Page 153 of The Company

I look away and Nick scoots closer to me on the table. “Sorry.”

And then we sit in silence for a little while. Finally he tugs on the earbud draped over my shoulder closest to him. “What’re you listening to?”

I look at the iPod in my hands and offer it up to Nick, but he puts a hand up and declines. “Is that why you came out here? To get away from me and James?” He reaches into his jeans pocket to pull out a smoke.

Sometimes I wish I could smoke. It looks relaxing. It’s something all hunters do and I’m a hunter now. Plus, on the comparison scale, it’s better than drinking. Most hunters don’t do much of that. They are always alert. But Merc drinks a lot. I like that about him. “Nah,” I say as he lights up his cigarette. “I just wanted to be alone.”

Nick smiles at me and a small flutter forms in my stomach against my better judgment. I’m not immune to his charm. And he is charming. Harper is very beautiful in a striking model kind of way. Nick is her twin, and his beauty is more surfer than model, but nonetheless, it’s a bit overwhelming. So a stomach flutter is in order. “I missed you, ya know.”

I give him a smirk and a head tilt to show him I’m playing. “I would’ve never known by the way you disappeared. How come you left me?”

“Hey,” he says, putting his hands up like he’s surrendering. “I told you we had to lie low. I was in hiding.”

“That makes no sense, Nick. Harper was under surveillance, so the Admiral always knew where she was. How come he didn’t just come take her?”

“He was waiting for the file. Believe me, they looked for that fucker all year and couldn’t find it. I suppose that’s why they sent Tet in. And look what happened? That fucker got it.”

“One got it.”

“Yeah, but Tet would’ve had it if One hadn’t taken it. Harper walked right into his trap.”

“You don’t like James, do you?”

“It’s got nothing to do with liking him, Sash. It’s got everything to do with trusting him. And now we gotta go back and get that fucking file. And Harper. And don’t you think they know I’m coming now? I mean fuck, our birthday is only a few days away.”

“What’s that got to do with it?” My mind is spinning. There is so much going on.

“Never mind,” he says as he tries to lace our fingers together, but I pull my hand away before he can take it. “What the fuck?”

“It’s not worth it,” I say.

“What’s not worth it?”

I nod my head in the direction of the cabin up the hill. “The fight you’ll have with Tet if you hold my hand.”

Nick’s eyes shoot up to the top of the hill where Tet is standing with his arms crossed. “Fucking freak,” Nick says, blowing out a long puff of smoke.

“Hey,” I say, nodding at his cigarette. “Can I bum one of those?”

His eyes dart back to Tet, just a fraction of a second. But I see it. “You’re too young to smoke, kid.”

That’s all I needed to know. “I was just messing with you.” I reach over and ruffle up his hair and he automatically dodges. I smile at him and he shoots me an uneasy one back. “Well, I’m going back in and see if Merc will teach me how to play Kumbaya on the guitar. Wanna come?”

He glances up at Tet again and shakes his head. “When I’m done here.”

“OK.” I hop down and swat the dirt off my butt as I walk back to the top of the hill. Tet turns and walks with me as we head back to the cabin together.

“You hungry, Smurf?” James asks.

“Starved.”

“Me too.” And then he opens the back door and lets me walk through.

Like I said. James is a dream in the partner department.

It’s Tet you gotta worry about.