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“Again,” Derek muttered.
“One of the beta teams did a sweep. There wasn’t anything in place,” Javi repeated the explanation I already knew.
We hadn’t been anticipating another attack, but it happened. Frankly, I was sick of it. Things were escalating, and being stuck in the middle unarmed and in human form wasn’t working anymore.
Our teams needed to step up. Sure, we’d figured it out first, but we were still too late. Not that it had been difficult. He’d recently pissed off two men. Michael, head of the gang, was sending a reminder that he hadn’t forgotten. He was trying to let Alessio know that he could always get to him. Unfortunately, that message was lost in translation, because Alessio was still scrambling for answers.
His men were too preoccupied with the shitstorm he’d turned his business into to investigate a failed attack.
Between the confusing change in territory, face-offs, delays, and the daily delivery mistakes, they were more focused on holding things together than responding to their boss’s demand for answers.
Playing into the vendettas was less profitable than doing their jobs. His top men decided to keep working while feeding Alessio lies about teams working to find out who wanted him dead this week.
“I think we need to take the night off,” Javi said as he closed his laptop and pushed away from the desk.
“Can we?” I eyed him.
“I’m the boss, and I say yes.” He grinned.
Cruz narrowed his eyes. “Rod is the boss.”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure Em is,” Marco argued, and I pointed at him.
“Yes, he’s right.”
Javi chuckled. “You do pretty much tell us when to jump.”
“And how high.” Derek yawned. “How about a night in?”
“That’s every night,” I reminded him.
“No, we are here every night, but in here.” He waved his hands in front of him. “Still working.”
Fair enough. If I wasn’t out with Alessio, I was usually with them going through reports from the other teams. We hadn’t had a night off, all at the same time, ever.
“Order in?” I wasn’t going on the stupid boat just to pick up food.
“Yes,” Marco answered before anyone else. “We’ll get something sent here and relax.”
“Can we build a fort?” Cruz’s smile was so wide I couldn’t tell if he was joking.
“Are you going to clean it up?” Javi asked.
Was he serious?
Cruz turned to Derek, who sighed and nodded.
“Yes!” Cruz jumped up and hurried out of the room. “Collect the blankets!”
“He’s really doing this?” I asked Javi and Marco after Derek followed him out.
Marco chuckled. “Yes, it’s one of his favorite things in the world. We try to keep it to once or twice a year so it stays special.”
“It was one of the simple joys we had growing up,” Javi explained.“After we got adopted, we all shared one room, and he convinced us to put our beds on the ground and build a fort the first night. The next morning, we got into trouble and had to take it down, but it was worth it.”
That was actually sweet. He held on to something that bonded them. How could I tease him now?
“Just no pizza, okay?” I swear they could eat it for every meal. While I understood the convenience, I was maxed out.
