Not you.
You don’t get to make me feel good, leave me, and then come back to rip me apart, Hayes.
“All right, man,” Jake finally said, giving in. “I’ll see what I can find. You got a deadline for me?”
“The sooner the better.”
Another sigh from his end of the line. “Fucking hell.”
“Thanks, man. Get some rest,” I said before ending the call. I put my phone face down on the counter, grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, and headed back to the table to finish the paperwork.
By the time the sun rose, Jack and the Black Mist were behind me, and Margo was the only thing in my future.
As I made my way back to my office, leaving Grayson’s, I decided to swing by Jake’s office. Our new space in Portland was in the Block 216 building on the twenty-fifth floor, giving Ash, Grayson, Dominic, and me huge corner offices, leaving Jake inthe center of the floor, his “cave” sitting right off the weapons’ safe and holding rooms. This location was the nicest space Red Snake had been in, with modern updates and essential amenities. And thankfully, the guys were settling in nicely. As I rounded the corner, I lifted my hand to his door, knocking harder than normal so he could hear me over the Hans Zimmer score blaring from his surround sound.
A second later, the music paused and the door was opened. I quirked a brow at his wide eyes, messy hair, and missing glasses. “This a bad time?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “No. I mean, I’m going through some records for a few clients, but—”
“How much caffeine have you had?” I cut him off, noticing how his hand was shaking slightly.
He blinked and slowly put his hand behind his back. “Who’s asking? Hayes or my boss?”
My jaw tightened. “Depends on your answer.”
“Yeah, that’s not fair.”
I clicked my tongue. “Don’t give a shit. How much have you had?”
“Just two coffees,” he blurted, opening his door wider and gesturing for me to come inside. “And three Red Bulls.”
My feet halted, my eyes narrowing as he rounded his desk, taking a seat behind his walls of monitors. “What do you mean you’ve had two coffees and three Red Bulls before nine thirty in the fucking morning?”
He poked his head up over the top of his center monitor, glasses back on. “It’s already nine thirty in the morning?” he questioned, checking his watch.
My eyes shot to the ceiling. “Jake, I swear to God, if you have a heart attack at the ripe age of thirty-three, I’m going to skin you alive.”
That got me an eye roll before he lowered himself, his fingers connecting to the keyboard once more. “What did you need? Or did you just come in here to shamelessly judge me?”
Hands in my pockets, I came around his desk, glancing at the screens. “Wondering if you had an update on Gordon.”
Jake didn’t pull his eyes from the left monitor as he answered. “I think I have something, but I need to get this to Ash before anything else.”
I clapped him on the shoulder and swiped the Red Bull can sitting on the corner of his desk. It was half full. Ignoring his protests, I took it to the trash bins and turned, pointing at him. “Water only for the rest of the day. Grayson would lose his mind if Red Snake lost its hacker.”
He remained silent, merely flipping me off. I shook my head and headed back to my office, not ready to deal with the countless emails sitting in my inbox.
A couple of hours later, when I was knee-deep in administrative work, there was a knock at my door. To my surprise, it wasn’t Jake.
It was Dominic.
“Thought our session wasn’t until tomorrow,” I greeted, signing off on the last email.
He was dressed in his usual today: navy suit sans the tie with a light blue shirt. His hair was longer than he usually kept it, the dark ends curling up at the back of his neck, strands of it hanging around his face. “I’m not here for that,” he said. “Though if you’re willing to talk to me, it would be a nice change.”
My body went on alert, my jaw jumping as he leisurely made his way to my desk, not bothering to take a seat. I tipped my head back, keeping eye contact as he studied me. “What the fuck are you on about?” I clipped.
He smirked. “Just a jab.”