by Addison Jane
They think I’m a beaten woman, and they’re being cautious. It’s almost kind of sweet, and I’m glad they’re going out of their way to look after women who come in with this kind of injuries. But I really don’t need the counselor or the lady from the woman’s shelter in here telling me all about their services.
I already know that Brandon’s going to get his…actually, he probably already has.
After a few minutes, the nurse and doctor excuse themselves to do more rounds and not long after there’s a gentle tap on the door. I look up, finding my mom’s soft smile. “How are you feeling?” she asks, her voice quiet and comforting, nothing like it was an hour ago when she’d rushed into my room ready to kill whoever had hurt me, leaving not long after, mumbling something about calling Jack.
“I’m feeling better,” I rasp. My throat is sore and scratchy, courtesy of my stomach acid.
“Good, because I brought you a visitor.”
My body sinks into the bed, relaxing, as I can imagine in my head seeing Luca walk through that door. His presence, his smell, his body surrounding me, it all makes my head feel clearer as I realize how much I want him here with me and just how much I miss him.
When Andy walks through the door, my shoulders slump, I know he notices the instant reaction, but he tries not to react to what’s basically a slap in the face with rejection. My mom smiles sadly before backing out of the room and closing the door. She knows who I want here, and she knows I won’t ask for him either. Because I’m fucking stubborn. I just want him to know that I need him, I don’t want to have to tell him that.
“I’m not the person you wanted to see, obviously,” Andy pokes, jokingly. His smile is still bright, and I find it warms me, even if it isn’t the one I was desperate to see. Andy’s gotten me through some hard times, he’s always there when I need him. I should be grateful.
I shake my head. “I am happy to see you. I can’t smile because it will pull the stitches from the back of my head and my skin will fall off my face,” I explain with a straight face.
Andy doesn’t even crack a smile, taking a seat next to my bed and pulling my hand into his. “I’ve seen you in some serious states, Sunshine, but this one takes the cake…” he admits in a hushed tone, lifting the hand he’s holding and turning it over so he can see my bruised and swollen knuckles. His thumb sweeps over them and up my arm to where my hospital gown is hanging loosely off my shoulder. The darkening thumbprint that stains my skin from when Brandon picked me up and threw my body against the wall is a reminder that this is far more serious than I’m trying to let myself think it is.
Operatives within The Agency are not allowed to hurt one another, not seriously. I’ve seen Kace and Axel spar before, and while they manage to get in a few good punches, it’s not enough to seriously injure the other person. Because that’s not the purpose of sparring. It’s practice, it’s revision and teaching skills, and Brandon had done none of those things. He spent the whole time baiting me, taunting me, and yelling about how pathetic I am. He made me feel worthless, and then when he was finally dealt a spoonful of his own medicine, he lost his shit.
Agents should never lose their shit. Especially, never with a member of their own team, and in a way that could kill them.
I reach for my hospital gown and pull it up to cover my shoulder.
“Tell me what the hell happened,” Andy demands, looking me directly in the eyes with a seriousness that I rarely see from him.
I try to force a small smile. “If I—”
“I swear to God, if you say ‘if I told you I’d have to kill you’ one more fucking time, I’m going to perform the entire Broadway show Cats right here in your hospital room…” he waves his hands around, “… in a fucking lycra suit,” he threatens, the deep frown lines on his forehead becoming increasingly prominent.
“If I told you…”
Andy leaps up and starts to tug at his shirt. “Lucky I wore my lycra today.”
I reach over and grab his shirt, pulling it down, giggling lightly. “If I told you, you have to promise to never tell a single soul.”
He drops back down into the hospital chair, shuffling closer to the bed and making it screech against the linoleum floor. “I never told anyone that one time you laughed so hard you pissed your pants at Danny Olemans’ sixteenth birthday, and jumped in the pool pretending you were drunk just so people wouldn’t see the wet patch on your jeans.”
I gasp and shove at his shoulder. “Lucky you jumped in after me like it was the cool thing to do. Otherwise, I would have been just the weirdo who jumped in the pool.”
“Do you even know me?” he snorts, waving his hand in the air dramatically again. “I make everything cool.”
I take a deep, shaky breath and look Andy directly in the eye. This should be easy, Andy is my best friend. He knows me. He knows everything about me. It should not be this hard. “I work for a secret part of the government.”
Andy just stares at me, there’s no emotion, no surprise, no questioning look. Just a blank stare. I clear my throat and keep going. Maybe I talked to fast, or maybe he doesn’t understand what I mean. “I use my computer skills to fight terrorists,” I whisper, leaning closer to him.
He still doesn’t move, his eyes blank. We both stare at each other for a few moments. Neither of us moving.
I know he heard me.
“Do they have you on morphine or something?” he asks, finally leaning to the side so he can see around me to my drip.
“No, it’s just saline,” I tell him with a heavy frown. “I’m telling you the truth. And you have to swear never to repeat this or tell another soul. Or I could get fired, or worse, killed.”
“Come on, Sunshine…” he replies skeptically. “How does someone like you get into this kind of stuff? I knew you were good with computers but a secret government agency?”
I swallow past the thick lump that’s formed in my throat and lift my chin up high. “It was my dad, he used to work for them,” I say quietly, not even sure he can hear me.
There are a few seconds of silence where I refuse to look at him, scared if I do, I’ll just burst out into tears. My dad loved Andy, he was like a second child and Andy loved him too. My dad was the dad Andy never had. My home being a place he was always accepted and loved, whether we were together or not.
“I knew your dad was too scary to be an IT guy. Nerds are never that buff,” Andy finally murmurs in awe. The laughter bubbles up in my throat, and I turn to him, his eyes red but his smile huge.
“With some of the nerds I’ve met at work, you’d be surprised.” I giggle when Andy’s eyes light up, a mixture of surprise and intrigue.
He quickly shakes it off and grabs my hand again. “Okay, so now we’ve established how bad ass you are, tell me how this…” he waves his hand expressively over my body, “… happened.”
“During training,” I reply simply, hoping that will be sufficient but knowing that for Andy, he will never stop until he knows every little detail down to what color panties I was wearing today—that’s the kind of relationship we have. Nothing’s off limits.
“With the personal trainer that Hannah said you were working with?”
I roll my eyes, of course, he knows. Hannah is my other best friend, but man she can’t ever keep her mouth closed. “No, I had to change trainers…” I can’t keep the sadness out of my voice. Even I can hear it ringing in my ears, the disappointment, the annoyance at myself and at Luca for letting things get this far.
Andy squeezes my hand tighter, drawing my eyes back to him. His smile is warm and kind. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, Sunshine,” he offers with a supportive smile. “You know I’ll still love you anyway.”
He can obviously hear the pain in my voice, and he’s giving me an out. But I need to talk, I need to let everything out. “I love you, too, but I’m ready to tell you what’s going on.”
He smiles at me with pride and sits a little straighter. “I’m right here.�
�
Kace and I step inside The Agency, both of us sweaty and hot from being out at the shooting range all morning. I’ve finally graduated to an elbow crutch, my range of movement getting better every single day. I can even move around a little without any support now, which my doctor says is good but only for a short amount of time.
I’m just happy to finally be getting some real work back in, some proper training. With not being able to exercise like I usually do, I swear I can feel my body getting chubby.
“That new ammo that Noah sourced us was fucking epic,” Kace praises as we move slowly, ready to head for the showers. Movement catches my eye and pulls my attention toward Jack’s office. I stop, reaching out with my free hand to grab Kace’s shoulder as he prattles on about the new ammunition we tested today. “What?” he asks, following my gaze, his face morphing into a frown that matches mine.
Jack’s sitting at his desk as usual, but it’s Eli standing on the other side, his body leaning forward in anger, as he yells at our Boss and throws his hands in the air that has Kace and I instantly heading for them.
Kace shoves the door open, not even bothering to knock, holding it as I hobble through after him, my eyes flicking suspiciously between the two men.
“Fucking hell,” Eli curses under his breath and takes a couple steps back while Jack pushes to his feet.
“You wanna tell us what the hell is going on?” Kace demands, looking at Eli first, knowing that Eli is one of his men, whereas Jack doesn’t have to tell him shit.
Eli folds his arms across his chest. “I’m filing a fucking complaint.”
“About who?” I ask, nervous at the way Eli refuses to look over at me. Instead, keeping his intense gaze locked on Jack.
“Brandon, from SO9.”
My body stills, the words are computing in my brain, most likely slower than everyone else’s, but they don’t speak as I process what my teammate has just said. “You mean the team that Everly is working with at the moment?” I can already feel the agitation rising, knowing with the way these guys are acting something’s gone wrong.
“I just put Everly in an ambulance,” Eli finally murmurs.
“You fucking what?” I growl, low and deadly, ready to rip someone’s fucking throat out. I take one step forward, and Kace steps in front of me, one hand on my chest.
“What’s going on? Are we missing a meeting or something?” Tanner asks as she plows through the doorway with the rest of our team behind her.
Eli finally sits down, scrubbing at his bare head, revealing his knuckles which are split open on one hand. “Brandon was meant to be training Everly. They had their first lesson today. It didn’t go well. That guy is a fucking mental case, man. How the hell they let him in here, I’ll never fucking know.”
“What the hell do you mean it didn’t go well?” I seethe, trying to keep my head focused, and not lose my mind to the emotion that’s bubbling up inside me. “Is Everly okay?” I finally manage to ask even though it scares the shit out of me to hear the actual answer. I’m finally sorting my shit out, coming to terms with losing my mom and having this new family. Everly and I still haven’t spoken, but I thought I was doing what was best, figuring out my own head and making sure I’m in a good place before I go back and beg for her to let us try again.
Jack moves from the other side of his desk, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. “Everly was alert when they took her away, but the EMT suspects she has a concussion and will need stitches in the back of her head,” Jack explains calmly, watching me, probably waiting for me to lose my shit. “Her mom is on shift, so she’ll be waiting for her at the hospital.”
I’m not far off losing my mind, he’s right to be concerned, but there is one thing that’s keeping me from tearing this fucking room apart, and I’m going to have it, whether Jack agrees to it or not. The fucking Agency can fire me for all I care, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to let this go. “You know I need to do something about this right? You know I can’t just let this shit fly.”
Jack doesn’t respond. Thankfully, he cares about Everly like she’s his own daughter. I’m almost sure if I wasn’t about to do what I’m about to do, Jack would take off his leg and beat Brandon to death with it. Or at the very least, that’s how I imagine it. He’d probably use a gun or some lame shit like that.
“Brandon’s in the gym,” Noah pipes up while looking at his tablet. His eyes look up and meet mine, the intensity in them an obvious understanding he knows what I need. “It’d be a shame if the security cameras went off for five minutes.”
My shoulders pull back, and I stand a little taller. I’m ready to toss this stupid elbow crutch that I’m using to help me get around across the damn room. I could get fired for this shit, or worse if Brandon decides to be an asshole about it. I could get hurt and reverse all the work I’ve done to heal over the past few weeks.
“Let me do it,” Kace murmurs, placing his hand on my shoulder. I eye my best friend, he knows that this is a risk, but I shake my head.
“No, he touched Everly. Someone did this to Lily would you let me beat the shit out of them while you watched?” I ask, already knowing the answer. He purses his lips, his fingers tightening on my shoulder.
“I just don’t need you to be out of order for much longer, you’re finally getting better.”
I nod in understanding, but as far as I’m concerned, Brandon is about to feel a shit load of pain. He’s not only hurt someone who means a fucking lot to me, but he’s gone after a woman like she was a sure fire enemy. Someone who works for The Agency needs to know when to stop. We spar with Tanner all the time, and we never go easy on her, but I’m also not going to actually beat the fucking life out of her because she’s my teammate, she’s my friend.
Brandon needs to be taught a lesson, and I’m just the teacher to do it.
“Is this going to be an issue?” I ask, rubbing my hands together and looking at Jack. He leans back against the front on his desk and folds his arms.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he replies with a casual shrug and a small smile in the corner of his mouth. “Unfortunately, I have work to do. So, if you could all get the hell out now.”
He really doesn’t, but he needs an alibi. He needs to be seen in here doing paperwork, so he isn’t accused of having anything to do with the shitstorm that’s ahead.
We file out the door, one after another. My body is hot, it’s burning and ready for a fight. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Tanner enquires as she falls into step beside me. “You’re not exactly in your prime, and Brandon is… well…” I see the small shudder move through her, and for a second I wonder why the hell Brandon has been allowed to continue within The Agency if so many of the woman around here know what he’s like. I make a mental note to figure that point out later as we reach the gym door.
“You’ve got seven minutes, that’s all I can give you before the system will override me,” Noah explains.
I nod and pass Kace my crutch. “That’s all I’ll need.”
Kace, Tanner, and Eli walk in with me, while Axel, Noah, and Blair stay outside the gym to keep guard, and make sure no one enters while I’m… busy. The moment I see him, the minute his stupid face enters my vision, everything stops. I had a plan. It was a good one. A typical Luca plan. Walk up to him, make some quick-witted remark about him beating up a woman and take him by surprise, maybe even slap him like the bitch he is for starters. But the instant I see him a rage ignites inside of me. All I can see is him punching away on that punching bag, and the thought of his hands touching my girl, my Everly, and hurting her, is enough to burn the hatred inside of me so scorching hot I can’t control myself.
My feet move before I even think about what I’m doing. I run. I haven’t run since the accident. I didn’t even know I was capable of it yet. Fuck! I still walk with a fucking crutch, but I run anyway. The pain sears through my hip, but I keep going.
Brandon turns just in time to s
ee my fist move out, it connects with his jaw, the sting piercing through my knuckles as his jaw reflects to the side, his head snapping sideways with the force knocking him to his knees. I don’t stop as he lets out a grunt with a half chuckle. I bend down grabbing at his collar and yank him up to look at me, a bruise forming on his jaw already from my knock, and he laughs in my face.
The fucker actually laughs as he looks into my eyes.
“I was wondering when you’d show up,” he sneers and then brings his arms up thrusting my hands loose from his shirt as he slams his head forward head-butting me right in the forehead. The pain sears through my scalp as I take a step back. Kace takes a step forward, but all it does is egg me on.
Lunging forward again, I jab my right hand into Brandon’s ribcage. He lets out a huff as I swing my left hand aiming for his nose, but he ducks out of the way weaving under my arm and darting behind me swiftly. I turn, but I’m not quick enough as he runs his arm up and under my throat taking me in a headlock. I reach up grabbing at his arm as Kace looks at me raising his brow in question of whether to come and rescue me or not, and I shake my head. This is gonna hurt.
Grabbing Brandon’s arm, I use all my force and flip him over my back. The pain sears through my hip making me yelp as he lands on the floor with a huff, and I wince feeling my hip crunch with the pressure. I take a second to breathe as Brandon doesn’t miss a beat sliding around on the floor, jolting his leg out under my bad one and taking my legs out from under me. I collapse onto the floor as he climbs on top of me. The pain in my hip is becoming unbearable, but as Brandon moves on top of me, his hands shifting to my throat...