Page 14 of Overstaying His Welcome

“Another meeting?” Ronan asked, familiar enough with the sounds on my phone to know what that one was.

“Yeah, I've got to get down to talk some things over.”

He tilted his head to the side looking me over. “Are y'all ever going to come to some kind of agreement? Those city officials must be giving you a hard time.”

I smirked because he had no idea just how hard a time they were giving me or how much I enjoyed every second of it.

“It's business,” I replied instead.

We left the office side by side. When he turned off to go to the war room, I took off down the hall to check on Jared.

He was our receptionist for the floor. He would lead people where they needed to go, and he also handled any phone calls that came in for the security team because sometimes people would just call us when they didn't actually need us.

It was the most annoying thing ever. I used him as the line of defense, which he didn’t seem to mind. Aside from that, he was also a bright, sunny young man who gave us a little light when we needed it.

With all the men now paired up, we had different forms of light to add to our group, but Jared had been the first.

I knocked my knuckles on the counter in front of him to get his attention. His head popped up, and he smiled.

"Tank!" he said happily. "What's up?"

I laughed and said, “Nothing much. I'm about to head out for a meeting. Anything I should know?”

He shook his head while looking through his notes.

"Nothing today. I would have passed it along. It's pretty boring actually."

I scowled at him. "You take that back right now. You know as soon as you say it, you're going to jinx yourself."

His eyes went wide. "Oh, crap. You're right. It's been..."

He paused.

"Very steady and busy. A day that’s not for resting at all."

He used a robotic tone as if he were forcing the words out, and I laughed.

"Well, let me know if you need anything," I said.

"Sure thing, boss.”

With a wave, I took the elevator downstairs. A few people joined me, each nodding and smiling at me, familiar with who I was. I had a bit of a reputation, and my face was one of a kind, or so I've been told.

When we reached the bottom floor, I let everyone else off first as I casually made my way past the front security desk, watching as they worked.

They greeted me with waves and smiles, though none of them stopped to speak long. It was obvious they were deep in their work. It’s exactly how I wanted them.

I took off for my vehicle in the underground parking lot.

My BMW i7 was a beauty. I cherished her like she was the love of my life. It had been one of my first splurges once NightShade had reached a level of success high enough to earn back the investments.

She stood out everywhere she went, which is also why I didn't take her places very often. But when I needed to make an appearance downtown, she was what I chose.

On the off chance —haha— that Chance would be able to come with me for a ride, it was his favorite of the vehicles I owned. He always lit up when he had time to sit beside me as we drove around the city.

If I had it my way, I would be driving him to work every single day and picking him up too. We would havelazy afternoons driving through the city, or maybe even cross-country if we took some time off.

Those were all pipe dreams.

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