Page 121 of Fire for Effect

“A trailer isn’t a permanent residence.”

Great. Now I’d have two parents to judge my living choices?

“Who are you, my mother?” the corner of my lip twitched, as I felt a smile coming on.

“No, but I’ll definitely be having a chat with her real fucking soon.”

Chapter 35

Hospital

Griff

“Oh, Lucy, you have some ‘splaining to do.” That was not the female voice I wanted to hear when I first opened my eyes. Not by a long shot.

“What?” My throat felt like it was filled with sand. My eyeballs felt like they were covered in glue, as I pried my eyelids open.

“Well, my dear work husband, Noam is currently outside getting his ass handed to her by your mother.”

“What?”

“It seems that they were also unaware that you made Wifey your medical proxy, along with your sole beneficiary.”

Things came into focus slowly, one item at a time. The room wasn’t dissimilar from every middling hotel I had stayed in, except that there was something beeping right by my head. And the linens weren’t exactly high thread count Egyptian cotton. There was a window, with mass produced, blue and purple curtains. There was a small TV on a hinge, bolted to the wall.

I felt no pain. So I must be on some good drugs.

I focused on Sierra’s voice.

She wore a slinky red dress and stilettos, her legs crossed as one shoe dangled off her toe. Her blonde hair was straight, and you'd never think that she had only recently taken part in a raid. It was a great attribute to her job as a spy - she could change from fatigues to club gear within the blink of an eye.

“What?” I asked again, hoping to prompt her into telling me more of what I had missed.

“When I came in to check on her, she was practically hyperventilating into a bag, staring at the ring on her finger,” Sierra said, amused. “Way to ease into things.”

“Shut up,” I said, though there was no bite to my words. “Where’s Taz?”

“Oh, probably in the bathroom…” Her amused glance turned to me. “Actually hyperventilating into a paper bag.”

“Why?”

“You put a ring on her finger two days after you officially start dating. She gets kidnapped, beaten and tortured. She found out who her daddy was… then she discovers that she’s your designated proxy for everything?” Sierra said, her face almost frustrated. “I think we stuck a few Hellfire missiles up her ex-husband’s ass, too. Do you need me to womansplain this to you? Really? Are you that dumb?”

“I hate you.”

“I hate you too, Kilo. But I love Wifey,” she said, her sarcasm thicker than mud. “I saw what she said when they were beating her in front of the President. She’s a fucking queen.”

“You saw it?” If she saw it, then why didn’t I?

“I hacked into the server, played it back while you were in surgery.”

“You hacked into the feed? To the fucking CIA?”

“Like it’s hard,” she said in a fake ditzy voice.

I wanted to be appalled. It was reckless, and insane, and frankly, not worth the risk. But my blond-haired partner tilted her head to the side like she was a dippy airhead, and I laughed.

She smirked at me.

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