Page 117 of Unexpected Hero

“Too late. I’m already panting, and my nipples are hard.”

I attempt to hold the water in my mouth, but I fail. Dribbles fall down my chin, which makes me laugh harder until water shoots out onto my phone screen.

“Wow. I didn’t know I sat in the splash zone. They should label these seats better.”

“Apologies,” I retort through lingering guffaws.

Once she finally has a straight face and my screen has been dried, she wraps up our little life lesson. “Okay, so tonight when you go to the club, you won’t be ashamed. Just be your fantastic fucking self. You’ll make friends, be sexy as hell, flirt, or whatever you feel like doing. After a few weeks, you’ll have enough money to pay James back without taking food out of your mouth. And you’ll move on from this. Problem solved. Got it?”

“Yes, mistress. But one question?”

She points her thumb and forefinger at me like a gun while making a clicking sound with her mouth. “Shoot.”

“Who is breaking the news to my vagina that James isn’t going to be visiting?”

Stella waves her hands flamboyantly. “I got this. Say no more. What’s your vagina’s email address?”

Chapter 22

Mission success but feels shitty AF

TOMER

My pace on the treadmill falters, causing me to drift back along the belt. Shaking it off, I increase my pace while my mind races faster than my feet.

Thoughts of Lettie have plagued me all day, and there’s a hollow ache under my rib cage I can’t shake.

It was too hard to focus on my work, so I came down to the gym at HQ to clear my mind. Thus far, it’s not working.

I still don’t know what happened last night to cause such a dramatic shift in Lettie’s demeanor. I was hopeful we could continue to be friends, but now it seems that’s not the case.

Perhaps she no longer needs me since she got the job.

That doesn’t feel right, given all our past conversations, but what else could it be?

You’ve really done it this time, boy.

I block out my father’s voice in my conscience and open my eyes so I don’t bust ass on this damn machine and give myself first-degree treadmill burn.

Pushing my body harder than I have in a while, I up the speed and lengthen my strides. Sweat pours down my neck, adding to my raging irritability.

After wiping my neck with a gym towel, I swipe across my phone screen to bring up my text thread with Dante. I need to take a break from Bask. It’s time to finish removing her from my life.

The thought cuts me deep, leaving a jagged scar from my sternum to my stomach. The only thing that dulls the pain is knowing I was able to help her when she needed a hand. Since she’s Redleg family, I stepped in. No one can fault me for that.

Now, it’s time to move on. Disappear into the background, which is exactly where I belong.

Not being a part of her life anymore rubs thick grains of salt into that gaping wound down my torso.

Fortunately, I have a metric shit ton of work to do at Redleg to keep my mind occupied. After I finish this exercise break, I’ll shower and return to my lair. And I won’t be leaving early tonight.

Or anytime soon.

Klein and I have mountains of tasks to handle. I’ve tasked him with running background checks on a large group of job applicants. Boss is adding more bodyguards to the Redleg family to keep up with the influx of business coming our way. He’s forming a new squad that we’ve affectionately started calling C-team.

Meanwhile, I’ll handle issues from the guards in the field, along with mountains of shit that keeps things running smoothly. I’m also up to my eyes in drafting the specifications document and project plan for the home security system rollout.

This is going to take a long time with only Klein and me handling it. Fortunately, we have the design basics established for the system we use for Redleg employees. Now, we just need to tweak it for mass usage and scale it up. We’ll need to conduct training on installation and monitoring once it’s ready. But we’re a long way from that point.

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