Page 24 of Shattered

I coughed into my fist, covering up a laugh. For some reason, Waverly had a major bone to pick with most politicians, which made zero sense considering her family name was synonymous with high-powered government leaders.

“Our friends at the DEA are getting anxious,” Duncan announced without warning. “They want to get Lanie on the inside soon.”

“How soon?” Noah probed, his hands fisting at his sides.

“Monday.”

“Jesus Christ. We haven’t even come up with a believable cover story yet.”

“Lanie?” Waverly swiveled to face her. “You’ve been surveilling Little for the past two days. What are your thoughts?”

The woman in question began to pace back and forth, seemingly lost in thought. No one rushed her though. It washerass on the line. Finally, she folded her arms across her chest and addressed the room.

“He’s a creature of habit; leaves for work at six-thirty each morning, stops at the same coffee place on the way. The barista knows his order by heart because he doesn’t veer from it. Large black with almond milk and a toasted bagel.”

“What self-respecting man orders almond milk?” Keaton snickered, earning himself a heated glare from Lanie.

“So what I’m saying is,” she continued, “I shouldn’t have any problem accidentally bumping into him at one of his usual haunts.”

“All right, we have the meet-cute taken care of.”

“This isn’t a fucking romance novel, K.”

Keaton’s head snapped to his partner. “You think I don’t know that, Noah?” He sucked in a harsh breath through his nose in an effort to soften the blow his next words might deliver. It didn’t work. “If you’d dislodge yourbighead from yourtightass for a minute, maybe you could find a solution rather than being blinded by your own bullshit.”

Harsh? Possibly. But he wasn’t wrong. It had become glaringly obvious to everyone, except Lanie, Noah’s train was parked at adoration station.

“Enough,” Duncan boomed. “Let’s get to work.”

It took until late morning before we had a solid plan inplace. Instead of creating a whole new existence, we decided Lanie should stick as close to the truth as possible. When asked, she’d admit to being a federal agent. The idea of a romantic entanglement was never discussed, nor would it be if Noah had anything to say about it. This was simply two old friends reconnecting, nothing more nothing less.

From what we’d gathered, Brandon Little was a fan of flashing stacks of cash around town to impress his followers. For this reason, the DEA wanted Lanie to appear disgruntled; make him believe she wasn’t opposed to crossing the line if it meant a big payday. Obviously, we nixed their idiotic idea in the bud. Too many variables and too many old connections between them to risk him becoming suspicious and deciding to ask around about her in their hometown. No, it was safer for her to live in reality rather than fantasy.

Waverly pushed back from the table we’d gathered around. “We’ll reconvene Monday. Any last-minute questions or concerns, Lanie?”

“Nope.”

“All right. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, people. It’ll be all-hands-on-deck until this op is over.”

She and Duncan went into her office, closing the door behind them. As I rinsed out the coffee mug I’d used, my cell vibrated in my back pocket. Pulling it out, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw who was texting.

Jade: Any chance you could pick up a cake from Treats and Eats?

Me: Of course, but I thought you were baking him one? What happened?

Jade: The oven crapped out.

The amount of restraint it took not to haul every single one of her appliances to the nearest junkyard was overwhelming. She deserved the best, and that didn’t include the ancient pieces of shit currently taking up residence in her kitchen. Part of me—a huge part—longed to race to the nearest home store and put my credit card to good use. But since I preferred to keep my balls attached to my cock, I’d have to navigate around her pride rather than steamroll over it.

Me: No problem. Do you need me to grab anything else?

Jade: Henley is bringing an air fryer for the wings, so I think I’m good.

Me: Okay. I’ll see you in an hour, Wife.

Jade

I should’ve listened to my inner voice when she begged me to roll over and go back to sleep this morning. The oven going tits up was just the latest cluster in a string of fucks to fall upon the Trumble household since o’dark thirty.

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