Nightingale: A Reed Security Romance

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “So, now that you have your Gatorade and you’ve successfully wasted ten minutes of my day, do you want to tell me what you’ve found out?”

  “I’m glad you asked,” he grinned. “See? Isn’t it nice when we all get along so well?”

  I really wanted to punch him now.

  “Alright, I did some digging into the social worker’s files. Don’t ask me how I found them. It’s better if you don’t know.”

  “Fine.”

  He turned to me and sighed. “Really? When I say not to ask, that’s when you’re supposed to ask.”

  “But you just told me not to ask.”

  He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Florrie, I’m stuck in this fucking room every single day. I stare at a computer and have no friends around to keep me company.”

  “You train with Knight every day,” I pointed out.

  “And I very rarely get to speak with anyone about anything-”

  “You run all the teams when they’re out in the field.”

  “And it’s just so goddamn lonely here. Would it really kill you to ask how I got all this information that I’m not supposed to have in the first place?”

  I took a deep breath and reminded myself that if I killed him now, I wouldn’t get the information I needed. “Fine. Rob, how ever did you get all this information that you’re not supposed to have access to?”

  He nodded like he was fucking proud of me. “Sorry, doll, but that’s something I just can’t tell you. I’d love to, but it’s better if you don’t know, especially since it’s about your kid and it could get you in trouble with the courts.”

  Don’t kill him. Don’t kill him. Don’t kill him.

  “Now, I found the couple that is petitioning for custody of Reid-”

  “And?” I said urgently.

  “And I’m getting to it. Geez, you’re so tense. You should try and relax a little more. Maybe do some yoga.”

  “Rob!”

  “Alright, alright. Geez. I can’t tell you for certain that these people are Reid’s relatives. He has an aunt and uncle on his father’s side, but unfortunately, they had their identities stolen a little over a year ago. Someone did a real number on their lives. Credit cards were stolen and charges were blown sky high. There’s a second mortgage in their name. I mean, think of any fucking thing that someone could steal from a person to fuck up their lives and it’s happened to these people. It looks like they’re still trying to sort it all out.”

  “Over a year ago, why is this taking them so long?”

  “Well, it doesn’t appear that they knew what was happening immediately. A lot of this shit happened without them knowing, so by the time they caught on to what was happening, they were already truly fucked. And they didn’t have a lot of money to begin with, so getting this all sorted out is really a slow process. They’ve had debt collectors, lawyers fees, court fees…basically, they’re fucked.”

  “And if they knew that the senator had a son that could help them out financially, they could make this all go away,” I surmised.

  “Well, it could be. It’s hard to tell. They appear to be good people from everything I could dig up on them.”

  “Yeah,” I snorted. “They’re good people that only want Reid because he can fix their financial problems. They must have found out that the senator’s estate went to Reid and decided to make a nice payday.”

  “Could be,” Rob shrugged. “But that’s not something I can tell from looking at this clusterfuck. From what I can tell, around the time that the senator died, they were neck deep in figuring out this financial mess. They might not have even known about Reid.”

  “That seems too convenient to me.”

  “It might be,” he shrugged. “But until those tests come back, we won’t even know for sure if these people are really Reid’s relatives.”

  “Well, that’s just fucking great. Those tests won’t be in for at least a week.”

  I spun around to walk out of the room. There was nothing else I could find out about these people right now.

  “Hey! That’s it? No thank you? No drinks at the end of the day?”

  I flipped him off and kept walking.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Reid

  I watched Kayla train from where I sat doing my homework. I couldn’t help but think of what Alec had told me about practicing before I made any moves on her. Well, technically he said that I was too young for her, but I just couldn’t see how that even mattered. Age was just a number. I really liked Kayla, and if she liked me too, what did it matter if she was older?

  “You’re staring, you know.”

  I glared at Caitlin. She had been following me around a lot lately, probably because I was the closest in age to her. She was ten years old, and the oldest of all the Reed Security kids. Well, besides Axel, but he was way older than all of us. Kayla was the next in line, but for a while, it had just been Caitlin, and she knew that she was special.

  “Shut up.”

  “I heard you talking with Alec.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “So, I heard you tell him that you’ve never kissed anyone before.”

  I ignored her and kept looking at Kayla. I didn’t want to talk about this with anyone, let alone a ten year old.

  “You know, if you need someone to practice with, it can be me.”

  “Why would I kiss you? I don’t even like you.”

  “Well, who else are you going to practice on? It’s not like there’s anyone else around here your age.”

  “You’re not my age,” I reminded her. “You’re just a kid.”

  “So are you,” she said snapped. “Just because you’re older doesn’t mean you’re not a kid.”

  “Whatever.”

  “I’m just saying, I’ve seen my parents do it a lot. I even walked in on them in their bed once. They said they were making the bed, but I’m pretty sure that they were lying.”

  I shook my head. I knew exactly what they were doing in bed. I had done a lot of googling in the last few weeks, and boy had my eyes been opened. The thing that sucked was the more research I did, the more I realized that most boys actually started thinking about this stuff a lot sooner than me. But I had been dealing with other things, and honestly, this stuff just wasn’t on my mind.

  “Anyway, are we going to do this?”

  “Do what?” I asked, pretending that I didn’t know what she was talking about. I just wanted her to go away.

  “Reid,” she said testily.

  Sighing, I turned to her, but I wasn’t expecting her to leap toward me and smash her face against mine. It was weird and not at all what I thought it would be. I didn’t feel anything like I did when I imagined Kayla kissing me. Caitlin pulled back and quirked her head at me.

  “So, what did you think?”

  I wiped the spit from my face and grimaced. “I don’t know. It was sloppy. You spit all over me.”

  She turned beat red, but then threw her hands on her hips. “Well, you didn’t pucker up your lips like you’re supposed to.”

  “I didn’t know you were going to kiss me!”

  “Well, you’re never going to get Kayla to want to kiss you if you kiss like that.”

  “Oh, and I suppose you know how I should be kissing. Because you’ve kissed so many boys.”

  “Well, I think I would know a good kiss if it happened. Come on,” she said, snatching my hand. “Let’s go back to your room.”

  “Why?” I asked, jerking my hand out of her grasp.

  “Because that’s where people kiss. Duh.”

  She snatched my hand and started dragging me through the hallways toward Alec and Florrie’s suite. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be doing this, but she had a point. I wasn’t ready to kiss Kayla, and I wouldn’t be if I didn’t practice. And it’s not that I wanted to practice with a ten year old, but Caitlin didn’t exactly act her age. She could take me down in the ring and she certainly acted like she was old en
ough to be in the same class as me.

  She led me into my bedroom and closed the door behind us, moving over to the bed. “Alright. I think you should put your hands on my shoulders,” she said.

  “Why?”

  “Because, there should be some kind of touching, right? I mean, it feels weird if we’re just pressing our lips together.”

  “I guess,” I shrugged.

  “Okay, now I think we should keep our mouths closed for now.”

  I nodded. That definitely sounded like a good idea. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  She leaned forward again and pressed her mouth to mine. It was more gentle this time and her lips were soft against mine. I put my hands on her shoulders like she asked, but it still felt weird.

  “You’re not closing your eyes,” she said, pulling back slightly.

  “Am I supposed to?”

  “I think so.”

  I nodded and this time when she moved in, I closed my eyes and let her kiss me. It was nice for a third kiss. It wasn’t sloppy like the first time, and it was definitely better than the second. If I could practice a few more times with Caitlin, I might actually have a shot with Kayla.

  The door flew open and I jumped back from Caitlin. Alec was standing there with his mouth hanging open. His eyes flicked back and forth between Caitlin and I before he stomped over and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her out of the room.

  “You are going back to the training center, and we are never speaking of this again. Do you understand?”

  Caitlin nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t see what the big deal is. We were just kissing.”

  “Just kissing?” Alec laughed. “Sure, I’ll let you tell that to your dad. Wait, don’t do that. Don’t ever say anything to your dad, understand?”

  “Okay,” Caitlin chirped before running out of the room.

  Alec turned to me and shook his head. “We’re gonna have to have a talk.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Alec

  I was nervous as hell right now. Cap had called me to his office, but hadn’t said why. I hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to Florrie yet, so she had no clue what was headed our way. Brushing my hands on my thighs, I shook off my nerves and headed into Cap’s office. What was the worst he could do?

  “You wanted to see me, Cap?”

  He glanced up from his desk and stared me down for a minute. I swiped my hands down my pants again, waiting for him to lay into me.

  “You nervous about something?”

  “Uh…” I cleared my throat once, but it didn’t help, so I cleared it again. “Uh…not at all. What would I have to be nervous about?” I chuckled.

  He leaned back in his chair and assessed me shrewdly. See, the thing about Cap was that he could always sniff out a lie, and he was pretty good about pulling the truth out of someone. I had never broken before, but I had never had to lie about his daughter before.

  “Is there something you want to tell me?”

  “Uh…no?”

  “You’re not sure?”

  “I’m…I’m thinking?”

  “Thinking. You know, there comes a time in every man’s life where he has to decide what kind of man he’s going to be,” Cap said, standing and walking slowly around to the front of his desk. “Some of those men decide that they want to be upstanding and do things the right way. Those are the men that make the impossible decisions that could possibly hurt someone, but inevitably those decisions are on the straight and narrow. You know what I’m saying?”

  I nodded, clearing my throat again. “Yeah.”

  “And then there are the men that make the stupid decisions. They lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. And I have to tell you, I really hate all three, but liars are the fucking worst, you know what I mean?”

  “Of course…liars are…bad.”

  “And you wouldn’t lie to me, right?”

  I shook my head rapidly. He knew. I was so fucked. Caitlin must have run right to him and now he was stringing me up and waiting to watch me swing. I needed to just confess what was going on. At least he would still respect me then.

  “So, do you have something you want to tell me?”

  “Yes.” I took a deep breath and let it fly. “Something happened today and I’m not even sure what it means, if it means anything, but I promise you, I took care of it.”

  “From what I understand, you’ve got a front row seat to what’s going on.”

  I nodded, because it was true. I had walked right in on it. “That’s true, but I swear, I didn’t let it go on. It was just the one time.”

  “Well, I’d like to keep it that way, if at all possible.”

  I sighed in relief. He didn’t seem that upset. Maybe I would be let off the hook.

  “Does Florrie know?”

  “Not yet. I haven’t had the chance to discuss it with her.”

  He shook his head. “That’s gonna come back to bite you in the ass. You know she doesn’t like to be kept in the dark. I hate to see what this is going to do to her.”

  “Do to her?” I asked, not sure why this would really affect Florrie in any way.

  “She loves that kid. Surely you can see that.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t really think this is something she would care about that much.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me? This involves Reid. That kid is everything to her. There is no fucking way that this doesn’t affect her in a deep and profound way.”

  “Uh…” I scratched my head, trying to see this the way he was. I mean, I guess it was a big first step for the kid. Kissing was a big deal, but not as big as sex. I wasn’t sure that my first kiss really affected me that much. And definitely not enough to run off to my mom and share it with her.

  “Well, I’ll be sure to let her down easy,” I said, not sure what else to say. “I’m actually more surprised that you’re not losing your shit right now.”

  “What good does it do to freak out about this stuff?” he shrugged. “I mean, I’m really fucking concerned, but we have to handle this like adults. The kids are the most important thing right now. We have to protect them in every way we can and make sure that they understand how to protect themselves, if you know what I mean.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. “Cap, I think it’s a little early to be thinking about having that talk with them. I mean, protection is important, but I’m pretty sure that neither of them are ready for that step.”

  “Neither of who?” Cap asked.

  The door swung open and Cazzo’s team walked in, along with Florrie and Craig. “You rang?” Sinner asked.

  “Yeah, I’m sending both teams out tomorrow on jobs. I just wanted to talk with Alec about Reid before sending you guys out into the field.”

  “Why?” Cazzo asked. “What’s going on?”

  Cap glanced at Florrie and sighed. “Florrie, I hate to tell you like this, but Reid’s social worker called.”

  “I know,” Florrie said at the same time that I said, “What?”

  It all became very clear to me that Cap and I had been talking about two totally different things, and I had almost spilled the beans to him. Holy shit, I had just come within an inch of ending my own life, and I hadn’t realized it.

  “I thought you said you didn’t tell her?” Cap asked me.

  “Uh-”

  “About the social worker? I’m the one that took the call,” Florrie said.

  “Then what were you talking about?” Cap asked me.

  I stared at him for a few seconds and then put a confused look on my face, crossing my arms over my chest. “What are you talking about?”

  “You said that she didn’t know. You said that you didn’t think she would be upset about this. What were you talking about?”

  I continued to stare at him in confusion, because not a single fucking thing was coming to mind to clear me of the shit I had just walked into.

  “You thought I wouldn’t be upset?” Florrie asked.

  “Uh…no, I said we shouldn’t panic. He
totally misunderstood what I was saying.”

  Cap stared me down, not believing what I was saying, but he obviously had bigger things on his mind than what had really just gone down between us. “Anyway, I wanted to make sure that you’re good to go out with what’s happening with Reid. I know this is a hard time, but I need two teams and you’re the only two available right now.”

  “No problem,” I answered quickly. “They won’t have any news for us for at least a week.”

  “Well, that shouldn’t be a problem,” Cap said, walking back around to the other side of his desk. “This job should be quick. Maybe a few days tops. I’m sure you remember Jamie Hanson, the guy that you protected from his wife last year?”

  “Yeah,” Florrie nodded.

  “Well, he’s coming to Pittsburgh for a charity gala and needs protection for the event.”

  “He hasn’t hired his own security team yet?” I grumbled. The last fucking thing I wanted was Florrie around that asshat. “Fucking great.”

  “It’ll be nice to see him again,” Florrie said, shooting me a grin. “I know Alec really misses him.”

  “I miss him like the plague.”

  “He’s had some problems getting reliable security that doesn’t screw him over, so he’s been going at it alone for the past few months. But he’s requesting that you keep a low profile and show up in regular clothes.”

  “Why does he need security for the event?” Craig asked.

  “He’s got a new girlfriend and it’s been causing quite a few problems for him.”

  “How so?” Florrie asked.

  “She’s the daughter of Richard Blakely.”

  “The Richard Blakely?” Burg gaped. “The same Richard Blakely that owns half of New York?”

  “The exact same one,” Cap grinned.

  “Then what the fuck does he need us for?” I grumbled. “If she’s loaded, then why does he need to provide security?”

  “Because Jamie wouldn’t be a very good boyfriend if he left all the security to her father,” Florrie said. “Besides, you should be happy. Now he doesn’t need me to play his girlfriend.”