Smoke and Mirrors: (Fire and Fury Book Two)

by Avery Kingston

  Scott yawned and rolled over, exposing not only his stump but his entire package.

  Damn. The man was hung like a horse.

  How does that even work with the two of them? Vic the teeny little thing she is…

  “Fuuuuuck, my head,” Scott groaned, cracking his eyes open. “You got any aspirin, Keith?”

  “I’m sorry, did guest services at Hotel Nielsen not leave that on the pillow for you?” Keith scowled. “Ok, seriously you two, do I even want to know why you broke into my house?”

  “We were really drunk…and I seem to have lost my clothes.” Tori giggled as she climbed out of bed. She ran her hands across the ground. “We used the spare key.”

  “Well, that, I gathered.” Keith rolled his eyes watching her struggle. “Jesus, lay back down. I’ll get your clothes, Vic.”

  He retreated downstairs, collected their scattered clothing, and marched back up, tossing them next to her. “Here you go.”

  Scott was sitting on the edge of the bed putting on his prosthetic. “Seriously, aspirin? Please?” He grinned sheepishly at Keith.

  Keith growled. “Fine. Meet me downstairs.” With that, he stomped out of the room.

  Keith went and freshened up then headed downstairs. Scott came down not long after, fully dressed. “Aspirin’s on the counter.” Keith nodded to the water glass with the pills lying next to it.

  “Thanks, man.” He downed them.

  “Where’s Vic?”

  “Puking.” Scott’s eyes flicked upward.

  “Jesus, I should’ve figured. She can’t handle her liquor.” Keith leaned on the kitchen counter. “So, do you want to explain how you ended up here?”

  “Dude, I would, but I’ve got to get into the office.” He walked over to the coffee table and grabbed his backpack.

  Keith turned as he heard Vic’s footsteps coming down the stairs. “Hey, princess, how are you feeling?” Keith said a little louder than normal, just to be a brat.

  “Like shit.” She rubbed her temple. “My head is pounding, and my nose feels double its size. How bad does it look?” She lifted her chin.

  Scott blanched, making it obvious to Keith he still hadn’t forgiven himself for that one.

  “Not as bad as you'd imagine,” Keith interjected quickly, hoping to make him feel better.

  “You ready? I got us an Uber.”

  “I have to go to my condo to grab a change of clothes then get to the office.”

  Your Uber has arrived. Her VoiceOver blared out of her phone speaker.

  “Scott, why don’t you roll to the city with me. I’ll drop you by your place and we can all meet up for lunch? Say noon?” Keith suggested.

  “Sounds good.” Scott gave Tori a quick kiss. “I love you, Tori.”

  Keith’s jaw dropped. Did he actually say the L word? It wasn’t like Keith didn’t know it, but the fact that they were admitting it aloud was a huge leap for these two. Warmth seeped into his chest.

  “Right back at ya.” Vic grinned wide. “You boys have fun.”

  “Well, it’s just me and you, mister.” Keith said as he grabbed his keys.

  “You’re not gonna get all frisky in the car on me are ya? I saw you eyeing my junk this morning.” Scott winked at him as he opened the front door.

  “You were the one flapping it for display. Really though, don’t flatter yourself. I was strictly looking for artistic purposes. Did you see the photograph in my living room?” Keith asked proudly as they hopped into his black Prius.

  “Yeah, I couldn’t help but notice the large, naked man on your wall when I walked in.” Scott laughed as he shut the door.

  “Did you see that he was blind?” Keith started the engine and backed away from the curb. If Scott had taken the time to look, he would have noticed hauntingly beautiful blue, hazy eyes.

  Scott chuckled. “No, I wasn’t really looking at his eyes when his junk was staring me in the face.”

  “Well, between knowing you and Vic and all her current projects going on, it inspired me to think about how the world views the differently abled.”

  Scott groaned. “Differently abled? God, that phrase is even too gay for you.”

  Keith slugged Scott in the shoulder. Ok, the man had a point, he was too politically correct at times. He’d learned a lot from being around Scott so much. They may not always see eye-to-eye, but Scott was a good man. He didn’t have a homophobic bone in his body. Scott poked at him in much the same way Keith teased Vic for her blindness.

  “Anyhow, you know photography has always been my area of expertise,” Keith began. “I’m running a fun little side project. Imagine an erotic coffee-table book or calendar featuring people with disabilities. I want to show the beauty and sexuality of it rather than the stigma.”

  Scott scratched his beard and raised his brow. “Not a bad idea.”

  “You should pose for me.”

  Scott curled his nose. “Yeah, that’s not happening.”

  “Oh, come on, you’re a total stud!”

  “Have we met?” Scott’s brown eyes bore into Keith’s skull with a you-have-to-be-kidding-me glare. “What makes you think that I’d ever do something like that?”

  Keith sighed. Yes; Scott was a private person. “I forget that Vic is the exhibitionist in your relationship.”

  Scott’s gaze softened as he grinned. “Yeah, she is.”

  “So, about this relationship.” Keith slapped him on the thigh. “How long until you finally ask her to marry you?”

  “I did. Last night.” Scott shifted in his seat.

  “Well, about damn time, mister!” A huge grin broke out on Keith’s face. As different as Vic and Scott were, they were made for each other. He’d been dreaming of this for years.

  Scott frowned. “She said no.”

  “She flat out said no?” Keith wasn’t buying that. If Scott came to Vic and asked for help to bury a body, she’d start packing shovels. Keith knew beyond a doubt that she loved the man.

  “Well, not really. I think she was worried I was too wasted to know what I was doing.” He regaled Keith with the story of last night. “Granted, I was drunk, I didn’t get down on one knee, and I didn’t have a ring. Yeah, maybe I should’ve thought it through.” Scott rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. “She freaked out. She wants to meet my family first and have a proper proposal.” Scott waved his hand mimicking Vicky. “I was trying to be romantic and impulsive. It backfired.”

  Keith snorted.

  “What?” Scott said.

  “Vicky never wants to meet the family. As soon as any of her flings would mention meeting the parents, she’d call it quits. She loves you, mister. She’s gonna say yes. You need to give her time and get a ring, dammit. You know her, she’s like a baby deer—come at her too quick and she'll run for the hills,” Keith said as he pulled up to Scott’s building.

  “Thankfully, I'm an excellent hunter.” Scott flashed a wicked grin. “Thanks for the ride, man. I’ll see ya in a few hours.”

  “Hey, Scott,” Keith stopped him. Scott poked his head back into the car. “It’s good to have you home.”

  Scott patted the roof, smiled, and shut the door.

  “Nice of you to show up for work,” Presley said, leaning her slender arm on the door frame of his office. “How come you get to show up late and they still give you the office with the view?” She craned her long neck, admiring the view of Lafayette Park from his window. "I’m here every damn morning on time and I’m shoved in a cube.”

  “Don’t be a techie geek then.” Scott glanced up from the box he was unpacking and grinned at her. “How’s it going, Pres?”

  “Good.” She unfolded her arms and walked into the office. “Where were you last week anyway?” She flopped in the chair across his desk and ran her tattooed fingers through her short, black, pixie cut.

  “Packed up my gear in the glades and Tori and I went to a resort in the keys.”

  “A romantic weekend away? That’s unlike you two.” A sly grin
crept across her thick lips. Presley had this wide, crooked smile with perfectly straight white teeth. That paired with silver eyes that alternated between blue and green made her look like she was up to no good. “Damn that’s like a full week of sleeping with the same chick. This must be some kind of record for you.”

  A smirk tugged at his lips, but he didn’t comment. Office gossip spread like wildfire and he preferred his privacy. Scott reached into the box, pulling out a photo of him and Tori, and placed it next to his computer.

  It looked much nicer sitting on the dark-red, mahogany desk than it did on the rusted, old, metal one in his bunker in the glades.

  “And you’re staying put… are you actually retiring your manwhore status for this girl?” Presley snagged the frame and eyed it. “What is going on in this photo, anyway?” She laughed. “Is this the Netherlands?”

  “That was shortly after I lost my leg. She took me to Amsterdam.” Scott chuckled. The picture had been taken in front of the canal with Tori lifted above his shoulders like a barbell. “The dude didn’t think my prosthetic was strong enough for a tandem bike. We proved him wrong.”

  “What else did you do there?” Presley’s eyes narrowed.

  “We don’t talk about Amsterdam.” Scott tried to hide the wicked grin spreading across his lips.

  “You love her…” she chimed in a silly sing-song voice. “You want to marry her…”

  “You done?” Scott wrinkled his brow at her as he snagged the photo back.

  “So, when do I get to meet this chick?” Presley asked. “Ooh, you should totally come over tonight and bring her. Cards game is on.”

  “I don’t think baseball would entertain her.” Scott chuckled.

  “Oh; so she’s a girly girl? Doesn’t like sports.”

  “I have no clue if she likes sports,” he answered. Their time catching up with each other over the years didn’t involve much talking. “Anyhow, I need to pack my condo tonight.”

  “Pack?”

  “I’m moving in with her.”

  “You what?” Presley’s jaw flopped open. “How much do you know about this girl?”

  “Pres, I’ve known Tori for ten years.” He shot her a glare.

  “And yet you can’t tell me if she likes baseball.”

  “You know she’s blind, right?”

  “So what? She can still listen to the calls on the screen. For a man with his own disability you’re pretty ignorant.” She gave him a wink. “Now tell me, what’s her middle name?”

  “Rose.”

  “Parent’s name?”

  He scratched his temple, racking his brain. Finally, it came to him. “Her mom’s name is Maureen.”

  “Dad’s name?”

  “Dad’s dead.”

  “How’d he die?”

  “I don’t know.” He frowned.

  Her brow arched. “You’re moving in with this girl and you don’t even know how her father passed away?”

  Scott was getting irritated, but Presley brought up a valid point. What was her father’s name? How did he die? Those were all still huge mysteries. He'd asked once, several years ago, and Tori had clammed up. He knew better than to even touch on that subject again until she was ready.

  There was a knock at the door and they turned.

  Rebecca, secretary to the CEO Jack Riley, stood in the doorway. She pushed her glasses up on her nose and glanced down at her feet. The poor girl could never stare Scott square in the face.

  “Scott, Jack needs to see you in his office.”

  “Ok.” He nodded, thankful for the interruption. “You could’ve called. You didn’t have to walk all the way down here, Rebecca.” Scott flashed her a grin.

  Her cheeks flushed as her eyes darted from him to Presley then back to her feet.

  He always assumed Rebecca had a thing for him. She was cute, in a reserved secretary type way. She was no Tori, that was for sure. His mind flashed to Tori throwing her head back and screaming his name last night. His cock tingled.

  Work thoughts, dude, work thoughts.

  She bit her lip. “Um. I tried that. There was no answer.”

  “Thanks, Rebecca, I’ll be right there.” Scott nodded to her and she shuffled away.

  Scott frowned and picked up the phone, placing it to his ear. There was no dial tone. He dropped the receiver back down to deal with later; he didn’t feel like crawling under his desk in his khakis.

  Presley groaned from under his desk. When did she get there? It was obviously bugging her much more than it was him. “Ah ha!” Presley’s head popped back up, and she leaned her elbows on the desk with a glare. She batted her eyes at him as she twirled the end of the jack. “You have to plug it in for it to work. God, Harris, what would you ever do without me?”

  “Thanks, but I think I could’ve figured that one out.” Scott rolled his eyes and walked past her.

  “Don’t act like you aren’t wowed by my amazing technical skills!” She called behind him.

  Scott chuckled as he marched down the hall and took the elevator up to the next floor. Once there, Rebecca grinned at him from her desk and waved him into Jack’s office.

  “Scott, hey. Can I ask you something?” Rebecca stopped him as he started to turn the handle.

  “Sure.” He turned back to Rebecca who was biting her lip.

  “I was wondering…” Her voice lowered.

  He groaned inwardly. He’d let her down gently. He’d have to get used to this, after all. He may have poked fun at Tori for how many dudes she’d slept with, but he was sure his number was higher. He just didn’t boast about it as much as his girl did.

  Rebecca continued “…If Presley was seeing anyone.”

  You cocky son of a bitch.

  He let out a chuckle and scratched his temple. “I don’t think so.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You should ask her out; I’m sure she’d take you up on the offer.” Scott knocked on the desk, winked, then went into Jack’s office.

  “Harris! Glad to have you back!” Jack grinned and rose from his seat, greeting Scott with a hearty handshake. “How was Florida? You get everything all squared away there?”

  “Sure did.” Scott nodded as Jack patted him on the shoulder.

  “Have a seat.” Jack motioned to the armchair as he circled back around his desk and settled into his brown, leather chair.

  Jack removed his glasses and leaned back. He smiled wide, flashing his pearly white veneers at Scott. Jack had a grin that was more suited for politics than for the Air Force, but the array of military awards framed on his wall begged to differ.

  “So, what’s up?” Scott asked.

  “I need you to get a team together.”

  Scott cursed inwardly but tried to keep his composure. Jack and he had a deal. Months ago—when Tori was in O&M training and Scott was back in town for a few days—he’d gone to Jack’s house after a long talk with Keith. Scott could still remember Keith’s words: “Get the girl, Scott. It’s time for you and Vic to have a happily ever after. Stuff down that big ego of yours that fears she’ll say no and tell her how you really feel… get hitched and make pretty babies.”

  Something inside Scott had stirred from Keith's words. He’d marched straight to Jack’s house and asked to get out of the field, or he was giving his resignation. Scott had poured his heart out to Jack that night, something he rarely ever did. He’d told Jack all about Tori while they shared cigars and drinks over a game of pool.

  “Give me a few months,” Jack had promised Scott. They’d shook on it.

  Scott rubbed his neck that was growing hot. “Jack, I thought we agreed after Qatar no more field work…”

  Jack held up his hands and chuckled. “Before you say anything, this isn’t what you think it is.”

  Scott raised his brow.

  “We have a LEO unit just outside Austin,” Jack began, “that wants third-party help to set up their training facility and programming. I want you to lead it. This is right in your wheelhouse—keeps you out
of the danger, but still keeps you doing something you enjoy. You’re a damn good instructor, Harris.”

  Austin was the magic word that dissolved his aggravation.

  “How long?” Scott asked.

  “A few weeks, maybe a month tops. Just long enough to get them up and running. I had a hunch you wouldn’t mind going back to your hometown.” Jack’s blue eyes creased in the corners as he grinned at Scott. “Anyhow,” he waved his hand, “I’ll email you the details of the contract and you can prepare a team. I’ll give you four other people to take with you, one needs to be a techie. I’m assuming you will pick Shey,” he said in reference to Presley, “since you two work well together. Whoever else you want on the team is your choice. I need you there in a week.”

  “Ok, Boss.” Scott tried to hide his excitement. This was his hometown and a job right up his alley. No sneaky pickups, no terrorists, no training ass-hats. Just guns and good old boys in Texas. “And I can have anyone I want?”

  “Even your buddy Hodges, if you want. Although we both know he’s got a few screws loose.” Jack made a sour face.

  “Eh, Hodges is doing pretty darn good…” Scott defended his best friend Ian Hodges, a.k.a Blaze.

  “Good deal.” Jack dismissed Scott with a wave of the hand. “I’ll be in contact.”

  A warm grin crept across Scott’s lips as he walked out of the office. He was going home. He could practically taste his mom’s homemade sourdough biscuits and smell the bacon frying in the pan.

  “Oh, and Harris, one more thing.”

  “Yes.” Scott wiped the smirk off his face and turned around.

  “I’m not as upset about you leaving the field as you think. You’re damn good out there, but it was always a hard sell getting most people past the nub. But I know one thing—you aren’t suited for a desk job. Contracts and negotiations isn’t your passion. I understand why you’re doing it for your lady.” Jack gave him a long stare. “If Victoria is half as amazing as you’ve said she is, I’m sure your mom and dad will love her.”

  Scott patted the door frame and smiled. Sneaky Jack. He was paving the way for him to take Tori home to meet his folks.