Page 90 of Taming Achilles

“No, you won’t,” she contradicted.

“You going to fight me, little killer?” Geo’s mouth turned in a sneer. “I’ve had enough of your commands, Baroness Strathlachlan.”

Lea shrugged, resuming her seat in the same hospital chair. “When I call security, the patient will say the same. I stay, Dr. Laurent stays, and the rest of you get out.”

She looked at Athanya with the same disgusted glare. “We know you don’t have a warrant, so you have no business here. Security will say the same, Detective.”

“Yes, indeed, Athanya,” I stared at Geo as I said her name. “You have no business here any longer.”

Detective Delgado tensed, her spine going ramrod straight as she looked at me with a glare. “This isn’t over.”

“Your bosses will say otherwise,” Lea said, before I had a chance to answer. “Do you not like being employed?”

I don’t know when Callum’s wife became my champion, but at this moment, she was my best friend. When Detective Delgado walked out with her tail between her legs, and Geo lingered, staring at me for some kind of indication that I wanted him there, it was Lea who pushed him out.

When did we become allies? I wasn’t sure. But it wasn’t an unwelcome development. After all, we were in the same line of work. And I desperately wanted a comrade.

Chapter 43

Geordie

Lea was going the right way for a smack bottom. I wanted to beat her with her own bloody butterfly knife. She had stood like a fucking body guard in front of my woman. She was keeping me from Pippa, saying that I was hurting her healing. Callum was about to become a widower.

Fuck! I had called Detective Delgado by her first name, and the look in Pippa’s eyes cut me like a fucking knife. What was I thinking? I knew she was jealous. But I still said it. And a part of me wanted that jealousy, because it meant she still cared. Anything was better than her indifference.

“What is going on, George?” Athanya rounded on me, her hands on her hips. “Why am I getting a call to leave this case alone?”

I swallowed, not wanting to lie. But knowing I had to. I opened my mouth, but she raised her hand.

“I was an intelligence officer in the Army,” she said. “You can be straight with me, even if you can’t tell me everything.”

I wrinkled my brow. She had been an intelligence officer? I scratched my head, unsure how to proceed.

“I see you weren’t as curious about my background as I was about yours,” she smirked. Her partner came to stand behind her, and stared at me from over her right shoulder, glancing between us. “Tell me.”

“It’s all spooks and ghosts,” I finally said. “I’m not one of them. My background is straight. But I am surrounded by nothing but shadows.”

It was code. A code that her pretty boy partner didn’t understand, because his brows furrowed like he was concentrating too hard on something. “What the hell does that mean?”

Yeah, fuck you, Detective Tanner. Your partner is too good for you.

“Okay,” Athanya said, with a nod. “I won’t ask, but I want to be sure everything is okay here.”

I nodded at her, ignoring the glowering look from her side kick. “It is now. We’ve got it handled, and …” I hemmed and hawed, remembering with some embarrassment that I had flirted with her. “I’ll be staying with Pip from now on.”

“No hard feelings,” she said quickly, catching on to my discomfort. What was with all of these women being so easy to understand, and stepping away with a grace that Pippa would never have. She got her claws into me and caused me pain, the kind that you couldn’t remove without hurting yourself more. But these other women - Athanya, and Simona - just bowed out with grace and understanding. Why couldn’t Pippa show a level of understanding?

Why can’t I? An angry voice in my mind cried out.

Because she’s mine. That was the only truth that mattered. She was mine, and I refused to give her up to any man. I’d punch Rhys Tanner in the nose for even touching her hand, if Lea hadn’t looked at me with murder in her eyes.

And since when had those two decided to team up? They weren’t allowed to be friends! What was that madness?

“I’m asking because I want to know that …” Athanya let out an exasperated sigh. “I want to know that everyone is going to be okay. Is that something that you can promise me?”

I looked at the woman with dark eyes, and black hair. Where Pippa was heart shaped and fair, Athanya was dark, and squared. Strong, down-to-earth and serious, where Pippa was elegant, and rich. Opposites in every way.

“I swear it,” I said, knowing that the promise ran bone deep. “I’ll take care of her.”

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