Nightingale: A Reed Security Romance

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  I hated that fucking guy. Every time I thought I got rid of him, he popped up again. Even if he did send her back to me and help her realize a few things, I hated that he was even in the picture.

  I was about to ask her where we went from here when there was a pounding on the door. I stood and walked to the door, shocked to see Cap standing there with Craig, Rocco, Hunter, and Derek behind him. Craig had a silly smirk on his face. If Cap was here, there were only so many reasons why.

  “Cap,” I said, stepping aside to let him in.

  “Is Florrie awake?”

  “Yeah, she’s in the kitchen.” All the guys lumbered through the door and into my house. Hunter and Derek had menacing looks on their faces, but Craig looked just a little too happy.

  “What the fuck are you grinning about?”

  “Oh, it’s coming,” he smiled wider, rubbing his hands together. “If you thought the beating I gave you was the end, you’re sorely mistaken.”

  “You know, you’re taking just a little too much pleasure out of this.”

  “Hey, I’ve been dealing with your shit for years. I finally get my payback, and I’m gonna love every second of it.”

  I knew he wasn’t really happy about it. He was just excited to see us moving past this.

  “You’re an asshole.”

  “Takes one to know one,” he shot back.

  I mocked his stupid phrase as I turned around, because I could be childish like that when it came to Craig.

  “Alright, everyone take a seat,” Cap said as Florrie walked into the room.

  “Hey, can I get a cup of coffee?” Derek asked me, raising his hand.

  “You want a scone too?”

  His eyes widened and he nodded. “Yeah, that’d be great. I didn’t get to eat this morning. Claire and I were trying this new thing-” He stopped talking when he saw us all staring at him with murderous expressions on our faces. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, a scone would be great.”

  “I’ll take one too,” Hunter piped up.

  “Do you have any cream?” Rocco asked. “Coffee has been too acidic lately. I feel like it’s burning a hole in my stomach.”

  “Maybe you need some decaf,” Cap suggested.

  “Oh, do you maybe have one of those little chocolate sticks that you dip in coffee?” Craig asked. “Those really sound good.”

  “There’s no fucking coffee or scones or chocolate sticks,” Florrie said, rolling her eyes.

  “But…you’re drinking coffee,” Craig pointed out.

  “Yeah, and it’s all mine. There’s none for you.”

  “So, you really don’t have any scones?” Derek asked. “Damn, I was really looking forward to that.”

  “And I’m looking forward to all of you getting the fuck out of my house,” I snapped. “Can we get on with this?”

  Cap smirked at me and got down to business. “First of all, it’s nice to have you back, Florrie.” She nodded. “That being said, next time you need to take off, why don’t you tell someone first. I had jobs lined up for you.”

  “I did tell someone. I told Craig.”

  “He’s not your boss,” Cap snapped. “Look, this shit has to stop. We need to get these teams up and functioning like they’re supposed to. We can’t have two out of six teams crumbling. Alec and Florrie, you’re going to go to Dr. Sunshine and work through your problems-”

  “Cap, that’s bullshit!” Florrie exploded.

  “No, what’s bullshit is that everyone else is dealing with the fallout of a workplace romance. Craig has been dealing with this the longest and he’s the one that has been through it day in and day out.”

  “It’s true,” Craig grinned, but quickly changed to a solemn expression when Cap looked at him. “I hate being stuck in the middle. I don’t know whose side to take because I love you guys both so much.”

  “I say, let them fight it out,” Hunter grumbled.

  “I second that,” Derek raised his hand.

  “Rocco?” Cap asked.

  He shrugged. “I don’t like anyone else in my business.”

  “That’s it?” Craig asked. “Come on, guys. These two have been dealing with a ton of shit. They need therapy. It’s detrimental to not only their jobs, but their relationship.”

  That fucker just wanted to make me suffer through another session with Dr. Sunshine.

  “I don’t see how you have any say in it,” Florrie snapped. “As far as I know, this relationship consists of two people.”

  “But…but, Cap, you have to see how much this is affecting the rest of us.”

  “It really only seems to be affecting you,” Cap smirked.

  “Maybe you should go to therapy,” I suggested.

  “Hey,” Craig snapped, “This is an A/B conversation, so C your way out of it.”

  I smirked at him. He was losing it. “Yeah, I say sophisticated shit like, go fuck yourself.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Cap groaned. “It’s like wrangling cats over here. Enough of the petty bullshit. This is what’s going to happen. Alec and Florrie will go back to therapy and work your shit out. You aren’t coming back to work until Dr. Sunshine says that you can rejoin your teams without wreaking havoc. The rest of you will work install jobs for the teams that are going to have to pick up the slack.” Craig smirked, but then Cap turned to him. “And since you seem to have such a vested interest in what happens with Alec and Florrie, you’ll join them in therapy. You know, for your own mental health.”

  Craig’s jaw dropped and he glanced at everyone else in astonishment. “Wait, no! That’s not what- Cap, you can’t-”

  “Oh, I can and I will. Think of yourself as their wellness coordinator. You can report to me how the day’s events go. Oh, and Craig, I expect you to participate when Dr. Sunshine requests it.”

  He smirked and headed for the door while the rest of us sat there. Craig stood and pointed his finger at me. “You’ve been screwing me over for years. I swear to God, the next time you see me with a bucket of water, you’d better fucking run, because the next time I shove your head in it, I’m not letting you up for air.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Florrie

  “This is absolute bullshit,” Craig muttered as we walked toward the familiar doors of Dr. Sunshine’s office. “I’m not in this relationship. I don’t see why I had to come along.”

  “Because you couldn’t keep your fucking mouth shut,” I reminded him. “You wanted to stick it to Alec, and you inadvertently stuck it to yourself.”

  “Whatever. I just want to make one thing clear, I am not talking in there. This is about the two of you and I’m not getting dragged into your shit again.”

  Alec was unusually quiet next to me, but I could only imagine that it was because we were about to dive into our issues. Every time we tried to talk, we ended up fighting. Maybe talking things out with Dr. Sunshine was the way to go. Maybe she could help us to get past that anger and move forward. It had been two days since Cap demanded we come here, and things had been tense between us for those two days. But we were back under the same roof, so that had to mean something.

  Dr. Sunshine stepped out of her office and smiled at us. “My favorite trio. I’m so happy to see you all.”

  “Not a trio,” Craig quickly corrected. “Former teammates.”

  “Former? So, you’re not on the same team anymore?”

  “I left the team,” Alec said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

  “But all three of you came to therapy,” Dr. Sunshine said, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. “Interesting. Follow me inside.”

  “Just keep your mouth shut,” Alec grumbled to Craig. “You always make things worse.”

  “I make things worse? We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the two of you.”

  “You know the only reason you’re here is because you were trying to stick it to Alec,” I whispered. “If you could just leave shit alone, Alec and I would be here alone, discussing our relationship alone with Dr. Sunshine
like a normal couple.”

  “Alright, why don’t we all take a seat?” Dr. Sunshine sat down in her seat, leaving the couch and an armchair open. I sat in the armchair, leaving Alec and Craig to cram onto the couch, each of them trying not to touch the other. Dr. Sunshine eyed the move and then scribbled something in her notebook. “Okay, who wants to tell me why we’re here today?”

  Craig snorted. “That’s a loaded question.”

  “And why is that?”

  He looked at her, his eyes wide. “Oh, no, I’m not here to participate. I’m just here to observe.”

  “I see, and why is that?”

  “Because my boss made me. He thinks that I have some kind of stake in the outcome of their relationship.”

  “Do you?”

  “No, I mean, I want them to end up together, but between you and me, doc? It’s a long road for them. I mean, I took care of some of the issues, but they have a lot to work through.”

  “What do you mean that you took care of some of the issues?”

  “Well, I mean, not to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong-” I snorted, shaking my head in amusement. Craig glared at me, but then continued, “Alec cheated on Florrie and I made sure he paid for that.”

  “You didn’t tell me that,” I cut in. “What did you do?”

  “I shoved his head in a bucket of ice water repeatedly, and then when I was satisfied, Hunter, Derek, and I took turns beating the shit out of him.”

  I glanced at Alec, surprised that I hadn’t noticed the faint bruising around his face sooner. Then again, I had a feeling that he had worse bruises on other parts of his body.

  “And why did you take such offense to Alec cheating on Florrie?” Dr. Sunshine asked Craig. It hadn’t escaped my notice that all of the questions were directed at Craig. I doubt that he even noticed yet.

  “Well, first of all, I’m not sure that it was technically cheating. I mean, it was kind of a Rachel and Ross situation. They were sort of broken up,” he said, like he was unsure of what he was saying.

  “We were definitely broken up,” Alec muttered.

  “We were not,” I snapped.

  “You kicked me out of the house. You told me I didn’t fucking matter to you. The breakup was implied.”

  “So, that makes it okay?” I shot back.

  “Hey, you were the one that said that it didn’t matter how long a couple was broken up. Once they broke up, either party could do whatever they wanted,” Alec said, shoving my words back in my face.

  “I’d have to agree with Alec,” Craig piped up. “A breakup is a breakup. However, Florrie didn’t deserve for him to run out and fuck the first woman he saw. On the other hand, with the way that Florrie was treating Alec, she sort of had it coming.”

  “So, you see yourself as a sort of crusader for their relationship.”

  “I suppose. I mean, I love them both. I want things to go back to the way they were before.”

  Dr. Sunshine’s eyebrows rose. “The way things were before…Back when the three of you were working together.”

  “Now, hold on a minute there, doc. I know what you’re getting at.”

  “And what is that?” she asked, shifting in her chair slightly.

  “You’re referring to the last time we were all in, back when you were putting thoughts in our heads. But that’s not going to happen this time,” he said, shaking his finger at her.

  “And what thoughts did I put in your head?”

  “You know what you did,” Craig insisted. “You made us all think about a different kind of relationship we could all have.”

  “I’m getting the feeling that while Alec and Florrie have continued their relationship, you’ve been left out and you’re not on board with that. Maybe you’re angry that your dreams didn’t turn out the way you hoped.”

  “Lady, the dreams were just dreams. I don’t want to be in a relationship with them in any way, shape, or form.”

  “Yet you came to another appointment that was made to work out the problems of their relationship.”

  “Because I was told to!”

  “You did put yourself in this position,” I reminded Craig. “In fact, you practically begged Cap to send us to therapy. You were so insistent on it that he decided you needed to come with.”

  “Is this true?” Dr. Sunshine asked.

  “Well, yeah, but I was just fucking with them.”

  Dr. Sunshine nodded and then wrote down some more stuff.

  “What are you writing?” Craig asked, leaning forward in his seat.

  “Just some notes.”

  “Like how they need the help and I’m not involved at all, right?”

  She smiled and continued to write.

  He pointed to her pad. “Write down that I don’t need to be here. Write down that I’m in no way involved in their relationship.”

  “Besides being here,” she smiled at him.

  “Yeah, but…” He stood and started pacing the room. I glanced at Alec and we both grinned at each other.

  “Craig, I think the real question is why you feel so strongly about being involved in Alec and Florrie’s relationship. You’ve gone to great lengths to involve yourself with them, even taking it as far as waterboarding your friend when he cheated on Florrie, someone that you seem to connect very deeply with.”

  “Yeah, but that’s what we do for each other. I mean, when I was trying to get my wife to marry me, Alec shot me, what, three, maybe four times?”

  “On purpose?” Dr. Sunshine asked.

  “Yeah, I mean, it was all in the name of keeping my lady love. See, she couldn’t see at the time that we were meant to be together, so I had to convince her.”

  “By having Alec shoot you?”

  “Well, it racked up the sympathy points.”

  Dr. Sunshine flipped her book closed and leaned forward slightly. “We’ve covered a lot today, but I have to say, I’m most disturbed by what I’m hearing from Craig today. I think we need to bump up your sessions to twice a week and possibly consider some time off work if this level of involvement continues.”

  “See?” Craig scoffed. “I told you that you two needed help.”

  “Oh, I’m talking about you, Craig,” Dr. Sunshine clarified. “I’d like to see Alec and Florrie alone in my office next week, but I think if we can figure out how your involvement with Alec and Florrie truly meshes, we’ll have you straightened out in no time.”

  We walked out of the office, Alec and I grinning slightly, and Craig slumped over. I wrapped my arm through Craig’s and sighed, “I told you to keep your mouth shut.”

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  “Alright,” Dr. Sunshine smiled. “I’d like to talk a little bit more about what you told me last week in our session.”

  It had been two weeks of sessions with Dr. Sunshine, and Alec and I were still on bad terms for the most part. Basically, we’d recapped with Dr. Sunshine what had happened since Reid came into our lives. I did my best to not get angry while I was talking about it. After all, we were here to get past everything, not make it worse.

  “Alec, I’d like you to tell Florrie what led you to cheat on her that night.”

  I turned to Alec, not sure I wanted to hear what he had to say, but needing to know at the same time.

  “I uh…I came home that night and I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to get through to her that I was still here for her. I wanted her to talk to me, but she was so angry and…I could never talk to her.”

  “You didn’t talk to me about anything,” I snapped. “You didn’t talk to me before you invited the Fullers to come stay on the property.”

  He clenched his jaw in anger and Dr. Sunshine stepped in. “Let’s get through that night first, Florrie. You have to let him tell you what he was feeling or you’re never going to be able to move past this. Alec, please continue.”

  “It’s like right now. This is the same shit that I dealt with for months after Reid was gone. I would try and talk to her, but she just yelled at m
e or insulted me. And I took it because I loved her and I wanted to work it out, but that night…she told me I didn’t matter to her. I had heard it a million times before over the months, but this time was different.”

  “What was different about it?” I asked curiously.

  Alec turned to me, a little angry, but mostly sad. “I was tired of fighting with you. I was tired of feeling like I was getting kicked in the balls nonstop. I wanted…” He shook his head slightly, running his hand across his jaw. “I went to her because she made me feel like I wasn’t worthless. That wasn’t the first night I met her. I had seen her in the bar before and we talked. It was all innocent, and it was just a regular conversation. She wasn’t bitching at me or telling me I was a piece of shit. I ran into her at the store and she asked for my help with picking out paint. That was it. Just something as simple as needing paint. And for the first time in a long fucking time, I felt like I could do something for a woman.”

  When he stared me down, I got the feeling that this went a lot deeper than just what happened with Reid. I got nervous, because if this was more than just about Reid, we had deeper issues than I thought.

  “You’re a hard woman to love, Florrie. You do everything for yourself and you don’t let anyone help. And I knew this about you all along. Hell, half our problems revolve around my inability to let you do your own thing and you not letting go sometimes. But when I ran into that woman in the store and she needed help? It gave me such an ego boost that I didn’t even realize I was missing. And I know that sounds so fucking stupid, that I would need to feel propped up like that, but I want to feel needed. I want you to rely on me every once in a while. I need you to come to me and let me solve your problems. If I don’t have that, then I can’t provide the basic things that are going to make you happy.”