Page 39 of Jump

“‘Harris Patterson has been tasked with the search for a killer, but the clock may be his most threatening adversary. If he’s not fast enough, the president may die, and with him, the secrets only he knows.’” Dropping his lips in a type of thinking pose, he turns the book over again to study the front cover. “Don’t you typically read the kissy books, Viv?”

“Mind your business.” She snatches the paperback away, careful not to tear the already worn cover. Placing a slip of paper into the inner crease to mark her place, she closes the book and shoves it into her purse before folding her arms and pointedly staring at the band. “Is there a fire, Lieutenant? Or are you both on break?”

I’m not blind to the fourth member of this little gathering. The guy on the end whose eyes light up, now that the book has been put away and his date is speaking again.

“Just doing our civic duty,” I answer. Then I peer to the dude and wait in silence, knowing either he’ll speak first, or Hannah will.

“Oh gosh, my bad!” Hannah it is. “Lieutenant Ruiz, Axel. This,” she points past Viv, “is Clint. He’s stationed at Fort Bragg right now, but he’s on leave for the weekend and came to visit his cousin—Jase.”

She flicks her wrist toward Axel. “This is Axel,” she tells Clint. “He’s mine. And that’s Matt.” Finally, she laughs. “He’s Viv’s roommate, cell keeper, behavior monitor, and overall pain in everyone’s ass.”

“Her roommate?” the stranger asks, stunned. Then he looks to Viv and doesn’t see—or doesn’t appreciate—the way her cheeks color. “You live with a dude?”

Her eyes grow fractionally narrower. “I do.”

“But—uh, do you…” He can’t compute. His brain can’t move beyond man and woman share a home: they fuck. Though, the irony isn’t lost on me that we have, in fact, fucked. Right at this lake, to be precise. “Do you, er, date?”

Viv’s face pales to a ghostly white, but Hannah chokes out a laugh and answers for her.

“No, they’re not doing that. She’s busy with work and shyness, and he keeps pretty occupied being unkind to everyone he meets.” She snorts, so her entire chest grows with the sound. “We could lock them in a room with nothing to do, and I still don’t think they’d bang.”

It takes everything in me not to grin. The problem with always thinking you’re smart, is sometimes, you can be really dumb.

But Viv doesn’t tell her any different, and I have no desire to out my roommate when she prefers privacy.

Instead, I nod toward the bag she keeps between her legs and lift a brow in question. “Good book?”

“Uh…” She takes a deep breath, startling me with her intent to answer, rather than telling me to ‘shove it up my ass’. “Yeah, I guess. It’s—”

“It’s a national security mystery,” the marine on the end rolls his eyes. “While troops are out there dealing with the real thing, authors are in their office, typing up this shit and pretending to be heroes. If someone wants to spend twenty bucks on a book that’ll eventually end up forgotten in the corner of a room, they could instead buy me a drink and let me tell them a real story. At least then, the actual heroes are making money, and the fake shit is weeded out.”

Viv’s eyes, wide with shock, study Clint like he has three heads. But when he only looks around, bobble-headed and awaiting his round of applause, she slowly brings her gaze back around to meet mine.

“It’s kept my interest,” she says stiffly. “I’d like to see how it ends.”

Bet you would.

“I’ve read that one,” I say instead. Careful not to give our audience too much information about the goings-on in our home. It’s all quite tame, really. But it’s ours. Private. “I like what happens.”

“You read the same books?” Hannah awwws. “That’s kinda sweet.” Then she looks to me and softens her expression, if only a little. “That’s probably why you like solitude, huh? To read in peace.”

“I’d rather do that alone,” I admit, with a soft smile that surprises the woman who rarely sees such an expression on my face. “Better that than have someone yammering in my ear and tossing things at me to get my attention.” I glance down at Jase, mollified when he has the decency to grit his teeth.

“Working in the field I do,” I look back to Hannah, “means lots of waiting. On twelve-hour shifts, and twenty-four-hour shifts, we could have hours between jobs—and there’s only so many times a man can clean and stack his equipment. So I keep a book close and while away my time between the pages when I can.”

I peer to Viv and shrug. “It makes me happy and keeps me out of my head.”

“That’s why I like reading too,” she murmurs. “It’s easier to deal with other people’s problems than my own.”

“Well, shit,” Hannah exclaims. “I’ve just heard you both talk more in the last two minutes than in an entire day.” She tilts her head back and smiles for Axel. “They’re good for each other. I told you this was a good idea.”

He scoffs. “You just wanted our house to ourselves. It’s a side benefit that they’re getting along.”

“Truck three.” My radio crackles to life at the same time Axel’s does. “Ambulance two. Motor vehicle accident on the corner of Third and West. Possible injuries. No reported fatalities.”

Viv’s eyes grow wider with every word dispatch speaks. Her mouth opens, then closes. Opens as she sits taller in her chair. Then closes as Axel shoves up tall and waves his hand to corral our crew.

“Be good girls,” I tell them both. “Don’t drink too much.” Then I turn on my heels and grab my radio as I stride away. “Truck three reporting. ETA, two minutes.”

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