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“For the love of all things holy, please stop talking,” Layla started. “No one wants the deets on your kink.”
“Speak for yourself,” Cash put in. “I might want to give Big Daddy Cash a go.”
“And with that, we’re done,” I announced.
“Is this normal?” Nebraska asked.
I Ignored the pang of anger she’d never had a family that gave you shit, ribbed, joked, and annoyed you in the spirit of love and camaraderie. The bond that made the shit they dished out about care, not malice.
It was difficult, but I locked it down and answered, “No, nothing about them is normal. But you’ll learn to roll with it. You’ll learn that if they didn’t like you or give a shit when we walked in, it would’ve been all business. It might be whacked, but this is their way of showing you you’re one of us.”
“By betting and talking about my uterus?” she asked with wide eyes.
“And his sperm,” Smith added.
“You’ll get used to it.” Theo shocked the shit out of me by stating. “It might take a month or two or maybe a year but after a while you learn to sit back and let them act like idiots and eventually we get to work.”
Nebraska blinked at ‘a month or two or maybe a year’. She was getting it. No one thought her presence was short term.
“Speaking of work, I’m not paying you all to sit around with your thumbs up your bungholes,” Zane proclaimed. “Mini Me, update.”
“Says the one who started it,” Smith rightly argued.
“This is a do as I say, not as I do situation,” Zane asserted.
“It always is,” Linc muttered.
“Yo! You two over there, do I need to call in an extraction team to surgically separate you or are you ready to get to work? I’m not paying you to make googly eyes at each other. Bad enough I’m footing the bill for the love shack the two of you are making good use of.”
Nebraska’s head snapped to the side. The force of it swung her ponytail and jerked my body.
“I quit-fired, remember?” she declared, full of fire.
“What’s quit-fired?” Layla asked.
She turned slightly to look at Layla when she explained, “I quit. Zane didn’t let me because he said he fired me. I took the termination only because I want the exit package he’s paying me for years of service and pain and suffering. But to keep my pride intact I’m claiming the resignation.”
“Gotcha,” Layla mumbled through a smile.
“Pain and suffering?” Zane tossed out. “Woman, the only pain and suffering that’s been dished out is the pain you inflicted on your enemies. Though I have had to suffer through hours of Dutch bitching at me to be nice to you. I’m not a fan of being told what to do. Ten out of ten do not recommend. And I’m not paying severance on years of service I didn’t know were being served. Take that shit up with your boss. Thankfully, that’s not me.”
“Oh, so now you’re admitting you’re not the boss of me,” she quipped.
I didn’t miss the triumph in her voice.
“Sit, Dove, and I’ll explain the chain of command to you.” Zane swept his hand to the many open chairs but didn’t wait for either of us to take one before he continued. “Silver Team. Layla, team leader. Kira, her intel specialist. Theo, her point. Black Team. Dutch, the boss. Bishop is team leader. Badger is… how do I say this?…clean up. You, his fixer.” Zane paused, pointed to himself, and announced. “Me the big boss.”
Bishop was a name I’d never heard mentioned before but I didn’t get the chance to ask who the hell he was when Nebraska shoved shit right back at Zane.
“I’m confused,” she said in a way that said she wasn’t confused but instead she’d slid straight into her attitude and wasn’t going to let Zane off the hook. “Are you Big Boss, Dimples, Big Daddy, or Viper King?”
At that Zane smiled outright, both dimples compressed, and I could swear Nebraska jolted.
“Here we go. The dimples come out and it’s woman down until she remembers he’s a sarcastic prick,” Linc grumbled. “Been this way our whole lives.”
Nebraska recovered quickly and turned her eyes to Lincoln.
“Right, like you had any issues with the ladies.”
