by Maya James
"The Panther is a nice touch," he tells me through a soft smile as I lead him toward Justin's office.
"Wait until you see the one in his office. We call him Sylvester."
The girls are peering out of their offices trying to get a glimpse of him. I can just imagine the string of instant messages that are flying through the system right now. I know he can see it; he has the same observation skills as Justin. "Don't worry they've been declawed and fed and they can't get out of their cages."
Garrett laughs deeply and confidently throws them a smile and a wink. I think Lynda has an O.
Trisha never even looked out from her office, a clear sign of the changes I've noticed in her. She can make all the jokes she wants, the truth is she hasn’t recovered. With Sam, she really thought she was done with the single girl lifestyle, and the hurt is running so deep.
I wish I could fix it for her.
We head straight into Justin's office. He knew we were coming, the same way he always knows exactly what is going on. Garrett's eyes consume the space as I shut the door behind us.
As always, I swoon as soon as my eyes settle on Justin, his gorgeous face already watching us. He looks at me the same way, making me feel adored.
Justin smiles at us and swings from around his desk. It's the second time today that I am struck by his good looks and the way his navy colored Brioni suit fits him. I had watched him dressing this morning; the clothes sliding over his muscles and my desires were sparked. "John and Lena will be in here in a minute." He gives me a quick kiss that somehow makes it all the way to my toes.
We sit on the couch surrounding Sylvester. Justin users the remote to bring down his big screen as the black cat snarls at us.
"There's a lot to get you caught up on," Justin starts. "Are you familiar with Senator Scott Lewis at all?"
Garrett shrugs his shoulders. "Not really into politics. I know who he is from seeing him on TV. He replaced that one with the addiction problem.”
It feels odd when you know a truth that no one else is even aware of.
Justin grins. "That was Senator Wilkins. He was ours but he was such a mess. We moved him out and put Senator Lewis in his place."
"You put a Senator in office?" Garrett asks, astonished. Obviously he had no idea how large this is and how far up his brother goes.
"I didn't, at least not all by myself." Justin replies, trying for modesty. "The new senator has a bit of a gambling problem and that's good for us."
"And you're using that to control him," Garrett assumes.
"Yes. It's crude but effective." Justin waits to see if Garrett has any reaction.
He doesn't.
"We paid off all his debts and put him on an allowance that keeps him clean," I add.
"What does he do back for you?"
"Whatever we tell him to," Justin answers.
Garrett simply nods that he understands. He doesn't have an opinion about it and that's a good thing in this industry, a very good thing. Don’t waste time on things that don’t matter.
"The senator is not our client. We work for a group of people on this one, the kind of people that like to keep politicians in their pocket. Our loyalty is to them and in this business loyalty is everything, it's your reputation," Justin tells him. "If they say help him, we help him. If they say kill him, we kill him."
"Understood," Garrett says. "So what are we doing for him?"
"It's not for him, it's for the group. Just like we work for them, there are other groups out there. Sometimes that matters, sometimes it doesn't. This time it does. Someone, another group of people, wanted Senator Lewis out and their own candidate in. They started too late and they lost but that isn't stopping them," Justin explains.
Garrett is interested. "Isn't that kind of odd, that they didn't stop?" Justin nods. "Do we know who they are?"
"That's what we're finding out. We have seven so far, which is probably more than half. We need them all but there will be one in particular we have to figure out," Justin says.
Garrett's knows already, it's in his face. "Your position? You have to know who their security team is to know what's coming."
Justin nods slowly.
The office door swings open and John's round face enters the room. "Holy Christ!" he shouts. "You two are absolutely nuts. I've seen the video; I feel lucky to get to meet you because you should be dead." He shakes Garrett’s hand, "I'm John Fillmore and I'm glad to meet you instead of reading about you in an obituary."
Garrett is laughing as John turns to Justin. He throws his arms around him tightly without asking or hesitating. "You fucking asshole!" he growls. "Can't you find something safe to do?"
Justin laughs and hugs him back. "I'm fine, you big, soft jerk."
The whole thing has me smiling when Lena comes in and catches them. "John, are you crying again?"
We all take seats on the couches and get started. Justin uses the remote to turn on the screen. Several phone lists are already displayed because it's the first thing we need to discuss. The same number is highlighted on nearly all of the lists.
"I want to know who the hell this is and I want to know it now!" Justin demands without any hint of kindness. "This is either part of the security team we're looking for, or it’s a mole on our team working for them. Either way, this number leads us to what we want."
Garrett leans forward, deeply interested. "Whose lists are these?"
"On the right, that's Arthur Shea's call list. He's the head of the other group, huge money—fucking huge. We saw the phone number here first, but it wasn't until it matched up on that next list that we gave a damn," Lena informs him. She's sitting back against the cushions, but she looks far from relaxed.
"Whose is that?" Garrett asks next.
Justin says angrily, "Nobody important—and that's what makes it important. A personal issue we took care of, a man that hurt a friend of ours, but on the night we went to take care of him, that number tipped him off."
"So they already know who we are," Garrett concludes quickly.
"Yes," Lena answers. "The third list on screen is Miguel Warez—from last night. They tried to tip off our target again. Fucking thing came in right as you guys went through the door. They know exactly who we are and they know exactly what we're doing."
Justin is doing all he can to contain himself. The anger is boiling his blood into a thick soup.
"What are the other two lists?" John asks. "That last one doesn't even appear to have that number on it."
"The next one is Christopher Wilkins' personal cell phone," Lena says flatly.
John looks shocked. "WHAT?"
I fucking agree!
"Isn't that the senator you got rid of?" Garrett asks excitedly.
"It is," Lena replies. "I ran it just in case and the number came up twice, inbound about an hour before and again as an outbound call. Wilkins called the burner phone about one minute before the burner phone called Miguel Warez. If you look at Wilkins' call list, you can see he only got one other call in the last two hours before he called the burner phone and it was only minutes before he did it."
"Another thread in the call string," Justin adds, trying to deny his contempt.
My emotions are tied up with his, and he's full of stress. Tonight, he's going to need to let it out—we both are.
My warrior parts twinge at the prospect.
"This is the call list from the number that called Wilkins. The trail ends here," Lena tells us. "The burner called Wilkins, obviously to let him know what we were about to do. Wilkins called it into this last number, probably for help or instructions. I’m guessing they got Warez’s number and called Wilkins back with it. Wilkins then called the burner and ordered him to call Warez."
"Is this the one we're looking for?" Garrett growls. "Is this it?"
Lena shakes her head. "No, but it's another one for our list. That number is Bill Canon's. He owns a political magazine with the largest circulation in DC."
"At least that explains
how Wilkins is involved," Justin says with a hint of sarcasm. Lena agrees with her expression.
"Someone wanna fill us in?" I ask.
"He was friends with Wilkins," John answers. "If Canon's in the other group, he could have easily brought Wilkins in, promising him security—from us—as payment for what he knows."
"How much does Wilkins know?" Garrett asks.
"Enough to be a problem," Justin says. "He knew me, John Roberts and most of the guys from the group. They know who we are, there's no more wondering about that."
LATER WHEN WE LEAVE the office, Justin suggests that the three of us, Garrett included, stop at the Grill for dinner—which really means a damn strong drink to take the edge off his huge, bulging anger. Trisha is still at the office even though John had insisted she get out and I had invited her to come with us. The most I could get was a maybe she would meet us.
I missed this place; the way it smells, the soothing brick walls and dim lights. "Radioactive" from Imagine Dragons is floating playfully through the air behind the laughter and voices. Things have been a little crazy and with Trisha not working here there just didn't seem to be as much reason to come.
A table opens quickly and we grab it before anyone else in the thick crowd sees it. I watch JP transform into Justin, sliding his beautiful chest out of his jacket, removing his tie and sliding it into a pocket. I'm sure he's caught me looking at him like a starving lioness several times, but he is giving me nothing in return.
He's playing with me—and I don't mind being his toy.
There's no sign of the owner's niece, thank Christ! A cheery redhead bounces over and takes our order; just drinks at the moment, and fuck the wine, I ordered a double vodka and Red Bull and a shot of Fireball.
"Nice!" Garrett breathed. "I'll have the same.”
Everyone looks at Justin, who laughs at us. "Fuck you guys. I'll take Maker's Mark, neat please."
"That sounds like a hard day," the redhead jokes before bouncing off the same way she came.
"I remember this place," Garrett says. "I followed you and your friend here. The same one from PA."
"Yeah, I know—we saw you every time," I snap.
"We definitely have to work on your tracking skills," Justin teases. Garrett laughs at himself easily.
"Okay," Justin says loudly, "I'm calling it. No more shop talk tonight; it's time to relax." Garrett and I both appreciate that very much. Our drinks come and Justin makes a quiet toast to family that we all agree on happily.
I find myself lost in Justin's eyes again. When he talks, I watch his lips and long for them to be on me, to kiss them and taste the hint of bourbon I know is already soaking into them.
He says something that makes Garrett laugh and I'm so far gone thinking about his hot, magical hands that I don't even hear them. I pretend to laugh, but really I'm counting the minutes until the muscles of his thick, bare arms are pulling me into him.
I have to stop. Squeezing my thighs together is not working and I'm getting twinges all the way up into my stomach.
Justin checks his phone quickly. I see him type while he asks his brother about the training he did for his fighting. I didn't know it was me he was texting until my phone vibrated.
"I can’t get enough of ur beautiful face 2night. Wait until I have you alone!"
So it's not just me. I smile uncontrollably. My lust for him swirls just under the surface.
Garrett is deep into explaining how he got into MMA fighting when something steals his breath completely. I can't see what it is, he's looking behind me toward the front and it's hard to read him.
"You okay?" Justin asks. "You look like I did the first time I saw Charity." I laugh with Justin, but Garrett doesn't even hear us and it suddenly might not be a joke.
He's absolutely hypnotized. I don't think he even hears us. I turn around to find who he's looking at but there's so many people here tonight.
"I'm sorry," he finally says to us. "I don't know what that was." He's completely embarrassed, nervously trying to stop himself from taking another look. Whatever it was, it's way more serious then he's trying to let it be.
"I'm still trying to see who it was," I blurt out, making his face even redder.
"That's never happened to me before," Garrett admits. "I couldn't even breathe."
"It has to me," Justin tells him as he glances at me.
SWOON!
"Maybe you should go find her," Justin adds just as a familiar voice cuts through the noise.
"Hey, can I join you guys?" Trisha asks as she pushes her way through the bar.
Holy fuck!
Holy, holy fuck!
"Absolutely," Justin says, standing so she can get by him to the last empty seat at our table.
My eyes are on Garrett watching as he's freaking the fuck out. I see it and that's all I need to know for sure that it was Trisha that took his breath away. Its God damn wonderful and God damn tragic at the same time. There's things he needs to know and I’m not sure if I should be the one to tell him.
Justin picked up on it immediately of course, and he knows how careful we have to be. He lets Trisha slip by him, and as she fits herself into the empty chair, he motions for the waitress to come over.
"I'm sorry to barge in, I know I said no when you asked."
"You're not barging, babe," I insist. "I'm thrilled you changed your mind. I was stuck here with all this man around me." They both laugh, and I realize they haven't even met. "Garrett, this is Trisha Gianni, one of my very best friends that we did finally get working at the office."
That is code, one Garrett was taught quickly. She's from "the office," which means she doesn't know about the rest of Panther's work. It clicks—I see his eyes quickly move to me to make sure, and my face tells him he got it right.
"Trisha, meet Justin's brother, Garrett Sumpter."
She flips her beautiful, dark curls with a smile that would kill anyone. Hell, I think I just fell for her. Ha!
Garrett smiles nervously. It's the first time I've see him vulnerable and scared since we left his mother's house.
What the hell is it with these boys?
After a brief moment of awkwardness, he finally remembers to say hello and take her hand gently as the waitress comes over to get her drink order and then disappear.
"She's new," Trisha says.
I see her steal a furtive glance at Garrett when he's not paying attention. Yeah, she's noticed him. This is awesome!
And scary.
I think she didn't come with us at first because she was afraid to meet him, afraid she might be attracted to him, and now she is. We need to talk. And Justin needs to talk to Garrett. I grab my phone and send Justin a text.
"Taking her 2 the girls room for a chat. U know what 2 tell him when were gone?"
Her drink comes and she takes a huge sip. Fuck it! I do the same.
Justin types back. "If he makes a move, slow n steady. I'll tell him y."
I nod just enough for him to see, then I make the excuse and take her with me.
"Holy hotness, Batman! You could have warned me," she bellows as soon as we are in the bathroom. She did well holding it in until now. Her reaction makes me laugh and cry. I can see the fear in her expression, a mix of wanting something and being terrified to get it.
"You don't owe anyone anything—that's the first thing to remember," I tell her. "So what if you find each other attractive? It doesn't have to go anywhere or be anything. Do not freak yourself out over this!"
"You think he noticed me?" she asks.
If we hadn't already killed Sam, I'd kill him now for taking my friends confidence from her. Fuck him! Fuck him! Fuck him!
"Yes, he noticed you. Are you kidding, you took his breath away—literally. He was in the middle of talking and forgot what he was saying. I think he forgot what his name was. Look at you, you're gorgeous. Every guy in here just noticed you." It wasn't a lie. Her black Ralph Lauren skinny jeans and cashmere jersey are calling attention to every impor
tant curve of her body. "You look like a walking billboard for the perfect tits and ass club."
She laughs at me, which is exactly what I wanted. I see it clear her mind and bring her back to normal. I want her to have confidence, but I don't want it to come with any pressure.
"He's not going anywhere, trust me. You don't have to force yourself to make a move you're not ready for. If he's worth having, he'll always be worth having—even a few months from now after you've gotten to be friends first. Start there."
Trisha takes a deep breath and shakes out her hands. She looks better, less frazzled.
"Are you okay now?" I ask cheerfully.
Her real smile comes out.
"Good," I say. "Now let's go make you guys friends."
"IT WAS A LITTLE awkward there for a moment when they both realized they are living in the same building with us," Justin points out.
That makes me laugh. "Yeah, it was."
Justin takes my coat and lays it over the arm of our couch. I feel him step closer to me from behind and his hands land on my shoulders, rubbing the muscles with his strong fingers.
"They really reminded me about the first time I saw you," his deep voice rolls. "It was like being inside a clap of thunder. I felt it everywhere."
His hot mouth joins his hands and his tongue flicks a spot behind my ear that makes my knees wobble.
We haven't been alone lately. All the planning made a lot of late nights and now that it's over, that part of things, both of us are longing to return to each other.
This is our apology.
This is our celebration.
It's time for our reunion.
He pulls my hair aside and my earlobe disappears into his mouth, between his teeth.
"Justin?"
He lets my ear slide from his lips. "Yes, Warrior?"
"I love you."
"And I adore you," he whispers.
"I miss you badly," I begin, "but don't be gentle. I don't want gentle."
His fingers rub my cheeks softly. "I wasn't going to be, not for much longer, anyway."
I can feel him smiling behind me. "Walk," he demands. I know where he wants me to go but his hands stay on my shoulders the entire time.
