“No.” I lifted my bag off the floor and walked toward the office. “Forget it.”
*~*~*
The next couple of weeks passed by quickly. I didn’t go out on another job with Ty, he’d offered but I thought it was best if we stayed away from each other for a little while. The temptation was too strong.
I often found myself thinking about the kiss or staring at him when he wasn’t looking, I would trace his face and stare at the tattoos that wrapped around his arms, wondering if each of them had a story behind them.
Instead, I went out with Kitty using the excuse we were getting to know each other better. She had an interesting life and often talked about the all places that she had been and all the people that she had met.
I noticed she didn’t talk about any family though. I’d asked her about them one day and she’d clammed up and stuttered for several sentences so I left the subject alone. Clearly, that was something that she didn’t want to talk about and I was okay with that. After all, I knew how it felt to not want to open up completely.
She let me take photos, I enjoyed it and found that I was getting good at snapping pictures of people. Even Luke said how good they were the other day, I had squealed like a little girl and jumped up and down. Luke didn’t give praise often, so when he did I knew he meant it.
The last couple of days I had stayed in the office to catch up on some paperwork. My office duties had slid since I’d been going out on jobs and I had several reports to type up. I was giddy with excitement that my name had featured on a few reports.
Ty had been out most of the day and had only come back five minutes ago. Kitty and Luke were reviewing some footage that they had captured and Evan was writing some computer code or whatever it was he did on that ten computer screen system.
I’d learned not to ask what he was doing. He’d start using all these big words that made my brain hurt.
“Kay,” Ty said as he hung his coat up and took his beanie hat off.
I watched his arms ripple as he lifted his arm to try and tame his hair.
“Yes?” I croaked.
“Let’s talk about the job.” He sat opposite me, spread his long legs out in front of him and stared.
Today marked the end of my one-month trial, I knew it had been coming but I hadn’t realized how fast it would go by.
“Okay.” I gulped.
“You’re doing a great job in the office.” He paused.
I waited for the but part. I knew it was coming.
“But…” Here it is.
“You’re good outside of the office as well.”
“I am?”
He nodded, bought his knees up and leaned forward.
“Look, I know you don’t have the training that we have but I think that’s a good thing.”
“It is?”
His fingers drummed on his knee. My eyes flicked down to them and they were tapping on a small rip that stretched out where his knee was bent. “I think that you’d be an asset to the team.”
“I don’t understand.” I shook my head and leaned forward, elbows on the desk, hands clutched in front of me.
“What don’t you understand?” He smiled.
I gripped my hands harder to keep still. I couldn’t concentrate when he smiled like that.
“Will I be working in the office?”
“Yes.” I furrowed my brows. “And out on jobs.”
“You want me to do both?” I asked with wide eyes.
There was no way that I’d be able to do what they did. They all had these super ninja skills, I’d watched them train in the warehouse and there was no way that I’d be able to do what they did.
Even Evan could do it. You wouldn’t have thought that a computer nerd could do half of the things that he did. But believe me, he was a ninja nerd.
I chuckled at that; ninja nerd.
“I’ve seen the surveillance photos you’ve taken, you have a natural talent for it.” He paused. “But I want you to be able to defend yourself in any situation that you could get caught in which means we’re upping your training and you need to take it seriously.”
“How would it work?”
“You’d be in the office two days a week and out on surveillance jobs the other three.”
“But who will answer the phone?”
“Really? That’s all you wanna say?” I stared at the phone and shrugged.
“We’ll divert the calls to our phones. Besides, how many times have you answered that phone in the last four weeks?”
“I don’t know, maybe twice?” I looked up at him.
“Exactly.” He leaned back in his seat.
“But that’s because they always call you on the cells,” I rolled my eyes. “What’s the point in having an office phone if you never use it?” I huffed and looked down at my hands. My knuckles were white with how hard I was gripping them.
Could I train the way they did? Did I want to?
Of course I wanted to.
Max flashed in my mind briefly.
He’d been gone from the apartment for a week now. I didn’t know where he was staying but after the third day I rang his work and they said that he was there. Where he was staying didn’t matter to me.
It was calmer not having him around, the apartment had a nicer atmosphere. I’d also noticed Eli was much more relaxed at home.
I wanted to tell myself that Max didn’t affect Eli in anyway, but seeing the difference in him was the wake-up call that I needed.
It made me question things.
Was I always in the wrong? Did I need to be corrected when I stepped out of Max’s invisible lines? Lines that he had drawn, and I never knew where they began or where they ended.
I thought about how he had told me that I should hide my bruises because if people saw them they would know how much of a bad person I was.
But was I really a bad person?
Was it bad to not have dinner ready on the table for when he walked in the apartment?
Was it bad for me to suggest he spend some time with Eli?
Was it bad of me to not ask him if I could be excused from the table?
The one thing that I knew was bad was keeping my job a secret. I’d thought about quitting several times. But as I stared into Ty’s eyes, at the sincerity that shined back at me, I knew I wouldn’t be able to quit.
“Okay,” I said and took a deep breath. “I’d love to do it.”
“Great.” He clapped his hands and stood “Welcome to the team.”
There was so many things I wanted to say to him. I wanted to ask if he thought about me half the amount of times that I thought about him. I wanted to ask if he could still feel my lips pressed against his.
I said none of that, instead I said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He walked to the door and turned. “Training starts Monday, bring gym clothes.”
My eyes widened. He chuckled and left the office.
Exercise.
I hated exercise.
Chapter Twelve
I was on top of the world when I got home. I couldn’t wait to start training the way the other guys did, nothing would move the smile that stretched across my face.
Then Max came home.
No explanation to where he had been, what he had been doing or where he had been staying. He sat down and waited for me to place his dinner on the table, as usual.
I’d made his dinner every night this week and not once had it been eaten.
I didn’t ask him where he had been, aside from not caring, I knew that it wouldn’t go over well if I questioned him. Instead, I filled him in on the things that Eli had done this week.
He grunted his answers, stood from the table when he was finished and settled onto the couch.
Me and Eli stayed in the kitchen and made cookies. We laughed and made a heap of a mess, but that was the best part about baking. Memories of my mom flashed in my mind throughout the night, but they weren’t bad. They were happy.
We were happy.
I couldn’t help but think about how different my life could have been if she was still here. Would I have Eli? If I did, would I be in the position I was in now?
I knew that I loved Max, he was the father of my child. But was I in love with Max?
I wasn’t so sure anymore.
He was the only person who would have me. Not that I would have been able to leave even if I wanted to.
I’d thought about it several times, mainly after he’d just hurt me. But one apology and a promise that he wouldn’t do it again and I forgave him.
Those apologies had started to dwindle into nothing, and now I knew not to expect any acknowledgment afterwards.
This was my life and I had to carry on the best I could. For Eli.
Me and Eli took the warm cookies into his bedroom with our glasses of milk and settled on the bed in our pajamas.
That was how I woke up the next day, with a sore neck, cookie crumbs all over me and Eli snoring in my ear.
I looked around at what had startled me awake and closed my eyes when I couldn’t hear anything. Just as I was falling back to sleep I heard the phone ringing.
Saturday.
Only one person would call on a Saturday at this time.
I jumped out of bed and ran to the kitchen, listening, trying to find where the sound came from. I grabbed my bag, there was so much stuff in there that it took an eternity to find the goddamn thing.
“Hello?” I panted.
“Kay?” I slumped in relief and popped my head into the living room.
Max was still here. I wouldn’t be able to talk to Corey in the apartment.
“Hey, Corey.” I smiled. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” I could hear voices in the background as I crept into the hallway.
“How’s the job?”
I shoved my feet into my chucks and grabbed my cardigan.
“Good.” I put the latch on the door and went out into the hall. “I got offered a permanent position yesterday.”
“Yeah?” If I closed my eyes, I could almost see the grin on his face.
“Yeah.” I pulled the cardigan over my shoulders. “Hold on a minute.” I balanced my phone on the banister and shoved my arms through the sleeves.
I picked my phone up. “I’m back.”
“So, do you like it? Everyone treating you good?”
I thought about all the guys. I had never laughed so much, especially when I was around Evan. Kitty was fast becoming the best friend that I’d never had. Luke was still grumpy but he’d gotten a little less frosty with me lately.
And Ty. I didn’t even know where to start with Ty.
“Yeah, I love working there,” I walked down the hall and watched the apartment door.
“You like working in the office?”
“Yeah, but I love the surveillance jobs too. Ty says-”
“You love what?” He growled down the line.
“Just taking photos,” I rushed out.
“I can’t believe-”
“Nothing dangerous, I swear. Ty says that I’m good at it. He wants me to do it more often.”
“I don’t like the sound of that, Kay.”
“What? Why?” I narrowed my eyes. Even from half way across the world he still wanted to protect me.
“It’s too dangerous, Kay. The people that Ty deals with aren’t good people.”
I huffed out a breath. I’d never win this battle with him, but that was beside the point. It wasn’t as if he could do anything about it anyway.
“How’s things over there?”
There was a beat of silence, then he replied, “Yeah, good. Should be home soon.”
“Really?” I smiled wide. I couldn’t wait for him to come home.
“Yeah.” There was a loud noise in the background. “Fuck.”
“What?” I asked panicked.
“Gotta go. Love you.”
The line went dead before I had the chance to say it back.
“I love you too,” I said into the silence of the hall. I stared at my phone for several minutes, wishing that it would ring again.
I hated not being able to talk to him whenever I wanted, he was my only family and I missed him so much that it hurt.
“Kay? What are you doing?” I jumped at Miss Maggie’s voice and spun around.
“Miss Maggi.,” I blew out a panicked breath.
She stood outside her apartment, with her robe wrapped round her. It was so long that it almost hit the floor.
“Are you okay, dear?”
“Yeah,” I croaked and pulled my cardigan tighter around me. “Corey called,” I said and held my phone up.
“Oh.” She raised her brows. “How is he?”
“Yeah, he’s good.”
“And how are you?”
She moved closer to me, her slippers dragging against the floor with every step she took.
“I’m okay.”
“Are you sure, dear? You look a little pale.”
I opened my mouth to tell her how worried I was about Corey. I could put things out of my mind when I didn’t know he was doing anything for certain. But I knew that sound meant he had to head out.
The possibility of him getting hurt strangled me, the noose becoming tighter. The lump in my throat bigger.
“Kaylee?” Max called from inside the apartment.
“I…” I pointed back to the apartment. “Better go”
I spun around, headed back to the apartment. I’m about to open the door when she said, “I’m always here.” I turned back to her, “If you need to talk.”
“I know.” I nodded.
“Oh, and tell Eli the new episode is on today.”
“Okay.” I went through the door, closed it behind me and leaned back against it.
It wasn’t until then that I realized that I didn’t know what series she was talking about.
“Breakfast,” Max grunted from the kitchen.
I took a deep breath then pushed off the door.
Would it really hurt him to make his own?
I pushed that thought away as soon as it came. I needed to get back to my life and that meant doing as Max said. If he wanted breakfast, then he would get breakfast.
*~*~*
“Howzit, Kay?” Evan said as he bounced into the office Monday morning. He flopped down in the chair opposite me, a big grin spread across his face.
“Morning,” I huffed.
As mornings went, this one had been one of the worst. First I had woken up late, which meant that I had to rush to try and make it out the door on time. The more I rushed, the longer everything took.
We’d left late which meant Eli had missed his morning snack time. He cried and moaned that he wouldn’t be able to eat until lunch time so I’d stopped off at the shop to get him a snack to eat on the way.
Then he spilled his drink down him so we had to go back to get him changed which made us even later.
To top it all off, I got stuck in traffic on the way to the compound.
My first day after my trial period and I was late. Way to make a good impression.
I’d missed the morning meeting which meant I had to use Ty’s notes to type up and let me tell you they were absolutely no help whatsoever. His writing was barely legible.
Four files waited for me on my desk when I finally walked in. The office phone had rung so many times I was sure everyone knew what a bad day I was having. I wished I’d not said anything about the phone ringing the other day.
“You look stressed,” he said. I flicked my eyes to him and raised my brows.
“Yeah.” I snorted. “You could say that.”
I picked the finished files up from the desk and opened the filing cabinet. I’d finally caught up; it had taken me most of the day. Now I was counting down the hours until I could go to bed, sleep, and start fresh in the morning.
“You wanna blow off some steam?”
“Huh?” I turned back to him.
“Come on.” He s
tood and held his hand out to me. I stared at it, unsure. What were we going to do?
“Come on.” I looked back up to his face. He wore that signature Evan cheeky grin, one that told me he was about to do something that he shouldn’t.
I moved forward. I could do with a break, I reasoned with myself. Plus, I wanted to see what he was up to.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door.
“Where are we going?” I laughed, his excitement contagious.
“You’ll see.” He pulled his brows up and down, his teeth glinting with his wide smile, I giggled.
The sound was so foreign that even Evan stumbled a little. There was something about Evan that brought out the child in me.
I’d had to grow up so fast that sometimes I forgot that I was only twenty-two years old.
He pulled me over to his work station, I frowned. That’s what he was excited about? I walked past his collection of computer screens every day.
“I know what you’re thinking.” He nudged me into his chair and pulled out another one. “But you’re gonna love this.”
He clicked several buttons on the keyboard, then several screens flashed to life and voices came out of the speakers.
“What the-” My eyes widened.
“I know, cool right?” He could barely stay still he was that excited.
I stared at the screens.
Kitty and Luke.
“How are you seeing this?”
“Wouldn't you like to know.” He winked.
“Come on,” Kitty whined.
“What?”
“If you had to kill one, torture the other and let another go”
“And who are the options?” Luke asked.
“Me, Evan and Kay”
I spun in my chair and stared at Evan with wide eyes. What the hell were they talking about?
“Let’s see,” Luke said. “I’d kill Evan.”
“Why?”
He groaned. “You never said I had to give reasons.”
“Well I changed the rules.” She shrugged and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
“Fine, I’d kill him because he’d be a squealer.”
“I know right?” She nodded. I looked at Evan to gage his reaction.
“I wouldn’t.” He shook his head. I smiled at him. “I swear I’d take it like a man.” He pulled his arms up and flexed his biceps. I snorted as he kissed them.
Fractured Lies: Book 1 MAC Security Series Page 10