Page 59 of Unmade

Yikes.

“Do your homework,” I told her. “Beckett’s gonna check it at three.”

She huffed and retrieved a wrinkled piece of paper from her little backpack. It’d been folded four times for some reason. “I thought we were gonna call him Mr. Crankypants.”

Either that or raging fucking asshole, but I was trying to limit my swearing around Alex. In addition, that was just my wounded ego talking. Beckett was perfectly professional and courteous. What I happened to want was merely…fewer polite smiles and morefuck my throat raw, rail me like there’s no tomorrow, and kiss me breathless.

“We should probably cut him some slack,” I said begrudgingly. “He’s working hard. Besides, I hear he’s taking you fishing soon. That’ll be fun.”

They could go off on another day trip, and I’d be…here.

“There you are.”Speak of the devil.It was embarrassing how quickly my brain reacted to the sound of his voice.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw him heading over. He hadn’t taken any warm food, just an apple.

“Will you accept a secret mission, Alex?” he asked.

Alex perked up immediately.

Beckett sat down at the head of the table and leaned in, all conspiratorially, much to Alex’s amusement.

He detached his ID card from the clip on his belt. “I want you to take a pudding cup to Danny’s office.” He slid her the ID card. “Leave it outside the door, knock three times, and then run back here. Take the stairs so you don’t have to wait for the elevator—you’ll blow your cover. And remember, you gotta swipe the card in the stairwell on his floor.”

My mouth twitched. Little Alex Beckett couldn’t care less about playgrounds and ponies. She was here for the secret missions. For chrissakes, her doll was an operator.

“I accept.” Alex grabbed the ID card and slid off her chair. “What flavor? There’s chocolate and tapioca.”

“Tapioca. He hates that.” Beckett nodded firmly. “You’ve got this, operator. The future of Hillcroft depends on this. Donotget caught.”

“Eeep!” She broke out a full-fledged grin, her excitement shining through, and then she was off. She ran over to the food counters and grabbed a pudding cup before she sprinted for the exit.

“That should give us five minutes,” Beckett said. I glanced back at him as he bit off a chunk of the apple and sat down in Alex’s seat. “Are you ready to shit your pants?”

I felt my eyebrows lift. “Um.”

He shook his head and took another bite of his apple—which was highly distracting, by the way. That wasn’t supposed to be sexy.

“I’ll ask you this first,” he said, leaning forward a bit. “Do you know any of the names of your dad’s siblings?”

What the—why would he… I mean…

“Uh.”Fuck, get it together!Right. I cleared my throat and tried to focus. “Sure. Um. Ethan, Elise, Darius?—”

“I fucking knew it,” he chuckled and smacked the table. “It’s actually true. Leighton, Darius Quinn is one of the best operators we’ve ever had. He used to work here—his brother too. Ryan. You have Hillcroft family.”

Wait, what? No, but—no. “Darius runs a seafood restaurant,” I argued.

Beckett smiled. “He didn’t always do that. He actually worked with my brother a few times. I’ve met him too.”

I sat up straighter, and I didn’t know what to think, what to say, how to react. Beckett had met with my dad’s brother? Holy shit.

He went on to explain how the revelation had unraveled downstairs earlier, with Beckett piecing things together with one of Shay’s partners, a Reese Tenley whoalsoknew Darius, apparently…

The more he talked, the more my stomach grew tight with unease. Operator Rose…? Also knew Darius. Coach? Knew him. And Darius’s brother Ryan. Everybody fucking knew the Quinns around here, except me.

Like the flip of a switch, my mind was pulled in two different directions. One part of me wanted to cry my eyes out in jealousy. They knew these men. They knew my dad’s family. They had memories of them—and I didn’t. Meanwhile, the other side of me was ready to run for the hills, ’cause this was too much, too fast,too close. They were too close. What if they found out about me? What if they got angry? What if they thought I was a lunatic stalker? What if they had me kicked out of Hillcroft’s recruit program? I’d havenothingleft.

I was building something here. I hadn’t appreciated it properly yet, or comprehended it, but now that I sensed the risk of losing everything, it terrified me. I’d gone out with Tanner and Riley. I’d suffered through nightclub music just to show I could be social. I’d exchanged fucking pleasantries in an attempt to make friends. Gabriella was now my study partner. I liked to spar with Miguel. We hit the gym together almost every morning. We battled it out on the mat, and then we worked out separately but close enough so that others didn’t approach to fucking chitchat. Luckily, there wasn’t much of that going on at Hillcroft, but Tanner needed a leash occasionally. Or to be told to heel.

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