“Boss…” Fuck, what the hell does Will Travers want?
I turn around and face him, he looks as though he has broken something, God, and he better not have broken anything belonging to Oscar. “Yes Will, what’s up?” That was civil, well civil for me.
“We have a problem, one of our clients is being hacked, and no matter how hard we try, we just can’t seem to stop them from getting at all the info.” Shit, that’s a cluster fuck if there ever was one.
“Who’s the client and who the hell is we?” I’m already on the way to the war room as we call it. It’s our newly installed operations room.
“Mr. Giles,” The sheepish way Will says his name speaks volumes.
“Get Oscar on the phone; he’ll walk you through it. We had better get this fixed before they get into his sensitive information. The man has fucking ideas that could change the way the Military work in foreign countries that have yet to be unveiled. If they are breached everything he has worked on will be for nothing.” He’s on his cell before I even finish talking, he didn’t need to be told what Mr. Giles sensitive information contains, everyone in the world knows that he’s the mastermind behind the radical new plans that are going to revolutionize the way the Military is run.
My cell starts to ring, and I take it out of my pocket, not bothering to look at the screen I answer it. “Hello?”
“You had better be on your way to Luke and Morgan’s house!” Sophia says, and she may as well have shouted at me through the phone with her tone, it would have been kinder to my ears had she shouted instead of screeched.
“Actually, no. We have a problem here…”
She cuts me off, “I don’t give a fuck if the buildings on fire. Ryder, please.” She begs, and that breaks my resolve, I just hope I don’t make Skye uncomfortable.
“Fine, I’m leaving now.” I end the call and turn to Will who has passed his cell off to Henry, “What did Oscar say?”
“He’s walking Henry through it as we speak, he said that it shouldn’t be that hard to kick them out of the servers and he’s also calling Mr. Giles.” I nod, Oscar will have this fixed in no time, he’s the one that set up Mr. Giles’ firewall, so he’s going to take this attack as an attack against him.
“Boss, we have it sorted, they’ve been kicked out of Mr. Giles’ server, and his firewall is being restored as we speak. Luckily, they only managed to get through two firewalls, so they didn’t get to anything sensitive.” Henry tells me with a stupid grin on his face.
“Good, if anything else happens, I’m on my cell.” I receive nods from Will and Henry.
“Yes boss,” Maisey replies, and I know that she wants to say something else by the way she’s rolling her ankle as she sits in her chair. It doesn’t take long for her to gather the courage to ask, “Umm boss, can I finish early too? It’s my anniversary, and since I’ve started working here, I’ve kind of neglected my husband.” Her face flames as she grins sheepishly.
I shake my head and smile as the boys start to tease her, she's well used to it by now and can hold her own against the lot of us, and I start to walk out of the war room as I answer her. “Yeah, go on and happy anniversary.” I look at the clock in the foyer and know that the gender reveal is about to happen in thirty minutes. I have a ten-minute journey to make in New York traffic; I just pray I’m not late; Sophia will slaughter me if I am.
“Okay, on the count of three you pop the balloons,” Winter says with so much enthusiasm that everyone smiles at her. The countdown begins “1, 2, 3!” everyone shouts, and the balloons pop and pink confetti flies everywhere. The squeals from Sophia and Winter have me wanting to leave. Luke, Scott, and Nathan all groan.
“You better get your guns stocked up,” I tell them and watch as some of their expressions fall, before laughter erupts, well that’s from everyone except Nathan.
“They’re not allowed out until they’re at least thirty,” Nathan grits out, and I think it’s finally hitting him that he’s about to become a father for the third time to two tiny little girls.
“Have you picked any names yet?” Sophia’s dad Steven asks, and the man looks like he’s hit the jackpot.
“Yes Dad, we have. Lydia Louise and Winter Skye.” Sophia tells him as my eyes slide to Skye who looks as though she’s trying her hardest not to cry. I know deep down that it means the world to her that Soph’s naming her daughter after her. All she’s ever wanted was to feel as though she belongs, and this validates that she is part of this big, dysfunctional family we have here.
Everyone walks up to the happy couple, and I’ll wait to congratulate them when we’re alone, I take out my cell and send a text to Henry just to make sure there were no more surprises, and everything is okay. His reply is ‘everything’s okay boss.’ Short and to the point, he’s very similar to me in that sense.
“Let me guess; you’re making sure that the guys haven’t blown the building up in your absence?” Oscar says walking toward me with a smile on his face.
“Like you haven’t checked in with them more than once?” I scoff at him. He’s a complete work junkie especially when it comes to his programming and shit. When he starts getting technical, that’s when I tune out.
“Once or twice, I’m going back to the office when I leave here. It’s annoying me that they managed to get that far into the firewall. I need to see if they left any trace of who they are.” He’s so angry and for two reasons; one, he’s here and not able to do anything and the second is because someone hacked his program.
“When do you think we can leave?” I’ve been here a hell of a lot longer than I planned on being. Seeing as I hadn’t planned on being here at all. “Do you think they’ll notice if we sneak out?”
“Yeah, I think they will. Sophia keeps staring at us; I think she knows we’re ready to bolt.” Oscar says as he keeps glancing toward Sophia who is staring directly at us. “I don’t care; I need to get back to Smithy’s.”
“That makes two of us.”
“That makes two of you what? Let me guess, you both want to leave?” Sophia says as she walks up to us.
“Yes, you can’t be surprised at that, at Ryder. You should be grateful that he’s even here. He’s usually an unsociable bastard.” Oscar says as though I’m not even here, but I don’t say anything as he’s right.
“I know, and I love that fact that you both look so uncomfortable right now.” The wicked grin she has only intensified how much she’s enjoying this, that and it shows how happy she is and for that alone, I’m glad I came here. “Ryder, I know that you didn’t want to be here, but it means so much that you did come. I have all my family under one roof as we found out what we are having.” Her smile is infectious, and I see that Oscar is staring at her with a sappy smile on his face.
I walk over to her and do something I haven’t done in a while, I bend down and kiss her forehead, “You deserve every bit of happiness there is in this world Soph.” I whisper so only she can hear me. “I’ve got to go but I’ll see you soon.” I don’t give her a chance to reply to either one of my statements as I walk toward Skye. As I approach her, she closes her eyes and when they re-open I notice that they’re empty. She’s acting as though I don’t matter, that I’m not important to her. She does it, so I can’t hurt her again. That’s my fault, I’ve done this to her.
I get closer and catch that yet again she pulls her cardigan across her stomach. It seems to be a protective move anytime I’m near her. “Hey, Ryder.” Her tone isn’t warm, yet it’s not unfriendly. At least it’s not full of hate as it was only a few weeks ago.
“Are you okay?” God, I’m such a moron, after everything, the first thing I say to her is, are you okay? What the hell is wrong with me?
“Yeah, I’m fine, did you want something?”
“I just wanted to check in and see how you’re settling back in?” She’s been home for two weeks and has yet to meet the new team members. “Also, wanted to know if you were up to meeting
the new team members?”
“Oh, I’ve heard about them.” She doesn’t sound too enthusiastic about it, and she doesn’t wait for me to ask her why. “They’re not family, they haven’t been through what we all went through. They don’t understand, and they never will.” Her cheeks are flushed as her true feelings about the new recruits and why she’s yet to meet them become clear.
Shit, I didn’t think she would take it this hard. I thought Sophia would because she is the hardest to get along with and the one who hates change the most. “We all have demons we have to face. It just happened that our team has the same demon.” I try and make her feel a bit better, although I’m not good at this shit; I tend to make things worse not better.
She looks me in the eyes as she tells me “That demon is dead.” No, he’s not, he may be dead in real life but in our nightmares that bastard is at full force. I know that he’s still alive for a lot of us, because of that asshole we lost two team members. “I’ll meet them tomorrow. I promise.” She makes a cross sign over her heart with her fingers while wearing a smile on her face. God, she’s so fucking beautiful it hurts.
“No more hiding from me Skye, please?” Great, I’m reduced to begging my goddamn wife to stop hiding from me, what the hell is happening to me?
“Sure Ryder, I can do that.” She replies sweetly, and I finally feel as though a weight is lifted off me. “As soon as you agree to either an annulment or a divorce. You’re choice.”
Shit, there is that weight again. Why can’t anything be fucking easy? Why on earth does everything come down to the fact we’re married? “I’m going to the office. I’ll see you soon Skye.” It’s a damn promise. I’ve had enough of her hiding and acting as though I’m the enemy.
I say goodbye to everyone, and I can feel Skye’s eyes on me the whole time. As much as she hates me, she loves me more, and that is why she acts as though I’m nothing more than an acquaintance to her and I fucking hate it.
I’m in the queue at Starbucks, and all I want is a black coffee, yet I have to stand behind this dumb blonde who’s on her cell complaining about some guy who she had sex with last night. He left without saying goodbye; it was the first time she met him. I don’t understand these people that have one-night stands or sleep with someone the first time they meet and then get upset that the other person either didn’t say goodbye or only wants a one-night stand. What did you expect? A fucking marriage proposal? Her next words have my mood swing to dangerously pissed off.
“He works close by here; he told me he works at somewhere called Smithy International. I’m going to go and see him; I’m not having him treat me like I’m some notch on his bedpost.” I can hear the squeal from whomever it is that she’s on the phone with.
I leave Starbucks without my damn coffee and whoever the fucking moron is that told that woman where they worked is so close to being fired right now. Unlucky for the asshole, the walk from Starbucks to Smithy’s wasn’t far enough to calm me the fuck down. As soon as I walk into the reception area of Smithy’s I can hear Skye’s laughter.
Hearing that has my mood slightly shifting, that is until I follow the sound to see everyone in the conference room and Skye and Will fucking Travers and the asshole couldn’t get any closer to her if he tried. I walk in and slam the door closed, thankful that everyone is here waiting for me. I look around the room and see that some are standing and right now the smile that Travers has on his face infuriates me even further. “Sit down!” I shout, and I look on as everyone’s faces turn to shock and they do as I ask.
“Now, which one of you morons slipped out early this morning after having sex with a blonde?” I ask, my tone is even gruffer than usual, and there’s no mistaking how pissed off I am. My question is directed mainly toward our new recruits; Henry, Will, Gareth and Patrick. Although I highly doubt it, it could be Sam or Oscar.
“Um, that would be me, boss.” I knew it was that asshole; Will doesn’t even look ashamed. In fact, the prick has a smug smile on his face.
“Want to tell me why you thought it was a good idea to tell her where you work?”
“What? I didn’t!” He bangs his hands down on the conference table in denial.
There’s a knock on the conference door, and Keely sticks her head around the door. “I’m really sorry to disturb your meeting, but there’s an extremely rude, fake blonde at the reception desk asking to see Henry Markham.” Keely looks at Henry with so much disdain that he actually shrinks into his seat. That along with her previous scathing and bitchy comments only adds fuel to my already bad mood. Keely has been a Godsend, and these fucking assholes are making her feel uncomfortable.
Henry gets up and dutifully follows Keely out of the room while not so inconspicuously checking out her ass as he does so. It doesn’t take long for him to come back into the room with a face like thunder. “Hey asshole, did you forget to mention that you told the woman you were with last night a fake name? My name?” He directs at Will.
“Oh shoot. I’m sorry man, I completely forgot about that.” The asshole says and gets up out of his seat as though it’s all a big joke.
As soon as he leaves the room, Henry smirks and follows him out, the look that Henry had makes us all follow them out of the room. As soon as we make it to the reception area, I see Keely sitting at her desk looking very smug as she watches Will get a dressing down from the blonde from Starbucks.
“You are an asshole. Firstly, you give me a fake name, a name of someone who seems really nice.” Henry puffs out his chest like he’s a fucking high school kid. “Secondly, you sneak out of the house not even saying a goodbye like I’m just a notch on your bedpost. I am way too good for you, you jackass.” She pushes past him and hands Henry a piece of paper, “Call me handsome.” She saunters out of the reception, and we’re all staring at Henry who has a shit eating grin on his face.
“No way she just gave him her number,” Skye says looking at Will, and it pisses me off even further.
Sophia snatches the piece of paper out of his hand and shows it to us; it does, in fact, have a number on it. “So, are you going to call her?”
“Yeah, but I’ll make sure she knows that it’s only a one-night thing. Unlike some people, I don’t need a stage five clinger, although they are crazy in bed as well as out of it.” Henry quickly dodges Sophia’s arm as she goes to take a swipe at him.
“Wow, how does that feel Will? Knowing your girl prefers Henry?” Skye teases Will, and I clench my fists, so I don’t land one of them in Will’s face.
“She’s not my girl, but you can be if you like?” The asshole winks at her.
I hear ‘Oh shit’ which I think comes from Soph and ‘Ryder don’t’ which is definitely from Oscar but the one that has me smiling is the ‘Yes please knock that motherfucker out’ which I can’t tell if it came from Keely or Maisey.
I grab Will by the scruff of his neck and push him against the wall. “Stay the hell away from my wife, or I’ll end you.” I throw him to the ground and stalk toward my office.
“You’re an asshole Ryder!” Skye shouts at my retreating back.
“He’s right though; you are his wife,” Sam tells her, and I can see that he’s trying not to laugh.
Will had better back the fuck off, he knows now that Skye is mine and unless he has a death wish he’ll stay well away.
Chapter Six
Skye
The excitement has kicked in, I got to see my little pumpkin, and he or she is growing so well and oh so perfectly. I’m not the only one excited, Morgan came with me as I knew she would and although both of us will deny it, we actually cried when we heard the heartbeat. So, for the last week, I have been on cloud nine, I’ve even been civil to Ryder which has come to a shock to everyone.
You know those annoying people who tell you that you won’t know what love is until you see your baby. I think that they may be right; I know that I’m only sixteen weeks but as soon as I saw my little pumpkin on that ultrasoun
d screen I fell so in love. Morgan has claimed Godmother duties, and I think that she is in the running. She is an awesome friend, and she hasn’t tried to force me into telling Ryder or made me feel guilty for not telling him. She’s trying to encourage me to get the nerve to tell him I’m pregnant and to set boundaries that he’s not allowed to swoop in and start to take over things by bossing me about.
I’m not sick anymore, and I’m a lot less tired, it’s almost as if I have an energy boost during the day and as soon as I’m in bed I’m instantly asleep. I’m so grateful as I finally feel like myself again. Like now, its six thirty in the evening, and I’m driving home from work, and all I want to do is get home and have a shower and just chill for the rest of the evening. That plan goes out of the window as I pull up outside of my house.
Standing outside in the pouring rain is my mom and dad, by the look of them; they’ve been standing here for quite some time. What the hell are they doing here? I haven’t seen them in such a long time; they’ve aged badly within that time especially my mom. When I was growing up my mom’s hair was always colored, always very well maintained as was her makeup. Her clothes were always in season and from some of the top designers around. Seeing her standing outside my house soaking wet with grey hair and wearing sweatpants hurts my heart. I don’t understand why they are here.
Before I even exit my car they’re, surrounding it, damn, can I not at least get into my house without them bombarding me? I grip the steering wheel hoping it will give me some strength to deal with them. I do the technique that Soph taught me to try and calm down as I can be a hot mess sometimes especially if I’m stressing the hell out. I inhale and count to three and on an exhale; I say the alphabet in my head. It helps bring my heart rate down and gave me a little bit of calm.
“Skye, oh my baby!” Dad says, and I’m swept into a giant hug.
Deadly Encounter Page 5
