Page 53 of Bonded

“Hmm… a clue? Well… yeah, it involves food. But that’s it….the rest is a surprise.”

“That’s it? That’s not much of a clue. Ryan, please?”

“Nope.” He sighs kissing her, “Look, I gotta go cos I gotta talk to Darius.”

“Darius? Why?” Her frown deepens with concern.

“Dunno, his text just said he wanted to see me. He wants to sound me out about somethin’, I don’t know. I’ll let you know when I find out. Hey, don’t look so worried. I’m not in trouble—at least I don’t think so. If I am… I don’t care. I got you back, so I got everythin’. Nothin’ else matters.”

“Ryan…” she swallows nervously. “I’m so sorry about everything. I would never mean to hurt you, I just—”

“I know baby, but really it doesn’t matter. I get it, this has been hard for you, but it’s gonna be fine. And Saturday… Saturday’s gonna be just perfect cos nothin’s gonna spoil my surprise.”

Chapter 16

Standing in the doorway, Kat frowns, watching the uniformed stranger in her office throw books from the shelf into a box. “So, can I ask what the hell you’re doing in here? And who gave you permission to touch my things?”

The tall, dark-haired man turns around and looks at her. Chewing gum, he stares, checking her out, as he drops the last of the books into the box.

“Hey… be careful with those. Some are first editions and very rare. I don’t need you throwing them around like that. Anyway, how the hell did you get in here? And where the hell are the rest of my things?” She looks around at the now-empty office. “You better have a damn good explanation for this or you’re going to find yourself on a charge here, Private.”

“With all due respect—Lieutenant,” he sighs, “I was asked to come and clear out the office. All I know is I was told to ‘pack all this shit up’ and move it out. Don’t take it out on me, because trust me, I’d rather not be here doing this. Why don’t you speak to Master Chief Jackson if you have a problem because he was, the assho—, the one who went to my Commander, who then sent me here?”

“Master chief Jackson asked you to do this? Did he say why? Wait… give those here.” She grabs at the box of books and placing it on the desk, checks their condition. “So, where are the rest of my things?”

“I was told to leave it all outside the Master Chief’s offi—” he peters off looking at Darius as he stands, his arms folded, leaning against the door watching them.

“They’re outside my office.”

At the sound of his voice, Kat looks up, glaring at him. “What the hell do you think you’re playing at? Where is the rest of my fucking stuff?” she snarls angrily.

“Private Harman, you can leave, I’ll sort the rest. Tell Commander Evans thanks.”

“Sir… Lieutenant.” He nods and then sighing with relief hurriedly leaves.

“So…” she folds her arms, staring at him. “I asked you, where are my things? My medical equipment, my laptop… my dagger? Where is it all? I’m telling you if you’ve damaged anything, I’ll—”

“Hey calm down, all right. Everything’s fine, I made sure they were careful.”

“Oh, so what… is this you shipping me out now? Oh my God, I can’t believe you would do this. Why? Is this because of last night?” she hushes her voice, nervously swallowing. “Seriously, what the actual fuck? Darius, this is unfair. Shit…” she sighs.

“Whoa, whoa… Whoa! Will, you shut the fuck up. Just calm down, all right. I haven’t done anything with your ‘stuff’ it’s all safe. It’s outside my office and no, I’m not shipping you out. Why the hell would you even think that?”

“Um… let me see. Oh yeah, maybe because I’m standing in an empty office, and you’ve had all my stuff packed up without telling me. And…” she takes a deep breath, “after you treated me like a complete whore last night, maybe that’s why? Maybe this is to shut me up? Stop me telling Digby what happened before you send me away?”

He laughs and stepping inside the office, closes the door.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, he smiles. “Hey, take a fuckin’ breath. As I said, I’m not shipping you out. I’m just moving your office.”

“Moving my office? What the hell does that mean? Why… and where to? Darius, what the hell’s going on? Oh, I get it you’re not shipping me out, but you’re standing me down from the team.”

“No… No! What I’m doing is putting you in my office and then I’m moving in here.”

“You’re moving office too? But why? I mean, what reason would you do that?”

“Digby and I spoke…” he sighs loudly. “No, not about that!” he smiles, looking at the severe concern on her face. “About the problems with the team. You… showering with the guys, well it’s causingissuesandso we figured this might be the solution.”

“Issues? What kinda issues? You mean Digby kicking off with Zak? But I thought that was all sorted now. I thought they were all good. Digby didn’t say anything to me about this. I thought he understood we were just messing around? Oh my God…” she rubs her hand over her head. “Where is he? I’ll go speak to him. Darius, I’ll sort this out. But I still don’t understand how moving an office is going to solve Digby’s problems?”

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