Page 109 of On the Double

I nodded, wincing slightly.

“Next time, take the fucking walk.”

28

EDU

“Whoa,”Red laughed. “He’s come up for air!”

I shot him a sarcastic smile and flipped him off as I took my place at the table. It had been weeks since I’d been back to work. Those three days off turned into an insatiable need to be around Harper every chance I got, but those days were over.

“Harper was cleared to go back to work.”

“Her arm’s healed?” Brock asked.

“Not completely, but she can do light work.”

“I can’t believe you agreed to let her go back,” Lock smirked at me.

“Hey, it’s not like I had a choice in the matter. She has to work. Besides, I’m not her boyfriend.”

“Are you sure about that?” Red asked, quirking an eyebrow at me. “You sure are devoted for a guy who’s just fucking her.”

My fist clenched at his words.Just fucking her.That’s what we were doing and had been every chance we got. As she healed, our fucking became more consistent until the point that I had to take her back to my house so Oliver could get some fucking sleep at night.

I was getting way too comfortable with her in my house and my bed, and that was something that struck me hard when she left for work this morning. I was begging her to take another day off, and shewas insisting that she had to get to work. When had I become the man desperate for a woman?

I cleared my throat and shifted into work mode. “Any news on The Syndicate?”

And just like that, all talk of my private life slipped away.

“The last raid was a bust,” Red said. “Michael is working his contacts with government agencies and Cash is…” His eyes flicked to Kavanaugh. “Cash is working contacts through a few select senators.”

From the look on Kavanaugh’s face, I got the feeling that it was putting him in a difficult position with his father. While Kavanaugh didn’t talk much about his family life, we all knew that he distanced himself from his father as much as possible after his brother died unexpectedly before he came to work with us.

“And where does that leave us?”

He tossed a folder across the table. “This is what we’re working on.”

I flipped it open and stared in disbelief at the contents. “You’re fucking kidding me.”

I stared at the picture of the farmers and looked back around the table. “Where is he?”

Lock smirked at me. “Where do you think he is?”

I rolled my eyes, slamming the folder down on the table. “You know, it’s Harper’s first fucking day back at work.”

“Then maybe you should take over this particular aspect of the job,” Red grinned.

Sighing, I shoved back from the table and glared at all the fuckers laughing at me. “And what are we doing about this?” I asked, tapping the folder.

“That’s what we need Fox for,” Lock said. “I’m sure he already has a plan in place.”

“Perfect,” I grumbled, heading for the door. “You know, if this wasn’t affecting Harper, I’d tell you all to go fuck yourselves.”

“Watch it, Edu,” Lock chuckled. “You’re starting to sound like a boyfriend.”

I flipped him off and headed for the door. The last fucking thing I needed was to be seen as the boyfriend or even husband. But I alsocouldn’t let Harper deal with Fox when he was like this. Fuck, I really hated that I cared so much about how Harper’s first day back went. I shouldn’t care.

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