Page 82 of GAF Factor

“I’m never gonna hear the end of this,” I muttered as I hit the gas to go back in search of him. It didn’t take long to find him, singed and jogging along the side of the road with a huge grin on his face.

“Did you see it?”

“Kind of hard to miss,” I said, putting the truck in park.

“Man, it was beautiful.”

“You know, I think you may love this just a little too much.”

He stared at the flames licking the sky and nodded. “Yep, pretty sure I do.”

“Arewe telling the girls that the Irish attacked?” IRIS asked.

“Yes.”

“Good. That’s good,” he nodded. “Because I don’t keep anything from Jane. I mean, not much. Little things, really. Tiny. Okay, maybe the occasional larger secret, but nothing major.”

I slowly cocked my head at him.

“Okay, once, I kept a big secret from her, but it was for a good reason.”

“I don’t care.”

He nodded, then turned back to the elevator doors. “You know, it really wasn’t like I had to tell her anyway. These things get blown out of proportion in the long run. If she had found out, it would have been way more of a?—”

He stopped talking the moment I cut a glare his way. I really didn’t give a shit what secrets he was keeping from Jane. That was between him and his wife. I had long since left that fucked up relationship behind. And while I would always care for Jane, I had no right to step between them.

“So…not telling them.”

“We are telling them.”

“Right,” he cleared his throat. “Maybe we could not tell them about the whole explosive thing,” he added quickly. “You know, just because that’s really an unnecessary detail.”

I smirked at the panic in his voice. “Thumper made a bet that you couldn’t go the whole trip without blowing something up, didn’t he?”

“Maybe,” he grumbled. “But that’s really not fair. I did what I had to do. It’s not like I wanted to blow them up.”

“Of course,” I agreed, quirking an eyebrow at him. “Any sane person would have jumped out of a moving vehicle to light explosives they were carrying on them. It’s a natural reaction.”

“That’s all I’m saying.”

The doors opened and I stepped off, headed toward Isla and the warm bed she was currently residing in. I could already taste her skin on my lips and feel her hands on my cock. The rest could wait until morning. For now, all I wanted was her.

I slid the card into the reader and opened the door, but what I found couldn’t quite be explained. Peanut shells littered the floor. It was like one of those restaurants where they handed out peanuts to eat until your table was ready and you dropped the shells on the floor. Except, these hadn’t accumulated over the evening from customers. At least, I really hoped not.

I pulled my weapon just to be on the safe side and pushed the door open all the way. “Isla?”

Shrieks filtered in from the other room from the connecting door. I quickly cleared the room and jerked open the door leading to IRIS’s room, my gun aimed right at the source of the noise.

Isla and Jane went completely still as they sat in front of me on their asses. Twizzlers were fisted in their hands, but that wasn’t what had me frowning at them in confusion. Both of them had gobs of makeup on their faces. So much that they couldn’t even pass for hookers. Black eyeliner extended past their eyes, lining their lids, giving them an almost spooky quality. Bright red spots dotted both of their cheeks, but it was the bright red lipstick that really finished off whatever look they were going for.

Clowns. That’s what they looked like.

“Are we under arrest, officer?” Jane asked innocently.

Isla snorted out a laugh, then shoved a Twizzler in her mouth as she doubled over in laughter. I had no fucking clue what was going on or why they were acting so strangely, but when IRIS walked in, he just sighed and holstered his gun.

“I see you hit the sauce without me.”

---