Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 138965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Two minutes later, our handler’s still doing something on her phone, and Jake and I still have our balls. I look at Jake. Jake looks at me. I shrug. ‘Drink?’ I ask her.
Lucinda fires me a filthy glare, and there go my balls. ‘Don’t test me, Ryan,’ she snaps. ‘You’ve already given me a fucking headache today.’
I sit back, getting a safer distance away as I hear Jake laugh. ‘I only asked if you wanted a drink. Besides, who knows where that girl would be now. I had to act fast.’
‘What?’ Lucinda says with a laugh. ‘By going on a rampage in the streets of London brandishing your firearm?’
‘I’m sure the official big-bods will be easy on you, since one of your men caught a man they’ve been tracking for years.’ I smile sweetly, and she rips her fire stare from my wilting six-foot-three-inch form, holding her hand in the air for the attention of the barman.
‘Flat white,’ she calls. And then silence falls, neither Jake nor I willing to fill it, as I spin my bottle slowly on the table.
Lucinda eventually pushes a file across the table, and I look down at it. ‘What’s that?’ I ask.
‘Your next contract.’
‘Time off,’ I remind her. ‘I’m going home for a few weeks.’ ‘Home? It’s in the middle of nowhere.’ She laughs. ‘Boring as shit. Two hundred residents, a few shops, a pub, and a school. Why the hell would you want to go back there? What will you do?’
‘That’s none of your damn business,’ I spit, feeling Jake’s eyes fall onto my profile. He knows what I’ll do. And he’s the only one. That’s what happens when you spend so much time with one person. You tell them shit. ‘I’m going home, and that’s it,’ I say with fierce finality, and Lucinda slumps back in her seat as her coffee lands on the table.
With no thanks to the waiter, she pours in a healthy dose of milk, picks it up, and downs it in one fell swoop, never once taking her lethal glare off me. She can go to hell. I’m going home to Hampton and that’s it. She can find someone else to do the next contract. And at that very moment, she turns her eyes onto Jake.
He immediately starts shaking his head. ‘Forget it. I have a baby due in a few weeks.’
‘It’s a two-week contract.’
‘Nope.’ He swigs from his bottle of beer. ‘I promised Cami this was the last job.’
‘What if I told you I’ll kick your stupid arse into shape?’
‘You did that years ago. Now I’m more scared of Cami’s wrath than yours, so go to hell, Luce.’ Jake toasts her on a sarcastic smile as she snorts her disgust. I find myself grinning. Lucinda loves Cami. Jake’s wife is the only woman on the planet our handler actually likes.
‘Guess you’ll have to find someone else,’ I muse, clinking my bottle with Jake’s. ‘We’re out.’ I watch as she inhales, her eyes narrowing to scary slits and slowly dragging onto me. My grin drops as she hands me another file. ‘What’s this?’
‘You said you’re going home for a few weeks. This is your job when you’re back in London. A nice, boring, low-risk one-man affair.’
‘You said Miss Warren was low-risk,’ I point out as I stare at the paper file, my mind replaying the past hour. I wince as my heart pounds a little bit faster. Wince harder when I see Alexandra’s face in my mind’s eye. ‘I’m passing,’ I declare, looking up at Lucinda. As I expected, her face is a picture of shock. ‘I’m taking a career break.’
‘What?’
I can feel Jake’s stunned stare on me, too. ‘I’m done with this game,’ I tell her. It doesn’t matter how careful I am. It’s been proven today that danger has an uncanny ability of finding me, and clearly my instinct to dance with it hasn’t left me. I’m aware this contract could have ended very differently.
Lucinda’s nostrils flare as she withdraws the file. ‘I’ll call you when you’re thinking straight.’ She gets up and stomps out of the bar, and I can still feel Jake’s eyes on me. ‘What?’ I ask without looking at him.
‘Are you serious?’
‘Deadly serious.’ I take a swig of my beer.
‘What will you do?’
‘Work on my house. Maybe build a few more.’ I shrug to myself. I’m good with my hands. Built my own place in the woods from scratch. I’ve always thought about buying some land and building a portfolio of properties. Now’s the time to do it. I’ve worked in some form of protection for nearly twenty years. I’m done.
‘Sounds kinda good,’ Jake says as his phone rings and he answers. ‘Hey.’ I can tell by the tone of his voice who it is, and I smile to myself. He’s a mean bastard at work, moody and difficult to read for most, but he’s mush when dealing with his wife and daughter. ‘No, you can’t be.’ Jake’s arse is up from the chair fast. ‘Fuck, Cami, I’m on the other side of London. I’m having a beer. And it’s too fucking soon! We’re supposed to be going to the country place.’