Page 38 of Collapsed

Thehousehasbeena little chaotic this morning. BJ and Lane have assigned us all tasks to help set up for the soft reopening of Reds tonight. Nat, Katia, Alexie, and King have yet to surface since getting home late from The Kandy Factory, all of them looking exhausted. So, I have been left doing most of the work. BJ sure can be a bossy little thing, and I’m not about to get on her bad side.

It's around 11:30 AM when Conrad and I hear footsteps on the stairs. Rounding the corner, we see our sweet but deadly girl looking as beautiful as ever, sleepy-eyed in one of my shirts and nothing else.When the hell did she steal that?

“Hey, gorgeous, have a good time yesterday?” Conrad asks, wiggling his eyebrows at her. She blushes a bit, but that confidence she always carries soon takes over.

“I did. I should probably win a medal for my performance last night.” Her smile after that comment stretches from ear to ear, making us all laugh.

I bite down on my bottom lip at the thought, instantly getting hard as a rock in my joggers. “I am sure you do, Little Fox. I will take a repeat showing, though, just to make sure.” She smacks my arm before Conrad interrupts our playful banter. “Coffee, babe?”

“Yes! I would do some seriously dirty things for some coffee right about now. Name your price.” She winks at him. Before Conrad leaves the room, he turns back to us to say, “Later, but don’t think I won’t hold you to that, Spitfire.”

A few moments later, Conrad walks back in with Nat’s coffee just the way she likes it, and my phone starts to ring. Looking down, I notice it is a number from our office, so I answer it. Listening to the voice of our receptionist on the other line, I nod and hum along for a few minutes before telling her I’ll video call her back shortly and disconnect.

“Go get everyone else down here now. That was Trisha, the office receptionist, we got an ominous package delivered there. She is going to open it via video call, but I want everyone to be here.”

Three minutes later, everyone is gathered in the dining room, minus BJ, who just left for Reds to set up. Conrad hooks my phone to the projector on the wall, and I video call Trisha back.

“Hello, sir. Hi, everyone!” She greets us politely.

“Trisha, can you reiterate what you told me when you called?” I ask her, noticing the irritated look I’m getting from Nat. “Please,” I say, looking at her with a raised brow, questioning if that was better, and she gives me a small smile and nods.

“Oh, sure, no problem. I was here at my desk returning some emails when I left to use the little girls’ room. Then when I returned, there was a small package on my desk addressed to the team. But there was no sign of anyone around. I thought it was odd since I usually have to sign for all packages. I called Agent Stryker to see what he wanted me to do with it, and here we are.” She smiles, giving us a shrug of her shoulders.

“Thank you, Trisha. Now can you open the little mystery package for us? Prop the phone up so we can clearly see what it is,” I ask. The box is small enough that I’m not worried about explosives, or I would have called the bomb squad in, but this package is no larger than a wedding ring box.

“Absolutely, give me just a moment,” she replies. We all watch as her phone shifts around, trying to give us the perfect angle. “Okay, here we go.”

We are on pins and needles as we watch her open the small box that was left for us. When she gets it open enough that we can see the contents, we can see a small matchbox with a familiar logo on the front. It is a matchbox with Reds’ new logo that BJ and Lane had designed. Under the spot where it was laying is a tiny note; written on it is,Return Moy Ogan. I’d hate to see all this work go up in flames… again.

“That mother fucker!” King roars as he slams his fists down onto the table. I shoot him a calm-the-fuck-down look. “Trisha, thank you. Can you please place those items in my office and make sure it is locked up afterward? That will be all for today. You can go home early if you'd like.”

“I would love that, sir, thank you. I will place this in your office right away and head home. Thank you again.” She is so excited, I don't think she even realizes the danger that area is in as she hangs up while walking towards my office.

“That fucker has another thing coming if he believes we are going to let him ruin BJ and Lane’s day and put more innocent people in danger. Everyone get ready, we need to get to Reds as soon as possible. BJ and Lane have been there all morning preparing for tonight’s event. We need to clear the building of… well, honestly, clear it of everything. We have no idea what this sick fuck has done now.”

Everyone leaves the room, heading out to get dressed and ready for a battle if that is what it comes down to today.

A little less than an hour later, we are pulling up in front of Reds. I’m feeling very thankful that everything looks to be normal, from the outside at least. We never called BJ or Lane, not wanting to interrupt their setup for tonight and cause alarm if there was no need.

Before we enter the building, I turn to the team. “Alright, here is the plan. Let's all go in together to make sure BJ and Lane are all good, then we can split up to clear the inside and outside of the building. Got it?” Everyone nods at me in agreement, and we pull the doors open.

We clear the main entrance and hall leading to the large bar at the back of the main floor. I holler for BJ from the back of the group while King pushes through the quilted-leather double-swinging doors. As we walk through the threshold, we begin to hear music and realize the leather doors were basically soundproofing to add to the new exclusive vibe of the bar. Then the entire team comes to a screeching halt, stumbling over each other.

Right there in front of us is a panting BJ, standing in the middle of three dead men on the floor. She snaps around, pointing her gun at us, ready to take another person down. When she registers, it’s us, she smiles. “Hey guys, nice to see you.”

I hear the gasps from the rest of the team, minus Conrad, who steps up next to me. I look at him with a small smile. When we make eye contact, we both double over laughing at everyone's reaction. Being the boss, I know everyone’s training, and Conrad knows as well from digging into everyone's past with the whole mole situation we just went through.

Alexie quickly recovers from the surprise as a devilish grin spreads across his face. Starting a slow clap, he walks over to BJ, even stepping on one of the dead bodies to get to her. He lifts BJ up and hugs her, spinning around a few times.

“Ahh… Rainbow Sparkles, you have surprised me ever so sweetly. I love a woman covered in blood surrounded by bodies.” She preens at Alexie’s praises.

She tosses her hand up while Alexie still has her suspended in the air and tells us nonchalantly. “What? Like it's hard or something?” She giggles a little at herself.

“Damn, girl, where have you been hiding these skills, and where is Lane? Is he okay?” Nat asks her.

We hear some rustling from behind the bar as Lane’s head slowly peeks out over the bar top. He rises to his feet. “Hey.” He waves in our direction, looking a little embarrassed that he was hiding while BJ took the lead in killing these men to protect them.

Alexie is still holding BJ up in the air when Lane makes his way out towards us. BJ is placed back on the ground just as Lane reaches her, giving her a hug and kiss to thank her. Then she decides to fill the rest of the team in on her background.

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