Page 28 of Mike

“I’m all in.” Joelle stated her opinion happily, then bent down to brush the dirt off her clothes. She didn’t want anyone to see her gloat that they swiftly agreed to her plan without a fuss. “Where do we go from here?”

“That’s going to take some figuring. And time. You want to come back to camp and join us for supper where we can brainstorm?” Alvero asked.

Mike immediately got a grumpy look on his face that his buddy seemed to notice. Joe hoped it was because her new fixation wanted to keep her all to himself.

“What?” the medic put in quickly. “We need to get your stories straight for your ex.” He pointed back and forth between Joe and Mike. “Like where you two lovebirds met, how long you’ve been seeing each other on the sly, and all kind of other, small shit.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Joelle agreed. “Let me just move my car and lock it up, then I’m all for sharing grub with you guys.”

“We’ll wait.” Mike still didn’t sound at all pumped with the prospect of her joining his team for a meal and a discussion.

Joe walked off, puzzled. What was his problem? Mike would be getting a great deal; discouraging his ex from killing him while at the same time being allowed to play footsie, albeit in a pretend kind of way, with Joe.

Joe shrugged, getting in her car to move it. She wasn’t going to start telling the man his business by getting up in his face. That’s what always got her into trouble. Just this once, she’d follow someone’s lead.

For now.

Parking and locking her car, she walked back to the small group, unsure why exactly she wanted to play nice with Mike instead of calling him out on his boorishness. It wasn’t her norm. She dug deeper.

Maybe it was to witness the twinkle in his eye she’d seen him throw her way at the gym the other day. She hadn’t missed his interest, and it had been…affirming. Yeah. That had to be it. She’d enjoyed being looked at appreciatively by a guy who regarded her as something other than a testicle-busting bitch. She could work with that.

“What’s your real name?” Mike barked out as she approached, pocketing her keys.

Joe grimaced. So much for being wanted for her charms.

“I’m not at liberty to tell you,” she responded sharply. “Suffice to say, I’ll answer to Elle. It’s close enough to my real name.”

“Which means you’re not going to tell us who you work for, either,” Mike surmised, disgruntledly.

“Smart man.” Joe winked to hopefully yank his chain, then turned to him as they all started walking. “Listen. Why don’t you throw me some softballs? Other than my name, rank, and serial number, I promise I’m an open book.”

Now it was Welker’s turn to snort. “Not the term I’d use.”

Mike, however, bit. “Fine. Let’s start with the cut on your chin, and end with your odd choice of softening expletives.”

Joelle couldn’t help but poke back, saying for his ears only; “Not going with list number two? Our kiss, and your, uh, reaction to it?”

“Later,” the man growled, and didn’t that just send tingles up and down her spine. Was he making a promise? Joe sure hoped so, because this guy rang all her bells.

“Okay. My chin.” Once again, Joe found herself giving in easily. There was something about Mike that made her want to bite—literally—not bark. “I was taking a nice, relaxing hike north of here, and was nearing the summit when my phone showed me your ex’s car was moving steadily in your direction. I turned around and booked it down the mountain, triple-time. I was just about to my vehicle when I lost focus and tripped on a root. This,” she waved at her face, “is the result.”

“That sucks,” Kyle commiserated, then turned to Mike, cheekily. “LT,” he snarked. “She hurt herself coming to your rescue. That’s like…rom-com 101.”

Joelle grinned. She was really coming to like Mike’s friends. They clearly loved him, but weren’t above giving him shpit.

“Or a bad horror flick,” Mike returned with a grunt before verbally accosting Joe again. “Now tell about your fucked-up swearing.”

“That one’s easy.” Joe shrugged. “I have a boss who… How shall I say this? He takes exception to my balsa-to-the-wall disposition. He hates it when I act out, act up, or out and out…act. In other words, he wishes I wasn’t sporting the personality I was born with, and the feeling is mutual.”

“Not into strong-willed women, huh?” Welker replied.

“Understatement,” Joe agreed, glad somebody was getting her. “Anyway, this ask-hat boss of mine was one of my instructors at the— Uh—where I underwent training a bunch of years ago.” She caught herself just in time before revealing pertinent info. “He noticed, even back then, my propensity to go off-task. Not that it’s always a bad thing, according to me. When Mr. Big-man set up mock-conflicts, I was the one who’d think outside the box and more often than not uncover what he was really attempting, which pissed him off.”

“Sounds like a total douche. But you were done with him once you got through your schooling, right?” Alvero posed, heavily emphasizing the word school, but again, Joelle wasn’t going to be led.

“So I thought. But just a year later he was assigned to be my boss.” That had been a sour moment.

“Which means…?” Doug wanted to know.

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