Page 119 of Reset

“Yet, you’re CEO of Drugs, Inc. and I’m bottom of the totem pole. Life is cruel.” Ryan grinned at her.

Callum ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up on end. Not that it ever looked combed, but he’d managed to make it worse than usual. “No’ as cruel as it’s going tae be if you two don’t stop bickering and we get to the reason we’re here. I haven’t been home in three weeks, and I have a family I’d like to see.”

“I’ve seen you,” his wife, Isobel, said from the doorway. “And I’m good for at least a couple of hours.” She batted her eyelashes at him, making his face turn beetroot.

“Did you use his office?” Megan stretched her arms out onto the table as she spoke to Isobel. “Because if you want to change it up, the workout room has awesome acoustics.”

That little revelation earned loud groans and complaints from everyone. Except Julia, who whispered something in Joe’s ear, then turned luminous when he answered her.

“I bet she asked if they were singing,” Elle said to Ryan under her breath.

Man, he loved his team. His friends. His family. Looking around, he knew he’d made the right decision. They were tight, and they’d have his back. Even Rachel. Sure, she might put a knife in it while she was there, but she wouldn’t let anyone else do it to him.

“Get back to the reception desk,” Callum told his wife, who cheekily saluted him before closing the door behind her.

“So, she’s still employed, then?” Harvard drawled, making everyone cover their laughter.

“Hey,” Elle said. “I’ve just realized something. Did anybody else notice the parallels between Rachel and the creepy professor? They’re both independently wealthy, they both dress like Prada Barbie, and they both think other people are only there for them to play with.” She beamed at Rachel. “You could have been a serial killer.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “No. I couldn’t. I prefer the people I experiment on to live.”

Harvard’s laugh was deep and contagious. As everyone else joined in, Ryan decided it was time to get things back on track.

“Okay, let’s get to the reason for this meeting,” Ryan said, tapping out a drum roll on the tabletop. “I’m handing in my resignation, effective immediately.” Ta-da!

There was a moment’s silence before all hell broke loose.

Elle demanded he “take that back,” or she’d give him a noogie. Julia asked if he was healthy and looked worried while doing it. Rachel told him he wasn’t coming to work for her. Dimitri and Megan wanted to know what else he could do because, according to Megan, his skills were only suitable for Benson Security and he’d die without them. Joe, David, and Harvard just sat back, looking amused at everyone else.

Then Callum bellowed, “Shut up!”

And, funnily enough, people did. Once there was silence, under the eye of death from Callum, Ryan got the nod to continue.

“It’s like this,” he said. “I’ve been lying to all of you. And to myself. The truth is, no matter how hard I work at it, I’m not fit for the field.” He held up his right hand, which wasn’t shaking even though he’d expected this part of his explanation to make him nervous. “I get muscle spasms and can’t grip whatever I’m holding. Then there are the migraines—although they could be seizures. We’re not really sure. All I know is they come out of nowhere and are totally debilitating.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t be part of the team,” Elle said. “You can still work with us while you heal.”

He patted her fuzzy blue hair. “I’m not going to heal, sis. It is what it is.”

“You can’t know that.” She looked at David. “Can he?”

“I’m gonna guess and say his neurologist has been over it with him, Blue.” David tugged her closer to him.

“I didn’t want to face it.” Ryan looked around the room at the people he loved. “But a hand spasm almost got Sarah killed in the tunnels. And things down there could have been a whole lot worse if I’d had a sudden onset migraine in the middle of them.” He thought of the swim through darkened water. “It was pure luck that I didn’t. I’m a liability, guys. And that was before the international press attention.”

The group groaned, and Rachel rolled her eyes so hard, he thought her head might follow.

Being involved with a female serial killer had meant that all of them had been hounded by the press. But they loved Ryan. Not only was he photogenic, he was one of only two survivors left behind by the Valentine Killer, as they’d named her. Several times, Ryan had called out journalists for their lack of originality in naming the professor, but none of them listened.

“Anyway,” he said. “My face is everywhere. Kinda makes covert ops a problem. Hell, even straight bodyguard work would be impossible if I was getting more attention than the guy who hired me.”

“But it will pass,” Dimitri said. “There’ll be another news story to replace it soon enough.”

“I don’t know.” Ryan sighed. “I’ve been offered book deals and asked to sell the movie rights. The BBC wants to do a documentary. There are podcasts dedicated to the professor’s screwed research. This isn’t going to go away any time soon. And whether I like it or not, I’m the face of the story while we keep Sarah’s name out of things, and while Garnier refuses to talk. Where I go, the press goes. Which means you guys are on the news too. We can’t function as a security company with that kind of attention.”

“I hate to admit it, but he’s right,” Joe said. “There’s press parked outside the building right now, waiting for him.”

“I don’t care how much sense he’s making,” Elle said. “I don’t want him to go.”