Page 12 of Dirty Ex-Mas
“I have boobs.” I grab at the two small lumps protruding from my chest.
“Little baby boobs,” she teases.
“Don’t you have a bathroom to clean?”
She skips off toward the back, leaving me alone behind the bar. Lunch times are always slow, even though we open at eleven-thirty and serve lunch seven days a week. I’ve thought about changing the hours to open at three or four in the afternoon, and just have burgers for happy hour and after. But then my employees would lose hours and I don’t want that for them.
Not everyone that works for me is also an assassin. Four out of my ten employees do the dirty work with me, the other six just work at the bar. And I work hard to keep the two businesses separate. The building has a room upstairs with a private entrance behind a moveable bookcase in my office. Very cloak and dagger type stuff.
We use the room to store weaponry and for when we meet and strategize. Otherwise, it’s completely off limits and no one else knows that it’s there. I pay my girls very well, but they all have a personal reason for being involved. It took us a while to find one another, and even longer to train to the point we are at now.
It’s difficult, what we do. You can’t really have a relationship, unless you want to be lying to your partner all the time. Unless you trust them enough to let them in. But, after Mack found out, we agreed that no one outside the group knows unless we all vote on it and it’s unanimous. So far, the only people who know outside the five of us are Quinn and Mack. And both are my fault.
Speak of the devil.
The jingle bells I hung over the front door sound off as it opens and in saunters Mack and his FBI partner Reed. I say saunter, but with Mack it’s really more of a swagger. Like he rolls his hips and shoulders when he walks. It’s sexy as fuck. I raise my chin at them in greeting.
Mack winks in return. “Hey beautiful,” he says as he pulls out a bar stool and situates his big delicious body on top of it. My panties flood and my heart aches. That’s all it takes with him: one little wink and the sound of his voice and I’m ready to launch myself over the bar into his arms and never leave. He’s dangerous and potent. But he’s a Fed and I’m an assassin. You do the math.
Regardless, he’s the love of my life. And we can never be together.
I clear my throat and send a soft smile Mack’s way. “What can I get you two?”
“I need a beer, Daria,” Reed says. Which surprises me. He’s not one to drink on the job, even if it is just a beer.
“Make it two,” Mack adds. Now Mack, he’s another story. He does what he wants when he wants, and it doesn’t matter what time of day it is. But that’s also the difference between someone who worked toward and applied to the Academy, like Reed. And someone recruited out of the military like Mack.
I’ve never been to the FBI Branch here, but I’m willing to bet Mack is the only one not in a suit and tie each day. I look at him now, dressed in jeans and snug black T-shirt that shows off his chest and arms. His hair a tad bit too long in the front, and the scruff on his face definitely not regulation. And he gets away with it because he’s really fucking good at what he does. It’s how he caught me. And also how he makes sure no one else does.
I pull two draft beers from the tap and set them in front of the guys. “Burgers?”
Both nod as they drink their beer. I leave them to go to the kitchen to put in their order. Reed is here enough I know how he likes his burger. And Mack would eat anything I put in front of him. But I still make sure it’s exactly the way he likes it.
I don’t have to go to the kitchen to put their order in, the point of sale system sends a ticket back there already. But something told me they needed a minute to themselves. Something's going on, and I need not be around to hear it. This way I can warn Quinn that Reed is here. She’s had a mad crush on the guy for as long as I can remember and if I let her walk out there after cleaning the restroom, without touching up her makeup or something, she’ll kill me.
I pass along the order to the afternoon cook, then slip inside the men’s restroom just as Quinn is finishing up. “Reed’s here.”
“Did you just say Reed is here?”
I nod.
Her mouth drops open. “ReedReed? My Reed? Reed Roberts?”
“The one and only.”
“Ohmigod, how do I look? Is my hair okay? Ugh, I’m all sweaty from cleaning. I can’t believe you made me clean the bathroom. Do I smell like toilet bowl cleaner?” She turns and looks at herself in the mirror. “Oh, I look good in this tank top.” She smiles and turns back to me. “Okay, I’m going to go out there and pretend like I don’t know he’s here. Then I’m going to act surprised. Then, I’ll ignore him. Got it?”
“Got it.”
We both leave the restroom, but I let her head out to the bar before me. I shut my eyes and lean against the wall, banging the back of my head against it a couple times. It’s frustrating when Mack comes in. But if he didn’t come in, I’d never see him. And if I never saw him, I would miss him even more. Still, I don’t know which is worse.
When I do see him, he runs so hot and cold with me. Based on how he greeted me it seems like today will be nice. We will act civil toward one another, maybe even complimentary, with a little flirting, and I’ll escape from the encounter only slightly scathed.
The days where it’s clear he hates the very sight of me are the hardest. When his gaze is cold, his mannerisms are detached, and every word out of his mouth is for the sole purpose of causing me pain. Those are the days I must physically stop myself from running back to him and begging for forgiveness. I see the pain on his face, and I want to make it go away. Slay all the demons inside him and erase every speck of betrayal in his eyes. Instead, I shut down, turning off every single emotion inside me until he leaves. Only then do I allow myself to disappear into my office, lock the door, and cry until I have nothing left.
I hit my head against the wall one last time to knock some sense into myself before I go back out there to face Mack again.
“Careful with the goods, don’t break that beautiful head.”
