Page 45 of Rebel

Putting my arm around her, I answered, “They had to look for clues, which involves looking through the desks, cabinets, and closets, as well as dusting for fingerprints.”

“It’s going to take days to set things right,” she said with tears in her eyes. “My parents would lose their minds if they saw all this. My mom was always so particular about making sure everything was nice and clean.”

It was frustrating that we went from having a truly wonderful day to Lacey seeing her family business trashed by people who should have known better. It honestly did feel a bit like the copsadded insult to injury by the way they handled the investigation in general.

I tugged her closer. “It’s not gonna take days. I’ll get some prospects to clean the place up and you can take a little time to shop for replacements for the things that can’t be salvaged. How does that sound?”

She slowly nodded, pulling her eyes from the mess surrounding us to look at me.

“That sounds like a really nice offer. Do you think they’d be willing to help us out?”

I snorted a laugh. “Trust me, they’ll be fucking thrilled. Give me a minute to send out a text.”

She pulled out the laptop that I’d insisted we bring from my place. “I’m going to try to clear off my desk and get to work ordering what I know we need at this point. What’s the password for your laptop?”

I grinned at her, trying not to look roguish. “The password is laceyisaperfect10.”

She frowned, “You’re joking, right?”

“No. I’m not. You’ve been on my heart and mind for a while now.”

She moved closer and used her free hand to pull me down for a kiss. I enjoyed every second of it. She pulled back with a mischievous little smile turning up the corners of her mouth. “I’ll be changing that password to lacey’ssmokinghotbikerreallyrocks. Assuming that isn’t toomany characters.” Gesturing with one hand, she added, “And assuming that it’ll let me use an apostrophe.”

Giving her an indulgent smile, I responded, “I think the limit for computer passwords is usually a hundred and twenty seven characters and you can use special characters, even an air comma should be okay.”

“Two things. Firstly, I’m impressed you know all that. And secondly, what’s with calling an apostrophe an air comma?”

I shrugged with one shoulder and glanced away. “It what I used to call an apostrophe when I was a kid.”

She chuckled, and shook her head, “I like it when you share things about yourself with me and that was an adorable share.” Pulling her thumb back over her shoulder towards her office, she told me, “I’m gonna be in my office if you need me.”

I started to tell her that I wouldn’t need her, but that sounded rude in my own mind. Instead I said, “I’ll always need you, so it’s good to know where to look.”

She launched herself at me, gave me a hard kiss and then turned around and headed towards her office.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and toed a piece of debris on the floor out of the way as I thought about what just happened. This was really happening. I was opening up—almost effortlessly—to the one woman who truly seemed to care about me and wanted to know about me. And she seemed to like me all the more for it.

It was with a sappy smile on my face that I pulled out my phone and got to work pulling prospects in to help out. I started by calling Storm.

“Good morning, Rebel. I assume you got my message?” Storm was the kind of man who liked to get straight to the point. I respected and admired him for being a straight shooter.

“Yeah, Prez. I got your message. We’re at the office now and the place is a real mess.”

“The intruders trashed the place, right?”

I remembered telling him all about that. “Yeah, and the cops tossed the entire place during their investigation. I was wondering if we could spare some prospects to help me clear up?”

“Sure thing, brother.”

“Great. Who were you thinking of sending?”

“Rodney, James, and Eric. Is that enough or do you think you’ll need more?”

“Nah, that will be fine. We’ve got a large dumpster out back that several offices use. It’s normally pretty empty because offices don’t generate the kind of refuse that restaurants and retailers do.”

“I’ll send them with a pile of trash bags and cleaning supplies.”

“Thanks, Prez. We’re gonna need all the help we can get to get this place back in shape.”

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