Page 93 of Twice the Rivalry

“Sam’s fine, but he’s still young and needs some more work,” Ink answered. “But he should be alright. I don’t know much about the newest one.”

“I say we make Tom our head Prospect for this,” Fury suggested. “He won’t go running at the first sign of trouble.”

“Have Sam and the other one rotate gate and perimeter duty,” Ink agreed. “Between the two of them, they can at least make sure no one is on the grounds that shouldn’t be.”

“We need more fucking Prospects,” Ice grumbled. “Three ain’t nothing.”

“Agreed, but that’s not a problem we can solve right now,” Razor said soberly. “Right now, the only thing I care about is making sure the women are safe. Yes, yes, we know you can protect yourselves, but that doesn’t stop me being concerned,” he added before Karissa or Glitch could blast him.

Code glanced at Glitch and saw she was slightly mollified, but annoyance still simmered in her expression. “What can you and I do to make things safer?” he asked her.

She looked at him in surprise, and everyone else went quiet. “If we had more time, I would suggest getting that equipment here as soon as possible,” she answered after a moment. Their hands were still clasped together under the table, and she focused only on him as she pursed her lips in thought. “But since we don’t, there are a few things we can do to beef up your security. And everyone should wear comms so we all know what’s happening. Phones aren’t reliable.” She regarded him for a moment and added, “That means you and I might need to take shifts, so at least one tech person is available at all times.”

He agreed. “We’ll figure it out.” He looked at Rogue, who nodded.

“Alright, we have a plan. We’ll put people on rotation, and we’re going into lockdown. No one in or out alone, and all businesses are shut down until further notice. We’re not taking any chances,” Rogue said darkly, his voice tight. “Anyone does anything stupid, you’ll be put in the Box,” he added, his eyes lingering on Karissa and then Glitch, both of whom glared back but didn’t argue.

“What are the rotations?” Fury asked. “Let’s get them figured out now and get this in motion.”

Over the next half hour, a schedule was created, but he was getting antsy. He wanted to work on the system with Glitch, to make sure they were ready. And he wanted her alone. He needed to talk to her, and all of this was delaying the conversation.

By the time they left Church, everyone had their assignments. Much to Karissa’s annoyance, she wasn’t on the perimeter guard rotation, and she wasn’t hiding her displeasure. Instead, they put her in charge of protecting the women, and made her their ace in the hole if these bastards got past the rest of them. She was only slightly pacified by that.

He didn’t waste any time in leading Glitch to the office, shutting the door behind them. He was still holding her hand, and it made it easy for him to spin her around and press her against the door, lifting her up. She let out a small gasp of surprise, but she didn’t fight him. She met him head-on as his mouth took hers, and he poured everything he felt into his kiss.

Desire. Desperation. Anger. All of it.

When he finally forced himself to pull away, he looked down at her, and her eyes were glazed with desire and something else he was too nervous to name. Fuck, he had it bad, he thought as he continued to stare at her. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he rasped finally.

Apparently those were the wrong words to say, because she instantly snapped out of her daze and wrenched away from him, shoving him back. “I don’t need you to protect me, Code,” she snapped angrily, skirting around him to her part of the desk. “I’m perfectly capable of protecting myself. Why can’t you guys understand that? I know you have dicks, and apparently you think those dicks are all you need to shield me, but I don’t give a flying fuck. Your cock isn’t going to stop a bullet. It isn’t going to stop them from grabbing me or slitting my throat. And it certainly isn’t going to stop a bomb. So you can take your macho bullshit and get the hell out of my face because I don’t want to hear it.”

His own irritation started to build, even as he tried to push it back down. “Never said my cock was going to stop anything,” he said in what he hoped was a calm voice. “And while you might be Wonder Woman, you’re not invincible, and you’re not immortal. If they’re coming for you, they are trying to kill you, you said that yourself. So how about instead of being all pissy about someone offering to help you, you just say thank you instead of clinging to thisI don’t need a manshtick?”

“Because I am sick and tired of everyone thinking I can’t handle myself!” she yelled at him. “All you and every man in this MC sees is a tiny little computer nerd. Not someone that can take care of herself. I’ve had to do it before, and I’ll have to do it again. I get why Karissa was so fucking pissed with you guys about the whole Sena thing. You think that at the first sign of trouble I’m going to lay down and cry and beg you to save me. Well, if you’re waiting for that, you better get your parka because hell will freeze over. I don’t need you to do anything, Code. I don’tneedyou at all. I have specialized, tactical combat training, and I have a brain. That means these assholes won’t get the drop on me very easily.”

Perhaps it was the stress of the day, or the insult of her words, but he was done, and his temper flared to life. “Fucking hell, I can’t believe you,” he snapped. “You don’t give a shit that someone is coming after you, or you have someone in your corner. The only thing you’re focusing on is you’re a badass. Screw anyone else. Screw me offering to help you. I’m trying to get you to understand that I don’t want you dead, Glitch. Is that so hard to believe?”

She stared at him, then scowled. “Of course it is,” she snapped back, her voice rising. “We can barely stand each other on the best of days, Code.”

“That might have been true before, but not anymore.” He took a step forward.

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t think that just because we’ve slept together, that changes anything, Code. You and I, we’re like fire and water. This whole thing is going to fizzle out as soon as I’m back with my team.” The mention of her leaving both pissed him off and made him anxious. Goddamn, he hated feeling this way. “Once they get here, we’ll handle these assholes, and you and I can go back to the way things were.”

“So that’s it?” he gritted out. “Your team gets back and everything is done?”

She stared at him. “What the hell did you think was going to happen? That I would stay? Why on earth would I stay here? In a club where I would be regulated to one of the women? Not a member of the MC. Where I would be treated like a nuisance because I voice my opinion. Because there is no way in hell they would allow me to be anything here. They’d probably regulate me to your assistant because no woman would be allowed to be a boss around here. Tell me, Code, why the actual fuck would I stay here, whenmyteam treats me with respect. Like a valued team member. Who care for me. Who are myfamily.”

“You’re saying that we don’t? That I don’t?” he demanded furiously.

“Did you not heard a single fucking word that just came out of my mouth? That’sexactlywhat I’m saying, Code,” she hissed at him. “Us sleeping together doesn’t change anything. When the Ghost team gets here, I will be perfectly fine. I will take care of myself. You need to get that through your thick skull.”

“Us sleeping together changes everything,” he yelled back at her, pissed she dismissed everything like it was nothing, while at the same time trying to suppress his panic that she was slipping through his fingers.

“Have you lost your goddamn mind? We agreed to no strings for a reason,” she yelled back, hands on her hips as she stared at him. “Don’t change the subject. This whole conversation is about how you don’t need to protect me. I’m not going to argue about it anymore. You need to accept that or get the hell out so I can handle it myself.”

It was the wrong thing to say. A switch flipped in his brain, and he was done. Done with it all, and he wasn’t about to let her push him away anymore. He stalked forward, picked her up, and sat her down on the desk in a movement so swift that she didn’t have any time to react. Then he planted his hands on either side of her, trapping her in. “You’re right,” he said in a low, and relatively calm voice. “We’re done arguing. Because you’re going to sit here, shut up, and listen, or I will gag you, tie you to that chair, and make you. Do you understand me,Eliza?”

“Try it,Milo,” she dared him, already reaching for her knife at the small of her back.

---