Page 13 of The ARC Unit: Breach

“Mornin’,” he said in a distinctly southern accent.

I glared at him. “Is it?”

Bear smiled and glanced at the clothes under my arm. “Depends who you ask.”

“Anyone else in there?”

“Hawk.”

Whatever expression crossed my face made him laugh quietly.

“He’s shaving. You’re safe.”

“That is a very low standard for safety.”

Bear leaned one shoulder against the doorframe as though he had nowhere else to be. “Look, if you’re planning to wait until the bathroom is completely empty every morning, you’re going to spend a lot of your assignment standing in this hallway. Last two stalls have the best water pressure, and everybody knows you’re here now. Nobody’s going to bother you, alright?”

“Your attempt to make this sound normal isn’t working.”

“I’m not trying to make it sound normal. I’m trying to make it survivable.”

Strangely, the lack of reassurance worked better.

I stepped inside and found Hawk standing at one of the sinks with shaving cream along his jaw, a towel around his neck and his blond hair pushed away from his face. When he saw me in the mirror, he instinctively glanced down at himself to make sure he hadn’t forgotten an important piece of clothing.

“Morning,” he said, keeping his attention carefully on the mirror afterward.

“Apparently that’s what everyone has decided.”

Hawk smiled around the razor. “I told them we should’ve put you in the other building.”

I stopped halfway across the room. “There’s another building with bedrooms?”

“No. Another bathroom.”

Hope disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

“It’s in the garage,” he added.

“Jackal already offered me that one.”

“Then you know why I didn’t lead with it.”

At least Hawk seemed appropriately aware that adding a woman to their living arrangement changed something. He finished shaving without dragging it out then rinsed the razor beneath the faucet and wiped the last of the shaving cream from his jaw.

“All yours,” he said, gathering the toiletry bag from beside the sink.

“Thank you.”

He gave me a small nod and headed for the door. I waited until it shut behind him before crossing to the showers.

I chose the stall farthest from the entrance, taking note of Bear’s advice, and pulled the curtain closed. The material was thin enough that the overhead light passed through it, which did very little for my confidence in the arrangement, but at least there was nobody standing on the other side of it now.

I arranged my clean clothes across the top of the partition where I hoped they would remain dry, undressed and stepped beneath the water. The shower turned out to be surprisingly hot, which almost made the situation tolerable.

Almost.

I had shampoo in my hair when the bathroom door opened again.