Page 99 of Twice the Rivalry

Their little show out in the common room was one he hadn’t seen coming, but he was happy it did. Knowing Glitch was going to give him a real chance settled something inside him. But at the same time, his fear at what might happen refused to subside. He only just found her. He couldn’t lose her.

“Do not underestimate them,” Glitch suddenly said, looking over at him with eyes bright and fierce. “They are not like me or even my team. They will not fight fair. If they see a chance to put a bullet in your skull, they will. If they see a way to slit your throat, they’ll take it. And you might not see them coming. So do not take any stupid risks, got it, caveman? Or I’ll have to come save your ass and I really don’t feel up to having our first fight so soon.”

Code arched a brow. “I feel like I should be repeating that little speech to you,” he said drily. “Because I’m going to be pissed if you do something stupid, and I’ll be adding to the list of what you need to answer for as soon as this is over. I’d hate to have to wait any longer because you got yourself hurt.” He stepped forward and gripped her chin, staring into her eyes. “Be careful, kitten.”

“Well since I’m supposed to be stuck in here, I think we’ll be fine on that score,” she said, voice tinged with annoyance.

“We both know as soon as you see some kind of danger you’ll be trying to fly out that door,” he countered, letting go of her chin. She didn’t deny it. Instead of fighting, he gripped her by the hair, yanked her head back and gave her a hard, desperate kiss. She submitted enough for him to invade her mouth with his tongue, claiming her, before he yanked his head back and rasped, “I love you, kitten.”

Her eyes gave a quick flash of amusement. “I love you too, caveman, but don’t be going sappy on me now.” Then she gave him another quick kiss and stepped back once he let go of her hair.

They sat down in their respective spots as the door opened and Savage walked in with Rogue right behind him. Both men were grim, but wore fierce expressions. “All set?” Savage asked.

“Everyone is hooked into the comms system,” Code answered. “Glitch has made it an open system for us. If one of us is in trouble, we all hear it.”

“Good,” Savage said with a brisk nod. He gave Glitch a narrowed-eyed look. “Do I need to remind you that you need to stay in here? Not go off half cocked?”

“Well, now, see, if I want to do something with a cock, I want it to be a full cock,” Glitch replied with a slow, wicked grin. “There are very few things I do halfway, Mr. President.”

Code snickered, even as Savage glared at her. Then Savage looked at him and said, “Seriously? This is what you want me to put up with? I’m going to end up throwing her in the Box for my own sanity.”

“I’m starting to think you’re all sex obsessed,” Glitch said before he could answer. “Cocked. Box. Seriously, the amount of kinky shit you guys are up to. Have you considered hiring a therapist? I mean, I know no one’s complaining, but I’ll happily find someone if anyone wants to figure that out.”

“Jesus Christ,” Savage sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. Glitch winked at Code, and he grinned at her. She was definitely going to keep him on his toes. “Just don’t get yourself killed,” Savage snapped at her. “When this is over I’m going to call a meeting with all the single brothers to tell them that when they pick a woman, I need to meet her and approve first. We have enough smartasses around here to last a lifetime.”

“Is now a bad time to point out it’s only going to get worse as the girls get older?” Glitch asked innocently. “I mean, with all these strong minded women around, I think you should probably accept the inevitable. Adding some quieter women to the bunch won’t change much.”

Savage looked at Rogue. “Your idea about the convent is sounding better and better,” he grumbled. Rogue didn’t reply, but the look on his face was enough to say he agreed with the sentiment. “Alright, let’s wrap this up.” Then he and Rogue stalked out.

Glitch turned and grinned at Code. “I think he’s starting to come around,” she suggested.

Code chuckled. “Kitten, all I see is me putting out fires every time you open your mouth around him.”

She shrugged. “Means this place is going to be pretty damn lively,” she replied flippantly, before turning back to her screen. “Now stop distracting me. We need to focus.”

Code resisted rolling his eyes, but barely. Instead, he focused on ensuring everyone could hear them once they turned on their comms, and checking people’s positions. The other fun thing about the comms was they had a tracking chip in them, so he and Glitch could see exactly where everyone was on the grounds, and he already noticed one person wasn’t where they were supposed to be. He turned off his mic and said to Glitch, “Seems Karissa isn’t waiting around. She’s moved from the basement to the top of the steps in the common room. Razor’s with her.”

“Did you really expect anything else?” Glitch asked sarcastically. “But Tom is down there now, so they’re not unprotected.”

He had to agree.

Suddenly, a loud boom filled the air and the entire compound shook with it. Code and Glitch were both moving before the sound cleared. “Looks like they’re not waiting that last half hour,” Glitch said grimly as they hit the door.

“What are the chances of you staying here?” he asked her, drawing his gun and carefully opening the door. That explosion was far too close for comfort, which meant there was a damn good chance those bastards were already in the compound.

“What do you think?” Glitch snapped, pulling out her own gun and looking at him with a calmer expression than he would have expected. Then again, she was far better trained, and this was exactly the kind of thing that she would be damn good at. He bit back the urge to order her to stay. The rational part of his brain knew it was stupid to argue with her, but still, the rest of him wanted to scoop her up and take her down to the basement so she was safe.

“They blew up one of the old warehouses on the property,” Ice’s calm voice said through the comms. “No sign of movement from any of my direct angles.”

“They won’t come in directly,” Karissa said evenly through the comms. When they reached the common room, he saw she was near the front windows, looking out, her gun firmly in hand. “These bastards are hoping for you all to rush out there to see what happened so they can pick you off. Stay the hell away and keep your eyes open.”

“They may have more explosives planted in the other buildings,” Glitch added grimly.

“How the fuck did they get in?” Savage snarled angrily from against the wall near the front window opposite Karissa and Razor, who was right behind his woman, looking pissed off and grim.

“They’re called the Ghost team for a reason,” Glitch told him tightly. “More than likely they slipped past the sensors, or deactivated them without triggering an alert. Are there any other big buildings on the property where they could easily hide?”

“We have some outbuildings scattered around, but none are visible from here,” Fury answered. Code didn’t see him, so he assumed he was out there somewhere trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

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