Page 16 of While You Were Spying
Jayden’s eyes darken, and his eyebrows scrunch into a single line. “What do you mean you can shoot a gun?”
“Adam has been working with me for the past year.” That’s not the only thing Adam—who is a certified shooting instructor—and I have been training together for, but I figure one surprise a day is all Jayden can handle right now.
The poor man is injured, after all.
Jayden gives a semi-defeated huff. “Well, it’s still not the same,” he mutters.
“Why are you so against me being an operative?” I have my suspicions, but I want him to say it out loud.
He squeezes his lips together, as if afraid to put a voice to his fear and make it come true.
Two years ago, when we first became close friends, I’d come home from a rather god-awful date to find Jayden and Mojo sitting on my porch steps, waiting for me.
“Hey, what are you two doing here?” I asked, walking up the path. I was positive I’d mentioned to him that I had a date tonight.
Even in the dim light coming from my porch, I could make out Jayden’s fingers tightening around Mojo’s leash. “I just wanted to make sure you got home all right.”
He hadn’t been thrilled about me meeting Damon for drinks. He kept telling me the man was a self-absorbed bore who was only interested in one thing.
How right Jayden had been about that.
The self-absorbed bore part, that is.
I mean, sure, Damon had only been interested in one thing, but it wasn’t what Jayden was thinking. It certainly wasn’t what I’d been expecting, which was a little activity between the sheets.
Although in retrospect, something tells me the self-absorbed bore wouldn’t have been a very attentive lover…unless we were talking about him loving himself.
The only reason he’d wanted to date me was because he’d discovered who my grandmother was and wanted a juicy story to splash on a tabloid.
When he didn’t get it, he proceeded to write one anyway, spinning lies about my grandmother and her deceased husband—my grandfather—that you’d have to be an idiot to believe.
That night, after I came home from the date, I didn’t want to tell Jayden what happened. So he kept poking me in the ribs, making me laugh because I was ticklish, and he only promised to stop once I filled him in about my date.
And thus, the tradition was born in which we poked the other person in the side whenever he or she tried to avoid opening up about what was really bothering them.
It’s our signal that we aren’t going to accept any bullshit, that we’re there for the other person no matter what.
I poke Jayden in the side and repeat my question. “Why are you so against me being an operative?”
Mojo looks up at him and whimpers as if to further encourage Jayden to tell me the truth.
I pat the lovable dog on the head. “See, he agrees that you should just tell me why you can’t stomach the idea of me being an operative.”
Jayden lets out an insufferable sigh. “You can’t just let it go, can you? You can’t just believe me when I say you don’t have what it takes for the job?”
I jab him in the ribs again—slightly harder this time, making sure he understands I mean business.
Another sigh. “Because I already lost someone who mattered to me while serving in the SEALs. I don’t want to risk losing you, too.”
I reach up and kiss his cheek. “I know you don’t, Jayden. And you know I hate that you lost your best friend.”
He searches my eyes as if looking for something. Unmistakable hope shines in his. “Does that mean you’re going to give up your plans of being an operative?” The emotion in his tone mirrors that of his eyes.
I shake my head. “Nope. No can do, mister. No more than you would give up being one if I asked you to.”
He bobs his head side-to-side, in a you-have-a-point gesture.
“I’ll ask my grandmother more questions about Bernard—then we’ll have a better idea who he is. It won’t tell us what went missing, but at least we’ll learn more about him than Connor could tell me.”
