Page 28 of Duality

I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore how handsome he looked in the morning, his short hair rumpled from sleep.

“Not all of us can afford the monstrosity you have at the office,” I said, accepting a mug from him and sitting next to a bleary-eyed Sebastian.

His hair was sticking up in all directions, and his eyelids were heavy as he shot me a sleepy grin. I usually never saw him in the office before 8 a.m., and it looked like the youngest Stone brother was not a fan of mornings.

He rested his head on my shoulder, and I ignored the way my stomach jumped. “You don’t even have cream or sugar,” he complained.

I resisted the urge to comb my fingers through his curly locks. “I’m not really here often enough to keep anything but the basics stocked, but I can have Danny make a grocery run on his way over here. There’s butter in the fridge if you’re a fan of that.”

Sebastian lifted his head and screwed up his face. “Butter?”

Adrian chuckled, and I ignored the shiver that went down my spine. Sebastian didn’t miss it though, and his lips twitched in a small smile. He laid his head back on my shoulder. His body was so close that our entire sides were pressed together.

“Some guys in the military do it,” Marcus explained as he came into the kitchen.

He was dressed similarly to the guys in sweatpants and a shirt that stretched tight across his chest. He frowned when he saw Sebastian and me. I shifted away from Sebastian, dislodging his head from my shoulder. The last thing I needed was to give Marcus more things to be pissed with me about, and that included having inappropriate contact with one of my bosses. Well, if I was still employed.

Sebastian frowned at Marcus and shifted his chair closer to mine again but didn’t rest his head on my shoulder again.

“Breakfast is ready,” Alexander announced, breaking the weird tension between Sebastian and Marcus.

Alexander and Adrian carried the food over. They had made bacon, eggs, and toast. It was simple, but I was impressed.

“Don’t look so shocked.” Sebastian grinned. “Big brother can cook pretty well, actually.”

“Not that I really have time to anymore.” Alexander shrugged. “But it’s a nice stress reliever.”

I raised my eyebrows, impressed. I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets, even if my secrets were bigger than being able to cook.

The table was quiet while we all dug in. The eggs were perfectly fluffy, and the bacon was crispy. Alexander was definitely selling himself short on his skills.

“We need to come up with some excuse for why we’re out of the office for the next few days,” Alexander said after a few minutes.

I swallowed hard, coughing when a piece of bacon got lodged in my throat. Sebastian patted me on the back while Adrian got up to get me some water.

“Sorry,” I rasped, taking a small sip. “Umm…” I hesitated, then decided to just fuck it. “I already sent an email to the department heads and the three under-secretaries that we had food poisoning and would be out for a few days.”

Marcus frowned, and I braced myself for their anger. Surprisingly, Alexander just nodded. “That works. That gives us a few days to come up with a long-term plan.”

“Hopefully, it doesn’t take that long,” Marcus grumbled, and I winced. This whole situation must be killing him. He was probably ready to wash his hands of me and this whole situation.

“Sorry, I should have checked with you before I sent it,” I apologized, my eyes on my plate.

“No, it’s fine,” Alexander said. He looked around at the others. “I think, for the time being, you should continue to work as our executive assistant until all of this is resolved. Or at least act like it. We don’t want to tip off any of our clients or our employees just yet.”

I nodded, swallowing. I could do that. It was the least I could do. I was definitely fired, though. A pang of sadness hit my heart. Although I took the job under false pretenses, I really enjoyed the work I did. And now, due to my own inability to keep my people safe, I had lost it. I didn’t know what it meant for the Archers’ future. Although maybe with Citadel gone, I wouldn’t have as much of a need for the information I got from SDS. But we would have to adapt and establish new information sources. That was a future problem. Now I had to figure out how to keep us all alive. It wouldn’t be long before Citadel struck again or figured out they were going after the wrong people. There was no time for regrets over a job that was never really mine to have.

“Don’t worry, Evie, you’re not getting rid of us that easily,” Sebastian whispered in my ear.

I looked up into his light blue eyes. His eyes were uncharacteristically serious, the light blue seeming darker, like he was making a vow. A thrill raced through me at his words. Sebastian had always flirted with me, but this felt different. What did he mean that I wasn’t getting rid of them so easily? They were going to fire me after this was over, weren’t they?

I didn’t have the time to dive into it, though. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I broke my weird stare-off with Sebastian to pull it out of my pocket.

“The others will be here in twenty minutes,” I announced, after reading the message from Danny.

“So do they report to you?” Adrian asked, his eyebrows lifting.

“Technically, I guess.” I shrugged. “They gave themselves the role of lieutenants when we started getting bigger. But it’s not a dictatorship. They make suggestions, and I listen to them, but I’m still the boss. The responsibility is all still mine.”