Page 52 of Shield and Savior

Alana sighs again. I’m beginning to think she doesn’t have any air left in her lungs because it’s all floating in this room.

“Listen, you were vulnerable. He took advantage of that. There was a power play difference there. You were secluded from your family in a stressful situation. Everything about this was an ethics violation.”

Specs has a stack of papers in front of him and is working hard to avoid eye contact. Now it makes sense. “Oh, my god,” I say. “You don’t want me to sue you.”

“That’s a hundred percent why you’re here.” She paces the length of the glass table. “I’m not too concerned about your dad.” She waves her hand, but slams it back down near Lance. “Although fucking a mob boss’s daughter, while her life is on the line, maybe not your best move, Lance.” She hangs her head and drops into a chair. “I have to take immediate action.”

No, this is my fault. I fucked this up being all sad and needy. “Don’t fire him. And I’ll sign all your papers.”

Again, Alana gets up and resumes pacing back and forth. “I can’t guarantee that I’m not going to fire him. He violated every ethics code and put the entire company at risk. And sullied our reputation amongst all other private security firms. I can say that he would get a substantial severance package. As well as that it won’t happen immediately.”

This doesn’t necessarily satisfy me. But, at least I preserved his job.

Alana glances at Specs. “You’re on lake monster duty for the foreseeable future.” Lake monster? Now it clicks. Oh, he’s been calling us by our real names, not the code names. It’s too personal, muddies the water between professional and personal. Well, that and sleeping with the client.

Lance hangs his head low as he gives me that sad puppy dog look. “I am so sorry.” His voice almost quivers.

Alana stands and starts to walk out of the room. “Lance, I need you in my office.”

I guess the meeting is over.

Specs hands me some papers and tells me he’ll pick the kids up after school. “I’ll drive you back to the safe house.” He adds, “This sucks. I was rooting for you two. Everyone in the office thought you guys were an adorable family.”

And that’s when it hits me. We really were.

ChapterTwenty-Six

Lance

“I’m sorry.” The words feel hollow. I’m sorry I disappointed Alana, but I have zero regrets about Izzy and Drew. I know I fucked up calling Izzy by her real name, but she hasn’t been Nessie in my head for a while now, and Champ feels like a nickname for Drew more than a code name. The kinda name a dad would use. Yep, I’m going to need time to unpack that little truth bomb later.

Reason number 386 it sucks working for your roommate: She knows what I’m thinking before I do. “I am well aware of your personal feelings, but I’m pretty sure your feelings are the reason you’re in this mess. Check your head.”

“Why don’t you fire me and get it over with?” Ten fucking years I’ve been by her side. I make one breach in protocol, and she’s punishing me in the worst possible way.

Alana enunciates every single letter in the words, “I can’t.”

She can’t? Fuck her. “Oh like how you can’t pick a logo because it means this is real.” I wave my hand around her office. “That this is your life. Because deep down you think you’re too good to be babysitting celebrities.”

Her eyes blaze because I hit her where it hurts. And the biggest crime of all? I’m right. Alana speaks five languages, she owns a startup tech company she funded back in college, she has ten billionaires, eight members of Congress, and four world leaders’ numbers in her phone. She’s been privately trained by former KGB, CIA, and a legit spy network. Penny taught her how to hack. Alana could be anything, but no. She chose to be here, and she’s been regretting it ever since.

I brace myself for the attack, the sort of verbal punishment that will slice my soul in half. But it doesn’t come. She sits at her desk, silent for a second. “I’m dying here.” Her voice loses its edge. “I’m drowning in debt, death threats, and insurance bullshit. Plus a fucking manhunt for your girlfriend’s ex. I hired five scouts and a tracker, but Mike Bringsea is slippery and apparently a champion at Hide and Seek.” She hangs her head, shoulders slumped, the only sign of defeat she’ll give. “Why couldn’t you just wait?”

Ouch. That hurt. We’ve seen each other at our lowest. We’ve walked into war zones together. You don’t have a friendship as deep as ours without a few fights. But this one feels different. Because this time I disappointed her.

She doesn’t even meet my eyes when she says, “You’re back on Honey Badger’s team.”

The irony isn’t lost on me at all. She’s sending me back into my old world—glamor, gourmet food, everything I was. And now, I don’t want it. I want to be with Izzy and Drew. I want to be in that world. Isn’t that where I belong?

Months ago I would’ve felt perfectly at home in this three piece custom suit, standing in the foyer of a multimillion dollar house with a Monet on the wall. I think the floors were shipped in from the home of a fallen dictator in one of those super small island countries. But Honey Badger wasn’t the one who installed them. The house came with it, and she wanted to move in without any hassle.

Honey Badger comes down the stairs wearing four-inch stiletto heels. Again. I’ve warned her about a million times not to walk down the stairs in those, but she never listens. She finished her world tour about two weeks ago, spending a few days in Terceira Island to go hiking around the volcano and to be someplace quiet to recharge. She’s been to the Azores six times since Alana went a few years ago. Beauty, nature, and easily forgotten, it’s the exact sort of place Honey Badger needs to be when she’s coming down off of a tour high.

She’s wearing a short dress, shimmery. In fact, everything about her has a glittery glow. “Lance!” She jumps the last two stairs, and in my head I imagine her snapping her ankle and the wrath of shit Alana would give me if anything ever happened to Honey Badger. The singer sticks the landing and throws her arms around me. Very unprofessional, but she’s always been the exception to the rule…well her and Izzy.

“Hey,” I say, returning the hug. “How was the last few months?”

“Fine…but I didn’t get to go to the Pokémon Center.” She pouts as she slides off of me. “It was a security risk or something.”

---