Nightingale: A Reed Security Romance

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  Alec grabbed my hand to keep me from snapping at the lawyer. “Alright, so what do we do? I mean, we’re engaged. Should we go get married now?”

  “That may or may not help. In the court’s eyes, rushing into a wedding could be seen in a bad light.”

  “But Ryan married Cassandra,” I pointed out. “Friends of Sebastian’s. They got married right when her ex decided to fight for custody.”

  “But the child in question was her biological child, am I correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ms. Younge, you have to stop thinking of this as a typical custody case. While you do have legal custody at the moment, he is not your biological child, which means a judge can come in and decide he belongs with family if he deems it necessary. This is nothing like when we were first requesting custody. Back then, there were no family members stepping forward. Reid had been staying with you and he liked you. But you haven’t even told Reid about this. How do you know that he won’t want to go stay with them?”

  I was beginning to really hate this lawyer. I felt like he was attacking us, making it sound like we were unfit parents or something. “Why wouldn’t he want to stay with us?”

  “That’s something you’d have to talk to Reid about. Look, I understand that you’ve given Reid everything he could ever want, but having family around that wants him, that could be a game changer for him. I suggest you sit down with Reid and have an honest discussion about what he wants. Don’t try and influence him in any way. You have to put your feelings aside and really listen to what he wants.”

  “Okay, aside from talking to Reid, what do we need to be prepared for going forward?”

  “A social worker will come out again and look into how Reid is living. Be prepared for that. It’ll probably be more intensive than last time. On top of that, a social worker will do the same with the Fullers. If a judge deems it appropriate for Reid to stay with the Fullers, there will most likely be a trial period where Reid will stay with them for a weekend twice a month or something similar. Again, the judge will place Reid where he feels he best fits and has everything he needs, so you need to prepare that that will most likely happen.”

  “When will we know for sure?” I asked, feeling completely shell shocked.

  “It could take months. Honestly, it depends on the judge and the social worker’s recommendations. This is not a fast process, but I’ll be honest, it’ll feel like it’s coming at you full force.”

  Alec squeezed my hand, forcing me to look at him. “Hey, we just take this one day at a time.”

  One day at a time. That seemed like such a stupid thing to say. Every day that brought us closer to a decision would feel like one day closer to the day I would lose him, and I wasn’t sure I could handle that.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Alec

  Florrie, Craig, and I were in the conference room with Cap, waiting on the other teams to show up. We were meeting with Derek’s team and Storm’s team to decide how we would split up our team and move forward. Of course, the other teams had no idea that’s why we were meeting.

  “It’s not too late,” Craig huffed. “You can still back out.”

  “Yeah, because Alec is known for backing down when he’s already made a decision,” Florrie snorted.

  “Cap, you can’t be serious about letting this happen. How could you let him break up another team like this?”

  “Because I have to do what’s best for the company, and if Alec is saying that his team is suffering, I have to listen to that.”

  “This is bullshit,” Craig pouted. “I went through counseling for you two,” he said, jabbing his finger in our direction. “The least you could do is stick it out and find a way to make it work.”

  “Alright, everyone just calm down,” Cap said placatingly, rolling his eyes in irritation. “Christ, it’s like wrangling two year olds sometimes. I really need to retire.”

  “Yeah, I could see that working out well for you. How old are the triplets now?” I asked.

  Cap glared at me. “I’m not saying that I would stay home all the time.”

  “Right,” Florrie laughed. “Because if you walked away from here, Maggie would just stay home and take care of the kids while you moved on to something else.”

  “No kidding. She would stick you with the kids while she went and chased down stories,” Craig chimed in. “Seriously, we’re the better option, Cap.”

  “Why does that not make me feel better?” he grumbled just as the door opened.

  “Yo,” Hunter said, walking in and slapping me on the shoulder. Derek and Rocco followed and sat around the table. “Team meeting? Are we all going out on a job?”

  “Something like that,” Cap answered. “We’re just waiting on Storm’s team.”

  “Question, when did it become Storm’s team?” Derek asked.

  “When Coop lost his shit and decided he didn’t give a shit about leading the team anymore.”

  “I think Tacoman could have been a good team leader,” Rocco nodded. “The kid has the chops for it.”

  “The kid is thirty-fucking-two,” Tacos said from the doorway. “Why does everyone look at me like the newbie?”

  “Because you’re the youngest here,” Cap reminded him.

  “Am I not good enough?” Storm asked, placing his hands over his chest like he was hurt. “You wound me.”

  “I think we all know that our team would have fallen apart if Storm hadn’t stormed in,” Tacos chuckled to himself, “and taken over.”

  “Wow,” I said blandly. “How long did it take you to come up with that gem?”

  “You’re an asshole,” Tacos growled at me before flopping down in his seat.

  “So, what’s this about?” Storm asked as he took a seat across the table.

  Cap looked around the room at everyone, his face serious as he studied everyone. I felt like shit for breaking up another team. That wasn’t my intention, but I knew it needed to happen.

  “Alec has decided to leave his team.”

  “What?” Derek demanded. “Why the fuck would you do that?”

  “Yeah, and what does that have to do with us?” Hunter asked, his gaze narrowing in on Florrie and I.

  Cap looked to me to explain. I cleared my throat, looking one last time at Florrie. “On our last job, Florrie and I had a bit of a disagreement. It caused some problems on the job. Not enough that the job was affected, but it made me realize that we can’t keep going the way we are now. As the team leader, I made the decision to leave for the good of the team.”

  Everyone looked around at each other, obviously wondering what was coming next.

  “Obviously,” Cap stated, “we would like to keep Alec on one of the active teams. Now, we have two options here. Alec could take on a different role in the company and we can hire in someone to replace him on the team. What that role is has yet to be determined.”

  “What’s the second option?” Storm asked warily.

  “The second option is that someone would switch teams. I brought in the two teams that I thought would be most likely to switch.”

  “Whoa,” Derek said, holding up his hands. “Cap, I know that our team is a little newer than some of the others, but we have a rhythm. We all work well together. Why would you think breaking us up is a good idea?”

  “Because you have two medics on your team. At the time, when we hired Rocco, your team was the only team that had an opening, so his medical experience took a backseat to what the team needed. But having him on another team, having another medic with another team would be a huge benefit.”

  “So, it’s me you want to move,” Rocco surmised.

  “I’m not saying you have to. It’s one option. The other choice would be moving someone from Storm’s team. You guys have barely done any jobs together. Moving you around at this stage would still be easy enough to navigate.”

  “Yeah, but which one of us would make that move?” Coop questioned.

  “Look, I think any of you would be
a good fit. And you’ve all trained together long enough that I think it would be an easy transition,” Cap said.

  It was silent around the room as everyone thought about what I was asking. I could feel Craig and Florrie glaring at me, unhappy with the decision I had made, but I knew it was for the best.

  “I’ll do it,” Rocco spoke up.

  “Thanks, man,” Derek ground out. “I’m really feeling the love.”

  “Yeah, we went on the run with you,” Hunter piped up.

  “You took pictures of me on the toilet,” Rocco shot back. “And you left me in a jail cell overnight.”

  “And look at how that turned out,” Derek snapped. “We practically made it possible for you and Brooke to find a connection.”

  “Yeah, that had nothing to do with me,” he retorted.

  “Still, we have something special. Our team is rock solid. Why would you want to split us up?” Derek asked.

  Hunter snorted, shaking his head. “Yeah, we’ve already been through this once. It’s not fun.”

  “Look, it’s not that I don’t like working with you guys,” Rocco said. “I like our team and you’re right, we do work well together. But Cap has a point. My skills as a medic would be advantageous to another team. I was a medic for years, and now those skills are on the back burner.”

  “Not if I decide to shoot Hunter. He’s a real pain in the ass sometimes.”

  “Aside from that,” Rocco said, narrowing his eyes at Derek. “It just makes sense that I make the transition. Besides, Craig and Florrie are closer in age to me.”

  “By like five years,” Derek said incredulously.

  “And that means our team will stay together longer. Face it,” Rocco grinned. “You’re old men and your time is almost up.”

  Derek shoved back from his chair and Hunter snagged him around the arms to hold him back. “Say that again,” he seethed.

  “What?” Rocco laughed. “That you’re an old man? It’s true.”

  “Fuck you, asshole.”

  “Aww, I’ll miss you too.”

  “Whatever,” Derek grumbled, straightening his shirt and dusting himself off, like he had just been in a fight. “You want to go play with the babies, have at it. We’ll take Alec. He’s a mean motherfucker and a perfect asset for our team.”

  I smirked, laughing at their banter. I knew they weren’t really pissed at each other, but this was what people did around here to get their frustrations out.

  “And I’ll get to work with Florrie every day.” Rocco shot me a grin, taunting me, even though I knew he was in love with Brooke. But when his eyes slid to Florrie and he checked her out, I fucking lost my shit. I stood suddenly, shoving my chair back as I leapt across the table and grabbed him by the shirt, throwing one, then two punches directly at his face. “Say that again, motherfucker.”

  Rocco let loose a bloody grin toward Derek and Hunter. “Still think I should stay with you?”

  Derek sighed, waving him off. “Fine, you made your point.”

  “And what was that exactly?” I questioned, still ready to kick Rocco’s ass if he even thought of looking at Florrie again.

  “Would you mind taking your hands off me? You’re wrinkling my shirt.”

  I shoved him back, chuckling to myself when I saw the blood splatter on the collar of his shirt. Wrinkles were the least of his problems.

  “I think we can all see that the change is necessary after loverboy just attacked me for saying that I would get to work with Florrie,” Rocco continued. “I have to agree with Alec, this change has to happen, and the sooner the better.”

  “That was a test?” I asked incredulously.

  “Well, I wasn’t about to switch teams just because you said you needed to,” Rocco scoffed. “I happen to like my team, but it’s pretty clear that you don’t have control over your shit when it comes to Florrie.”

  “It’s not a surprise though,” Hunter sighed. “We all knew that he was a possessive asshole. I guess we should have seen this coming.”

  “Well, I guess that solves our problem. Both teams will take two weeks off to train. If Knight says you’re ready before then, you can go out in the field early. That’s it for today,” Cap said, standing and walking out of the room.

  “Well, fuck,” Craig sighed. “I guess the good news is that I won’t have to go to any more sessions with Dr. Sunshine.”

  “So, now that I’m a part of the team, does this mean that I finally get to know what happened with the three of you after your visit with Dr. Sunshine?” Rocco asked.

  “No!” we all shouted at the same time.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Reid

  I could hear them talking in the other room. I heard the sound of Florrie’s voice. That was the social worker on the other line. They had set a court date for my new custody trial. When Alec and Florrie first told me about it, it felt totally unreal. But I’d had a few weeks to deal with it, and now the time had come. I knew from the moment I got here that my time was limited. It was all too good to be true. Florrie and Alec were great, and I did my best not to get too attached to them over the past eight months. I think I always knew that I wouldn’t get to stay with them. Nothing about my life actually worked out the way I wanted. But it had been good here. I had a few friends and I actually felt like people liked me, so that was nice. Now I just had to figure out how to say goodbye.

  I didn’t want to hear the sadness in Florrie’s voice or see the pity on Alec’s face when they told me that I was leaving. I had enough of that when I came here, and it wasn’t how I wanted to leave. I headed for the door of the suite and walked out. I didn’t know where to go, but I knew that I didn’t want to see anyone. I had wandered down to the training center that the adults used, and I watched as Knight sparred with Cap. I didn’t see Cap in the ring often. He always seemed to be working in his office. It was kind of cool to see him in action now.

  “Whatcha doing?” Caitlin asked as she walked up to me.

  I shrugged. “Nothing.”

  “You look sad.”

  I sighed, not really wanting to talk to Caitlin, especially since I was beginning to really like her. Ever since that first time that Caitlin and I kissed, we’d been sneaking off to ‘practice’ some more. Caitlin was pretty cool. She was really good with a gun and she seemed to really like grenades. Everyone said that she got that from her mother. But the thing that impressed me the most were her skills with a knife. Not that it was really a shock. Her dad was Sebastian and I knew he worked with her a lot after hours. Plus, she didn’t act anything like a ten year old. She almost seemed like she was my age, and in a lot of ways, I thought maybe she was a little more experienced than I was. I had been pretty sheltered from a lot of stuff at the senator’s house, but I had also seen way more than any kid my age should.

  “You could kiss me if you want to feel better,” she suggested.

  “Why would that make me feel better?”

  “I don’t know. I always see the adults kissing. It seems to make them happy.”

  “You’re too young for me,” I reminded her, though I think it was really more for me.

  “I wasn’t every other time we’ve kissed,” she challenged.

  “Well, now you are.” It didn’t make any sense, but I hoped she would leave me alone.

  “I call bullshit.”

  I turned sharply to her and glared. “You shouldn’t say stuff like that.”

  “Why? Because I’m a kid? I’ve heard worse. Dad swears all the time. And every time that Dad says something that Mom doesn’t believe she says I call bullshit.”

  I heaved a sigh and turned my attention back to the ring. I wished that I was old enough to make my own decisions. I would choose to stay here and fight. Maybe Cap would hire me and I could make my own money.

  “I heard Florrie and Alec talking,” I said after a minute. “The social worker called. I guess they set a court date for my custody trial.”

  “Does that mean that they’ll move out
here?”

  “No, idiot, that means that I’ll be shipped off to Utah. I’ll never see any of you again.”

  I didn’t mean to yell at her or be so mean, but I was angry and I didn’t know what else to do. But instead of getting mad at me like I thought she would, she slipped her hand into mine and gave it a squeeze. I jerked at her touch, but when I looked at her, I didn’t see what I expected. I saw sadness. Like she was going to miss me, and that made me feel really good.

  “I could run away with you,” she suggested.

  I laughed, shaking my head. She was just like her mom. I had heard stories about how her mom met her dad. They were pretty funny.

  “Thanks, but I don’t think we’d get very far, and then your dad would be even more pissed at me.”

  “Why is my dad pissed at you?”

  “Well, he’s not yet, but he will be when he finds out I’ve been kissing you. Alec said I can’t go around kissing girls.”

  “Why not?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t really understand it myself.

  “I like kissing you,” she said boldly. “And I think we should keep doing it.”

  The problem was, I really liked kissing Caitlin, but it was more than that. Caitlin and I started talking about a lot of stuff now, and I really liked having her around. I knew that I was going to have to leave soon, and I didn’t like the idea of leaving Caitlin behind. But my time here was almost up and when I left, I would miss her even more.

  “I guess we could. For practice,” I added quickly. She nodded and closed her eyes, leaning forward. I leaned into her and pressed my lips against hers, closing my eyes. Her soft lips pressed against mine felt more and more right every time it happened, and in that moment I wondered what would happen if I had to move away and I could never kiss her again.