Page 21 of Anything But Convenient

After lettingTank know we were good to start the process for us getting married, I took down Archie’s number in my phone and let him leave the office with the guys. They told him to go home to get some rest while they worked to reconnect the hostages with their families.

While I knew I couldn’t do much to help, I still felt like sticking around the team after Archie left the offices.

He’d somehow managed to suck all the warmth in the air out of the room with him. I felt cold and lonely. It was frustrating.

“We’re going to have to talk to Orion about that kid,” Ronan grumbled to Tank. I was standing close to the pair, watching our teammate where he stood across the room with the little boy they’d taken from the warehouse.

Tank shook his head. “I have a feeling there’s a story there.”

I snorted silently beside them. Of course there was. Orion was extremely levelheaded. He didn’t run off claiming children.

That would be really fucking weird of him.

This kid, whoever he was, knew Orion. Or rather, Orion knew him.

Whatever the reasoning, we’d need to sort it out soon. The others were being placed in homes or given flights back to theirfamilies. It wouldn’t look good to keep the kid here longer than the rest. Not for Orion, and especially not for NightShade.

We might have worked outside the law, but even this would be crossing a line we couldn’t come back from.

I waved my hand to get their attention. When they looked my way, I pointed to my phone and then to them. Tank understood immediately, his eyes lighting up as he gave me a nod. Ronan took a second longer to pull out his own device.

Takeshi

Whoever that kid is to Orion, he’s special. Maybe ask him how he knows him first instead of suggesting we send the kid away too soon. It could trigger him.

Ronan grinned at the message, his fingers flying over the keys.

Ronan

Who knew you’d talk so much more this way? *Winky face*

Tank

Ronan, you’re an idiot. Takeshi talks a lot when he has important things to say. We can’t all be Cohen and run our mouths until we pass out.

We all laughed at the idea. Cohen had definitely talked himself to sleep more than once after a mission. The adrenaline tended to make him even more hyper than usual. We’d each been subjected to it enough times through the years to be familiar with his patterns.

Takeshi

Either way, be gentle with him. Has the kid spoken at all?

Ronan

Not a word. He looked like he was trying to hide from Orion originally. Maybe he won’t talk because he knows Orion and doesn’t want to upset him.

We all looked up at once, our gazes clashing. In their eyes, I saw the same thoughts that I had.

It was too late.

Orion might have been smiling on the outside, but inside, he was furious. There was no hiding the stiff set of his shoulders or the dip in his brow.

I put my phone away, the need for words gone now that I knew these two would help guide Orion’s next movements. I’d have to sit on the sidelines to watch what happened since I couldn’t speak up. I just had to hope whatever it was, that Orion could keep his cool long enough to help the kid.

He was what mattered most in all this.

Three days later,I was handed a suit and told to be ready by noon. There would be a justice of the peace coming in to officiate everything in the office.

“You’re also going to need to pick a place to live. Staying here is fine with me, but when they come to review your situation for his citizenship process, you’re going to face backlash for being in the office,” Tank told me.

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