“Same difference,” he shrugged. “All I know is that she really wants it and if I don’t give it to her, she’s gonna be a pain in the ass all night.”
“You like her being a pain in the ass,” I reminded him as we headed toward the store.
“I just need to get this one lotion and then we can leave, alright?”
We stopped at the entrance of Bath and Body Works and stared at all the women mingling inside. I scratched at the back of my neck, not really sure where to go from here. Florrie wasn’t into all this shit, so I was really of no help in there.
Craig cleared his throat and took a step forward. A woman with a bright smile and a bubbly personality walked up to us and sprayed us with some shit that left a foul taste in my mouth.
“Perfect Peony?” she asked.
“What?” Craig asked.
“It’s our new fragrance. Are you shopping for a girlfriend or each other?”
“Wife,” I stated, sliding a good two feet to my right.
“Perfect. Do you have something in mind or do you need some help finding something?”
“Uh…” Craig cleared his throat again. “She told me what to get. Something…something with flowers.”
“Oh, well…” Her grin was still plastered on her face, but I could tell she was thinking Craig was a fucking idiot. “We have lots of floral selections. As I said, we have Perfect Peony, Cactus Blossom, Cucumber Lily, Lavender Mint-”
“How about we just look around,” I suggested, cutting her off. I wasn’t interested in hearing about their whole fucking catalog.
Craig and I walked through the store, doing our best not to knock over any of the displays. The place was fucking cramped and all the bottles and shit were in the perfect position to get knock to the ground with my hulking frame.
“Goddamnit, can you just grab something and we’ll get out of here?”
“What if I get the wrong thing? Then she’s going to send me back in here for more. I didn’t realize this place would be so…fruity.”
I glanced around and realized he was right. There were apples and peaches all over the fucking place. What the hell?
“Fuck it. I’ll just take some of everything.”
“Are you crazy? Do you really want to spend that much money on this shit?”
“No, Alec. That’s the last thing that I want to do, but let me tell you this, if I have to come back here and buy more of this shit because I didn’t get what she wanted, I’m bringing you back here with me, and I’m having all the ladies give you orders for what they want.”
“You’re right,” I nodded. “Let’s just grab one of everything.”
Twenty minutes later, we had successfully grabbed one of every lotion in the store and were cringing at the number on the register. The price of this shit was astronomical, but like he said, it was worth it if we never had to come back again. We walked out of the store and headed straight for the exits, but some douchebag in a fanny pack blocked our path.
“Would you mind giving me just five minutes to tell you a little about our man pack?”
“No,” I said, glaring at the man and shoving past him.
“Sir, really,” he said, jumping in front of me. “I think you’re missing out on a great opportunity here. The man pack is the most convenient pack you will ever need. The utility of it alone is what drives most men to pick up one for themselves.”
“You actually have men buying these?” I asked.
He grinned, pride filling his face. “Absolutely. Men love it because there really is no bag that a man can carry around and keep his dignity. I mean, logically, women have rights to carrying around a bag, but men need it way more than any woman. I mean, condoms, keys, wallet, sunglasses…”
I gave him a hard stare, crossing my arms over my chest. “I carry my keys in my pocket.”
“And then you get that nice metal dig into your nuts with your keys, am I right?”
“He’s not wrong,” Craig said, leaning over slightly.
“Right?” the guy said excitedly. “This product solves all your problems, and I can tell that you’re just the guys to use a product like this! Wait right there,” he said, rushing back to his stand.
“Let’s get out of here,” I mumbled, shoving my shoulder into his.
We turned to go, but the guy rushed back in front of us. “Wait, don’t go yet! Just try one on. I swear to God, it’ll change your life.”
“I’m not trying that on.”
I glared at Craig, but he just shrugged. “What’s the harm? One minute and then we can leave.”
I rolled my eyes, irritated as hell that we were stuck in this mall with a guy that wanted us to wear a fanny pack. He quickly pulled one out of the packaging and handed it over to Craig.
“See, we designed this with a more militaristic feel to it. See all the pockets we added in? It’s meant to feel like cargo pants. You’re in the military, right?”
“Ex-military,” I grunted.
“This pack can hold up to three magazines in the main compartment, and watch how easy it is to pull them out.” He demonstrated with tools that were similar in size. “Now, tell me that’s not convenient when you’re out on a job,” he grinned.
I was ready to leave, but Craig actually seemed interested. “That is pretty cool.”
“Yeah, it’s fucking fantastic. Now, can we go?”
“Hold on,” Craig shot back. “How do you wear this?”
“Well, obviously, no man wants to wear anything that straps around his waist. It’s just not manly.”
“Neither is this,” I pointed out.
“But this one actually attaches to your belt. You just slide your belt right through the loops on the back and then finish fastening your belt. And the material is so thick and tough that you don’t have to worry about the loops tearing.”
“How much is it?” Craig asked.
“You can’t be serious,” I said in shock.
“Well, I could really go for not getting my nuts stabbed anymore. And I get tired of feeling like my wallet is going to slip out of my pocket. And how cool would it be to have a place to store your sunglasses?”
“Not at all cool. Craig,” I said, trying to talk some sense into him. “No matter how this guy dresses this up, he’s selling you a fucking fanny pack.”
“Yeah, I get that’s how you see it, but this is really awesome. I think these would be really useful on the job.”
“That’s why we have tactical gear,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, yeah, I totally hear you, but this is next gen stuff.”
“That’s exactly my point. This isn’t next gen. This is a throwback to the fucking eighties. Why can’t you see that?”
“Do they come in only black or do you have other colors?”
“I’m glad you asked,” the man grinned. “They happen to come in a range of colors. Everything from basic, manly colors to your bright, more vibrant colors like neon green.”
“Who the fuck would want neon green?” I almost shouted.
“That’s so wicked,” Craig grinned. “Do you have pink? My Reese’s Pieces would just go apeshit over this.”
“You can’t be fucking serious,” I repeated for what felt like the tenth time. “We are not getting these.”
“I’ll take ten,” Craig smiled, pulling out his wallet.
“No. As your team leader and your friend, there’s no fucking way I’m letting you buy this shit.”
“You’re not my team leader anymore,” he reminded me. “And how good of a friend can you be if you didn’t tell me you were fucking Florrie for three years?”
“Are we back to that? Fine, you know what, I’ll admit that I was wrong if you’ll agree to not buy these fucking things.”
“That’ll be two hundred and fifty dollars,” the man said.
Craig pulled out his card and I grabbed it quickly so the man couldn’t take it. “I’m not letting you do this.”
“I’ll tell you what, if you purchase
twenty of them, I’ll give them to you for five hundred dollars and I’ll throw in another one for free.”
“That’s the same fucking price,” I snapped at the man.
“I know, but you’re getting one for free.”
“That’s an awesome deal.”
“No, it’s not,” I snapped at Craig. What the fuck was the world coming to?
“How about this? I’ll purchase twenty-five of them, but I want five for free,” Craig negotiated.
“You have a deal.”
Craig snatched the card out of my hands and handed it over to the salesman. He was ringing up the purchase before I could say anything else.
“Craig, be logical, man. We can’t wear that out on a job.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s fucking ugly and you’ll look like a woman.”
“Okay, say that I buy into that, it’s handy, right? I mean, think of all the things this could be used for.”
“Yeah, just like I could use my boot to kick your ass if you go through with this.”
“Here,” he said, handing me the bags from Bath and Body Works. “Hold these for me so I can pick out the colors I want.”
“I’m not holding those,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and refusing to take them.
He shook his head and set them down on the ground by the kiosk. “Fine, be a pussy.” He started checking out the colors and then glanced back at me. “Hey, what color do you want?”
“I don’t want a fucking color,” I growled.
“Fine, but then you’ll get whatever I choose. I think purple is really your color.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Black, just get me black.”
Fuck, it wasn’t like I was actually going to use it, but if he even brought it near me, it wouldn’t be a neon color. He finished paying and it took us three trips to get all the shit out to the truck. I slammed the door and glared at the so-called man in the driver’s seat.
“I really fucking hate you right now.”
“I know, but you’re not thinking about Florrie anymore, are you?”
“Fucking hell,” I muttered as we pulled away.
“We forgot to get Great Steak and Potato. Do you want to go back?”
I slowly turned and glared at him. My nostrils flared in anger, but he just shrugged it off. “Just thought I’d ask.”
We pulled into the Reed Security parking garage and Craig honked when he saw Cazzo’s team unloading into the storage area.
“Hey! You’ve gotta see what I’ve got for us!”
“Believe me,” I said to them, “you don’t want to see.”
“I want to see,” Sinner grinned. “Whatcha got for us?”
“It’s killer. You’re gonna flip when you see this shit.”
Craig walked around to the back of the truck and pulled out one of the packages. “Sick, am I right?” he asked Cazzo.
Cazzo pulled it out of his grasp and looked it over. “You’re right, it’s sick. I might actually throw up from looking at this. Why the fuck would you get us a fanny pack?”
“No, this is a man pack,” he said, pointing to the loops on the back. “You know, so your keys don’t dig into your nuts.”
“I’ll gladly let them dig into my nuts if it means that I never have a fucking fanny pack around my waist,” Burg muttered.
“I don’t know. I think this is pretty cool,” Sinner said, snatching it out of Cazzo’s hand. “I mean, think of how useful this would be.”
“Right?” Craig grinned.
“This has to hold, what? At least two magazines.”
“Three,” Craig corrected. “Here, try it on.”
Sinner undid his belt and pulled on the fanny pack. When he was all done, he started loading shit into the pack, making it sag just like a fucking fanny pack from the weight of what he was adding.
“This is so fucking awesome,” Sinner grinned. “Seriously, I love this thing.”
“See? I told you!” Craig turned to me. “I told you they would love this.”
“I don’t,” Cazzo muttered. “And if you wear that out on a job, I will find a way to make sure that you are on the receiving end of a bullet.”
“I’m so psyched about this,” Sinner grinned. “It’s probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Designed for men to be worn by men.”
“You should totally go do an advertisement for them,” Craig laughed. “You could be their spokesperson.”
“And then Cap would fire you,” Cazzo reminded him.
“What? Because my face would be out there?”
“No, because you advertised a fucking fanny pack. Seriously, it’s fucking ugly and not at all manly.”
“Just wait until you see the other colors I got.”
Craig pulled others out of the back of the truck and started unwrapping them. I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe they were getting all worked up over this shit. And to make matters worse, Derek, Hunter, and Rocco all walked up at that very moment, looking way too fucking interested.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered.
“What’s that?” Hunter nodded to the bed of the truck.
“Man packs,” Craig grinned, pulling one out for him. “I got them for all the teams. Badass, right?”
Hunter looked it over and then shoved it into Craig’s chest. “I’m not wearing that.”
“I don’t know,” Derek said, snatching it from Craig. “This looks pretty interesting.”
“So you’d wear it?” Craig asked excitedly.
“I think I might.”
“It can hold so much shit. I’m telling you, this thing is awesome. Imagine being out on a job and not needing to shove all that shit in your pockets.”
“Whoa, I never said I would wear this in public. There’s no fucking way in hell that I would wear that outside of these walls.”
“Then what would you use it for?” Craig asked.
“For my crocheting,” Derek shrugged. “Yeah, this main pouch could hold the yarn and I could put my scissors and needle in the other pockets, along with a few hooks. It could be handy.”
“I hope you realize how fucking stupid you sound,” Hunter glared at him. “You won’t wear it in public, but you’ll use it for your crocheting?”
“Hey, crocheting is manly. It takes skill and-”
“A womanly air,” Rocco finished.
“Hey, I’m not a woman. I’m all man.”
“And you’ll look like even less of a man if you put that shit around your waist,” I pointed out.
“Just try it on,” Craig pleaded with me. “I swear, you’ll love it.”
“I’m not trying that on.”
“Come on,” he said, reaching forward toward my waist. I slapped his hand away.
“Stay the fuck away from me.”
“Just try it. I swear to God, I deserve this after you abandoned your team.”
“I said I’m not fucking trying it on,” I shouted.
Craig glanced at Derek and something passed between the two of them. I felt the air shift and then arms were grabbing at me, dragging me down to the ground. My belt was yanked at and people were shouting as I fought against the assholes grabbing at me.
“Hold him down!”
“Get his belt!”
“Turn it around. The loops are on the wrong way!”
“Hurry up. This fucker is strong!”
I fought with everything I had, but I couldn’t fight all the arms that were pressing me into the ground.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Everyone stilled around me, slowly looking up. I craned my neck around to see Cap standing a few feet away, looking at us all like we were insane. The guys slowly released me and stood. I pushed off the ground and brushed myself off as Cap looked me up and down. I glanced down at my waist to see a bright pink man pack stuck to my hip. I gritted my teeth as the other guys snorted their laughter.
“Alec-” Cap sighed heavily, scrubbing his hand across his jaw. “What
the fuck are you wearing?”
“They made me do it,” I accused.
“Really? That’s what you’re going with? They made you do it?”
“It’s true, Cap. You saw them wrestling me down on the ground.”
“It looked to me like they were trying to get it off you and you were fighting them. I never thought I’d see the day when you would wear a fucking fanny pack.”
“But-”
“Pink really isn’t your color,” he said before he walked away.
The guys all chuckled around me, laughing at the fact that Cap had totally just made me look like an asshole. I slammed my fist into Craig’s face, watching him drop to the ground. I stepped over him, tossing the pack on top of him as I went.
“I really fucking hate you guys.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Reid
I was so nervous. I was supposed to meet these people that said they were my relatives today. I didn’t know anything about them, except that they wanted custody of me. Were they nice? Were they like the senator? I really hoped they weren’t. They were my dad’s sister and brother-in-law, so I was praying that meant they were good people. Then again, my mom had left me at the hands of the senator for years. She hadn’t protected me like a mother should. And I knew that was partly because he beat her too, but shouldn’t she have tried to get us away from him?
I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror and took a deep breath. I looked like I was sick. My face was pale and sweaty and my nerves were so out of control that my whole body was shaking. But I had to be strong. Alec and Florrie had worked with me to give me the confidence to handle anyone that tried to hurt me. But the biggest threat to me right now was that I would be taken away from them, and then nobody would be there to help me out if things got rough. What if everything was fine now, but then fell apart the minute I left?
There was a knock on the door and I turned just as Alec peeked his head inside. I walked out of the bathroom and stood nervously in front of him. I didn’t want to be a scared kid in front of him. I wanted to be strong like him.
“How are you holding up this morning?”
I shrugged. “I’m okay.”
“Yeah? Because you look like you want to puke.”
It was true. I did want to puke, but I swallowed down the churning in my stomach and pretended that I was fine. Alec sighed and walked over to my bed, sitting down like he was waiting for me to join him. I stayed where I was. I was so close to begging him to not make me meet these people, and if I walked over to him, I might actually do it.
Nightingale: A Reed Security Romance Page 15