious you really were. Put your shit back on, we have work to do.”
Trying to keep the skip out of my step and the joy off my face, I don’t waste a second in going back for my things, already feeling naked without them. But before I can pick up my gun, Jack places his hand over it, and we both look up, our eyes connecting. I know I’m not Jack’s favorite person in the world. I talk too much, I joke too often, and sometimes I’m just fucking annoying. But he also knows how serious I can be when I find something I care about, like this job, and now Everly.
“You hurt her, I will kill you, and I’ll make it look like an accident.”
“Noted,” I reply quickly, snatching up my gun before he can use it against me.
“Wait a minute here,” Kace interjects as the tension in the room begins to slip away. “How did you even know he had a thing with Everly? Last time I checked, she was ready to cut his balls off for breathing the same air as her.”
“Apparently, Coal women are well sought after,” I snigger quietly.
Jack glares at me across the room, and it takes Kace a few seconds before I see the realization come over his face and he turns slowly toward his dad. “Sally? Really? I mean… I’m glad you’re, you know… but like—”
“Shut up, kid,” Jack sighs, shaking his head. “We’ve got a meeting to go to. Move it.”
We file out the door toward the meeting room, and I look at Jack over my shoulder. “Are you sure you’re up for this? Did you get enough sleep last night?” I tease as if I’m gravely concerned.
“Murder…” Jack cautions, pointing to the gun holstered under his jacket. “Accident.”
I swallow. “Noted.”
Walking down the hallway beside Noah, I twist my hands around the strap of my laptop bag as it’s thrown over my shoulder. Noah’s excited and confident though I’m anything but that. Luca left so quickly this morning, we hadn’t really had a chance to talk about anything that happened.
I’m finding myself softening toward Luca with every moment we spend together, and after last night, I know now there are many different sides to him which he tries to keep locked up deep inside, afraid of appearing weak for fear of judgment from others.
I can’t help but smile as I remember how tender and caring he was, and the soft whispered words. Who would have known that the practical joker has a softer side, and a person who’s been broken down and crushed like he has, could actually be so gentle?
Nerves swirl inside me as Noah pushes on the meeting room door and holds it open like a gentleman for me to walk through. I hold my breath and take a step over the threshold, avoiding eye contact with the room and watching my feet as I walk up the front and begin to set up my laptop to the projector.
I feel his silent gaze on me, through all the noise and activity in the room, but I still can’t bring myself to look up and meet his eyes. Maybe I’m scared that after everything I felt last night he won’t look at me the same way. Perhaps last night was only a onetime thing. Personally, I’m not quite ready for it to end, even though I wasn’t ready for it to begin in the first place.
Noah clears his throat and comes to stand beside me, grabbing the attention of the room. He nudges my shoulder, and I look at him and smile. His wide grins tells me everything. Together we cracked the code, so to speak. We finally found something we can use, and shit’s about to get very serious. I can’t help but get excited.
This is why I’m here. I finally look up, and the first eyes I find are Axel’s. With almost purple shadows under his eyes, it’s obvious he’s worn and barely sleeping. Kenzi’s everything to him. I came here to learn, to help, and to make a difference in the world, even if it’s just one person’s world.
I try to offer him a supportive smile, but he’s like a ghost, staring straight through me like I’m not even here. Hopefully, this will give him something, at least a glimmer of the hope he needs to keep himself going and fighting.
My eyes move like they’re pulled by a magnet, and suddenly, Luca and I are staring straight at each other. My breathing hitches as I see that there’s something there, I’m not quite sure what yet, but maybe the start of something great. I smile and his eyes warm, just as Noah begins to talk beside me, drawing the both of us from our trance.
“So, we called this meeting this morning because Everly and I have had a slight break in the work we’ve been doing. With the new technology, we were able to enhance the photograph Ares and Ezra supplied of Kenzi, and Everly pointed out something in the shadows.”
I can’t help but notice Luca’s smile grow slightly wider as he looks to me with a look of pride on his face. I try not to smile like a fucking school girl, keeping my thoughts focused on the briefing as Noah continues.
“We spotted part of a face hidden within the picture, and so we ran it through the facial recognition software. Luckily, the man in the photograph has some very distinctive facial tattoos which allowed us to find a one hundred percentile match. The man has a criminal record a mile long.”
I reach forward, switching his file slide onto the projector so everyone can see who Noah’s talking about, and I cringe at his picture while Axel groans taking in the visual of the man while shifting in his seat clearly agitated.
Luca lets out a small chuckle, and we all glance at him as he rolls his eyes pointing to the screen. “Clinton Hendrix?” He chuckles again. “Who names their kid, Clinton?”
“That’s probably why he goes by the name Hendrix or Rix for short,” Noah cuts in. “Rix has been in the system since he was young. Juvie when he was fourteen for burglary and arson. And it’s only gotten worse from there… escalating into drugs and gangs and working his way up the food chain.
“From what we could find on him, the information points to Hendrix working for Garrick Gibbs. We don’t know much about him, or what he has his hands in, but he’s been on the watch list for a couple years now because of who he associates himself with.”
I continue to flick through a few pictures of Rix, giving examples of him through the years. “Rix and Gibbs have been seen to be dealing with the brass. Their association in the Sinclair Syndicate has them dealing with Chinese executives, Russian diplomats, and German politicians.” I flick through a few pictures of them with said executives, diplomats, and politicians. “We’re pretty sure these aren’t meetings about how their families are doing, there’s something a lot more serious going on here. Considering what the Syndicate had been up to with their lackey, Jimmy and how he was creating chemical warfare. Thank God we took him down, but we’re concerned about what could be going on here, and what they’re up to behind those closed doors,” I say as the rest of the room shifts uncomfortably.
“This is information Ares and Ezra can’t gain access to, because it’s separated from the Syndicate itself, like a different department run by a completely separate criminal organization,” Noah explains. “It’s like the bad guys have decided to stop fighting to be the best, and just banded together instead to create something bigger… better, more disastrous.”
“Do you know where this Rix guy is right now?” Axel asks, his voice raspy like he’s just holding it together.
Noah looks over at Jack, asking for permission, not wanting to let this information out there if we aren’t going to make a move soon and do something about it. We don’t want to give Axel any kind of false hope or reason to go out on his own and get himself killed.
Jack nods, giving him the go ahead, and Noah nods to me, allowing me to take the lead and explain.
“We put the Hendrix file photos through our specialized facial recognition software, so it would alert us to the fact when cameras register his face. Because his tattoos and facial structure are so unique, we got hits in the first hour that the system was set up.” I can’t hel
p but feel a little excited over what we’ve discovered. I was an integral part of this mission, and it makes me feel good that everything my dad taught me, and everything I’ve spent hours learning myself, is finally paying off and is of some worth.
Axel sits forward in his seat, suddenly much more awake and aware than he was before. I can tell the information has almost breathed a new life into his lungs. He’d been grasping at straws, and now he finally has a firm hold of one, and he isn’t about to let it go.
“Where is he?” Axel asks again with impatience, his hands balling into fists.
Before Noah or I can answer, Jack steps forward and stands in front of us. “I’m going to clear the team to go and get her, but first we need to really discuss the risks, given the information that these two have found.” He turns to look at Axel directly. “I’m not sending in anyone who I think might lose their head the minute they see something they don’t like.”
“You know where they are. Why are we still sitting here talking? Let’s go and get her,” Axel demands, standing up and pacing from side to side.
Kace tries to grab him, but he shakes him off and looks up to glare at Jack. “Let’s fucking go.”
“And this is exactly why you won’t be going with them,” Jack snaps, pointing at Axel and causing him to freeze on the spot. Axel’s eyes widen, and everyone looks at Jack like he’s lost his damn mind. “You’re gonna take one look at Kenzi… if she’s even there… and you’re going to forget about everybody else. You’ll be a danger to her, to yourself, and to your fucking team. You know, those people who have always had your back no matter what. You want to get them killed?”
Axel’s face hardens, turning a bright shade of red as his chest heaves with the adrenaline coursing through his system. “You can’t leave me out of this. This is the reason I joined this fucking team… to get her out,” Axel protests.
“And now you’re going to forget everything they’ve ever done for you, and that you’ve done for each other because you’ve finally got what you want? I didn’t think you were that selfish.” Jack throws back, standing his ground.