“What—no, not weapons,” I gritted, plucking a new pen out from my pen drawer. “Office supplies. I’ve had three red pens explode on me in the last two weeks.”
“Have you ever considered the explosions could be linked to user error?” he asked calmly.
I knew that fucking tone.
As I pulled the page out of the printer tray beside my feet, I glared at him. “Not starting this shit today. Don’t have time for it.”
“Right. I understand you’re busy,” he drawled as I stapled the sheet back into the file. “But debriefs are mandatory.”
I shot him a glare. “Is this a debrief, or are you just in here because Grayson sent you to snoop—”
“Because he didn’t believe a damn word you said?” he deadpanned. “Absolutely, but I’m a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone kind of man, so while we get to the reason you have a stick up your ass, we can also mark this as your mission debrief.”
“I’ll pass.”
“Not an option.”
I broke our gaze, returning to the file. I rewrote the same note in the same place—in black ink. “Not in the mood.”
“Mitchell, talk to me.” His command was soft. Too soft. I lifted my eyes, finding him in a new position. He was leaning forwardnow, feet on the floor, elbows on his knees, brow furrowed. “What are you avoiding?”
Everything.
I opened my mouth, but closed it when Jake appeared in the doorway, his auburn hair pulled back, eyes flashing with anger. “We have a problem.”
Dominic and I shared a look, and in the next second, we were out of our seats.
“What’s going on?” Dominic asked as I came around the desk.
We all met in the middle of my office, and outside, thunder clapped. Not even a second later, rain began pelting the window. Jake pulled off his black-rimmed glasses, pointing them at me. “The only reason I’m coming to you and not cussing out that spineless, poor excuse of a human is because you and I have been through a lot together.” He paused, a muscle jumping in a cheek underneath his red scruff. “Because I respect you.”
“Jake, what the hell are you talking about?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest.
Dominic cleared his throat. “Or who, rather.”
Jake was Red Snake’s technical specialist. If it was connected to a power source, this man and his supercharged brain could hack into it from a hundred miles away. He was also a damn good friend. His brown eyes slid over to Dominic, his tone cautious as he said, “Maybe you should leave the room.”
“Don’t bother,” I grumbled. “I’ve been trying to get him to leave for the last ten minutes.” I snapped my fingers, pulling Jake’s attention back to me. “What the fuck is going on? Which client is pissed off?”
He blinked. “This isn’t about a client.”
A few beats of silence passed before I nearly lost my patience. “Murphy, stop beating around the fucking bush,” I growled. “Spill it.”
“Veronica is on the line.”
All the air was sucked out of the room, then as every inch of my body tightened, an old, familiar fury ignited in my gut.
“What the fuck does she want?” Dominic growled.
“What do you think?” Jake shot back, looking at me. “It’s your call.”
Veronica was the woman, once upon a time, I had every intention of marrying. She was perfect. Checked all the boxes. And for a time, I thought I did the same for her. That clearly wasn’t the case, I discovered, when I came home from an assignment to find her taking another man’s cock—in my fucking bed. It had been nearly twenty-four months since that day. After kicking her and her rent-a-dick out, I didn’t give myself a chance to fucking process it for at least a month.
I love you, Hayes. I’ll always love you.
“Is she in trouble?” I found myself asking, unable to help it. Even though I told her to never contact me again, if she was contacting Red Snake, it had to be for good reason.
“Why the fuck would it matter?” Jake clipped.