“Usually the prettiest ones,” Mika said, his eyes drifting to Jake, who blinked.
“Am I…pretty?” he asked, and God save us, he sounded confused.
“You’re sure as hell not ugly,” Colin piped up, and I hated the annoyance that flickered through me.
Jake’s eyes went wide. “Oh my God, did I just get a double stamp of gay approval? Are y’all hitting on me?”
“No,” Mika said sternly, but I thought Colin was with me when I noticed his eyes darted away a little too quickly. Then again, the confused look on Reno’s face hinted that maybe we weren’t the only ones who’d noticed. “Doesn’t mean I can’t understand on an unbiased level that you’re attractiveandpersonable.”
“I wouldn’t turn you out of my bed,” Colin said, but his eyes were on me so I couldn’t decide if he was talking to Jake or me.
“I do love being sexy,” Jake said with a chuckle, then blinked when he caught the moment Mika’s eyes sharpened on him before snapping away.
Before…whateverthatwas could continue, I smacked my hand on the counter. “Could you idiots pay the fuck attention? Jesus.”
“Sorry, Big Boss,” came the group response, except Cait. That Colin said it made my attention whip to him for a moment, but there was nothing on his face to say he had actually spoken the words or that he was…it didn’t matter.
“Part of our job involves going out into the public occasionally and…educating people,” I said, mostly for the sake of Carter and Colin, both new to that. “Sometimes that means making the kiddies look at us with stars in their eyes.”
“Hey,” Carter protested with a snort. “I was one of those kids, so it’s kind of effective.”
“You got stars in your eyes because you were rescued,” Maverick piped up. “Not the same as going to a school assembly and talking.”
Carter blinked. “Uh, that’s a thing?”
“Yes, and thank you for volunteering because we need someone to talk to some schools about what we do, and remind them not to be idiots in the woods,” I said with a snort.
Carter paled. “Okay, but?—”
Colin leaned forward and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “You’ll be great. You were inspired by rescue workers; that’s all the kids need to know.”
Maverick shot Colin a curious look, but his eyes darted immediately to Carter. I kept the two of them on perimeter watch mostly because they worked well together, the best…well, they irritated the shit out of me when they were around too long. I wasn’t surprised to see him show concern for his work buddy and best friend, even if it was in that weirdly quiet way he did just about everything.
“Jacob, Renaldo, and Mikhail,” I began, and rolled my eyes at the sounds of protest. “Jake, Reno, and Mika then. Jesus. You three will be on rotation based on the need for public speaking in other avenues. Also…we’re going to get a visitor.”
Trevor looked up from his spot in the corner. “Another inspection?”
“No,” I said with a heavy sigh. “They feel we need…some social media help.”
There was a long pause before Reno gave a chortle. “Seriously?”
“Welcome to the twenty-first century,” Colin said before I could speak. “Makes sense.”
I stared at him. “Does it?”
He shrugged. “You grew up in the MySpace era, as did, uh…Reno and Mika, I think. Jake is a crayon eater.”
“Damn right,” Jake grinned, giving Colin a shrug.
Colin caught himself with ease. “And it’s not like I’ve seen anyone do anything ‘modern’ around here, anyway. So it makes sense that we need someone who knows what they’re doing. That shit is how you get your faces out there, how you get people to support you.”
I hated that he was right, and he knew it. “Right, so in the next week we’ll be seeing a new face. Someone who’s going to show up and…live here for a bit. Get a feel for things.”
“This your way of saying we should scare him or her off?” Carter asked with a raised eyebrow.
God save me, he was an idiot, but he was a loyal one. I had chosen well. “No,heis not to be scared off. But don’t lie to his ass either. He needs to see the shit we do, what shit we go through, good and bad, so fucking treat him like part of the team, got it?”
“He’s not, though,” Maverick pointed out simply.