Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
A brow cocked over Sami’s blue eyes. “I don’t know. He seemed pretty brutal when he was making sure my brother can’t father children. Not that he should. He’s a child himself, but still. Shouldn’t there be some professional courtesy?”
“He kidnapped TJ’s girl, and from what I understand had plans to seduce her. That’s not the act of a friend, and you two have known TJ since you were children,” Kala pointed out. “The same with me and my siblings. You knew we were Agency, but you didn’t bother to mention you two had gone the same route with MI6. Should I expect Archie to show up with a team to rescue his siblings?”
One of the things Lou had recently learned was that Damon and Penelope Knight had three children, the aforementioned Oliver, the oldest, and Samantha, the baby of the family. Archie was in the middle.
“Not at all. Archie is the intellectual of the family. He’s working on his doctorate in criminology. It’s why I believe him when he says Ollie’s a sociopath. Look, the only reason we know you’re Agency is you needed help from my parents,” Sami pointed out. “You ran that op in London. Your first op. My father used his connections to get you the meeting you needed, and my mother helped with the coded messages you received. Ollie and I haven’t needed help, so you didn’t need to know.”
Kala’s eyes went cold. “And you kidnapped my best friend. What do you think I’m going to do to you, blondie? I can assure you I won’t go berserker on you. See, this is how TJ and I have always looked after Lou. He beats the shit out of the boys, and I plot an elaborate revenge that will ruin the rest of your posh and perfect life. You won’t know what it is. You won’t know when it will start. You’ll just know it’s going to happen.”
“Kala,” Lou began.
Sami frowned, seeming to think that over. “I think I’d rather do the boy thing. I’m mentally unprepared to think about what you’ll do to me for the rest of my life. That’s actually an excellent threat, and you have a perfect delivery. I apologize profusely. I noticed there’s a sparring ring downstairs. Shall we? Only if we’re friends after. I promise to never again allow my brother to talk me into something so atrocious as kidnapping Lou.”
Kala stood, her decision made. “All right. Let’s do this thing. No faces. Everything else is fair game. See, I don’t get how they say women are the emotional ones.”
Sami joined her. “Absolutely not. We’re the rational ones. Hand to hand only. No knives.”
“You’re no fun,” Kala said as she strode out the door.
Lou was about to try to stop that when suddenly TJ was at the door. He’d cleaned up and changed clothes, but there was a cut over his left eye that let her know Oliver had gotten a couple of licks in. She wanted to go over to him and check him for whatever wounds he had and baby him like she always would.
A vision of him in a baseball uniform struck her. He’d gotten hit by a pitch and everyone told him to walk it off, but Lou had found him after the game and held his hand under the bleachers while the aspirin she’d gotten from a first aid kit kicked in. He hadn’t wanted his dad to know how much it had hurt, but he’d told Lou.
They weren’t those kids anymore.
“Is Kala about to kick Sami’s ass?” TJ asked, looking down the hall.
“I think so. They’ve decided to handle it like gentlemen.” She forced herself to sit there, to not get up and put her arms around him and ask if he was okay.
TJ stared at her before entering the conference room. His uncle was still yelling at Damon Knight, so TJ closed the door. “I think we should talk.”
“Yes, we need to figure out why all these people think you’re in league with this Jester person.” They should be professional. She wasn’t sure she could handle another personal confrontation right now. She’d already had a lecture from first Zach, and then Big Tag on getting caught without a weapon. She was sure TJ was about to talk about how stupid it was for her to date.
“You’ll figure it out. We both know I’m not going to be helpful in that situation,” he said with a frown as he took the seat across from her. “You can ask me questions, but I don’t know anything. However, we need to talk about why you wore that dress.”
That was what it all came down to. “I was going on a date, TJ. I tend to dress up for those.”
“That’s not an I-want-to-look-pretty dress. That’s a fuck-me dress.”