Page 45 of Play the Game

CHAPTER 17

Jason

At 7:00a.m. Monday morning, I sat alone in the IT room inside the barn. I’d been here for half an hour and was already on my second cup of coffee. There would be no special team breakfast today, no camaraderie. I wasn’t even sure I had one friend left on the Alpha Team after what I’d pulled. I could live with that, if only Tam would take me back. As her lover, as her friend, as any damn thing other than the man she hated most in the world.

When the barn door opened, I didn’t bother to turn in my chair to see who had joined me. Whoever it was had come to work, not to see me, so it was none of my business. Alder appeared and set down a plate beside me with an everything bagel with schmear.

I glanced at it, then up at her. “What’s this?”

“Surely you recognize a bagel when you see it,” she answered. “I know my cooking isn’t up to your level, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t screw this up.”

I smiled despite how much I hated myself right now. “Maybe the better question is why.”

“Because we knew you’d be in here pouting and would probably forget to eat,” Hart said. She joined us and set down a bowl of fruit beside the bagel. “I see you have coffee, so I’ll drink this one.” She held up her mug like she was toasting me. She and Alder sat on either side of me.

I rubbed my eyes. “Wait, are you two playing the good cops, softening me up before Kessler and Li come to kick my ass?”

“That’s insulting,” Kessler said as she and Li entered the barn.

“Yeah, if we’d wanted to do you bodily harm, we would have done it last night,” Li said. “We’re not procrastinators.”

“Although, we should warn you,” Kessler added, “TJ and Bond are on a call with X.”

“X already got a piece of me last night.” I scowled. “But a bigger piece of Tam.”

“We figured,” Alder said. “Which is the second reason we’re here.”

“Third reason,” Hart said. “The first is to feed you. The second is to tell you we don’t hate you.”

I held up my hands in front of me. “Please tell me this isn’t some kind of intervention.”

“You were right, Alder,” Kessler said. “He is smarter than he looks.”

Kessler and Li pulled up chairs, as well.

I headed them off at the pass. “I know I fucked up. Mea culpa. And I need to do everything I can to make it up to Tam, but first I need to know if any of you have spoken to her this morning and if she’s okay.”

Alder and Li exchanged a glance. Alder finally spoke. “We all had coffee with her about fifteen minutes ago.”

“All?” I asked, my heart sinking. It seemed there might have been a team breakfast, after all. “And TJ and Bond, too?”

Alder nodded. “She’s fine. She needs time, and—”

“And distance.” I nodded. I’d heard it before, but I hadn’t really listened. Now everything between us had gone to shit. I’d put her job on the line because I thought I was so damn smart, and of course, I had to prove it to her by dragging her with me to show off. “Is she still on the property?”

TJ kept us on a pretty tight leash while we were on a mission, but we weren’t prisoners here, and we were in a holding pattern anyway.

“She asked us not to say,” Kessler said.

I glanced at Alder, who looked at the rest of them.

“I’m not sure it would hurt anything,” Alder held my gaze, “if you promise to stay the hell away from her for now.”

I nodded. “I just need to know she’s okay, and that…” What, that she didn’t hate me? I couldn’t ask that of her.

“She’s fine, and she’s on a long run,” Li said. “The three of us are going out soon,” she pointed to Kessler and Kat, “and when we get back, we’re all going to shower, then go out for a late lunch.”

“And probably a happy hour and an early dinner,” Kessler added.

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