Page 59 of Curvy Nerdy Omega

I covered my mouth to hide the stupid smile taking over my face. Did I understand what the fuck she was talking about? Not even a little bit, but I would still listen to her all fucking day if she let me.

“I didn’t hire you for your brains,” she warned her reflection. Lucy stared herself down and then sighed, dropping her gaze to the sink and aggressively brushing her hair. “Why can’t I figure it out?”

“What’s she talking about?”

“The Princess Bride,” Liam muttered, closing his eyes like he couldn’t stand looking at her anymore without being able to touch her. “The café Gideon went to is bothering her.”

I leaned back and set one foot on the dash as I considered that.

It still bothered me that Liam knew what she was thinking so much better than I did, but I’d had the upper hand the last few days so I had to let it go. Explaining what she was doing with the computers and why was how we’d figured out the security company would be next.

When Liam told me she was able to multitask like no one he’d ever met before, I’d always thought he was exaggerating – the praise of a man completely mad with love for the idea of a person he just could not shake.

But I’d been wrong.

If anything, Lucy was even more brilliant than Liam had let on, and I’ve spent the last few days watching her like a man possessed. I could barely even sleep unless she was, and even then I kept waking up – worried someone would break into her apartment the moment I closed my eyes.

Thankfully, Liam and I had a schedule now and we shared the prized burden of watching her sleep. It was the only time she wasn’t watching us on the traffic cameras. That was when one of us could sneak into the apartment across the hall from her, shower, and take a nap.

I was usually the first, since she didn’t seem to mind when Liam wasn’t in the car when she woke up. She probably just assumed he was off doing the work of the next Valor heir, but I was still far more pleased than I had any right to be that she wanted me around.

Constantly.

Lucy kept looking for me, and every time she saw I was still there, she looked so fucking relieved that I’d grin like a fool, telling myself it wouldn’t be long until she called me.

But she’d held out far longer than I’d anticipated.

She needed to call us today. Not tomorrow. I didn’t know what I’d do if she made us wait until then. Maybe I’d finally snap and break into her apartment again just to catch a tiny whiff of her scent.

“Why buttercups?” Lucy tossed her brush on the counter and pulled half her hair up into a poofy bun. “Buttercuppa Coffee…owned by Tinley. Princess Buttercup? No, that’s not right. But the barista definitely wants Frankie to treat him like a princess.”

I don’t think I’d ever really understand the way her brain worked, and honestly I couldn’t get enough of it. Everything she said was a fucking trip.

Then she put the other half of her hair up and sighed.

When Lucy yanked open one of the cabinet drawers like something might pop out at her, Liam leaned forward and crossed his arms over the steering wheel.

“What exactly did you take?” The curiosity was killing me and I couldn’t keep pretending it wasn’t.

“Something I gave her a long time ago.” Liam didn’t even blink as he watched her and I gritted my teeth, hoping he wouldn’t do something stupid and fuck it all up for us.

“I’m never going to get used to seeing you up this early.” Frankie popped her head into the bathroom and squeezed one of her buns.

Lucy dodged when Frankie tried to squeeze it again. “Did you know that buttercups symbolize forsaken love or unfaithfulness? That’s why you should never put buttercups in a flower arrangement or give them as a love gift.”

She was such a nerd and I fucking loved it.

“Do you think the café being named after that flower means anything?”

“I think you have a weird obsession with the language of flowers, and no one ever thinks about it as much as you do.” Frankie smirked and squeezed Lucy’s bun again when she glared at her. “I’m going to meet with one of my father’s contacts to see if they know anything about the Steele or Tinley packs since they own the majority of the locations Gideon went to. I’ll ask them about the buttercups too. Is there anything else you want me to look into?”

Lucy followed Frankie out of the bathroom and I clicked on the different cameras to follow them through the apartment into the kitchen where Lucy started a pot of coffee. “Yeah, actually. Can you contact the Grimm pack and see if they’re willing to answer a few questions? They sell services to anyone, right? Maybe they know something about what Gideon was involved in.”

Frankie got a to-go cup ready, her smile disappearing. “I can contact them, but they won’t answer any questions about clients, and no I can’t plant a bug without getting caught. They’re pros, Lucy. It would be too risky.”

Thank fuck Frankie knew enough about them not to try anything stupid. Last thing we needed was some bullshit with a legacy pack like them. That was a mess even I couldn’t clean up without a lot of people dying in the process.

“Fine.” Lucy poured coffee into Frankie’s mug and then her own. “Are you going to take Cassius with you?”

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