Page 32 of Mitch

Chapter Thirteen

“Knock, knock.”Jack popped his head around the door of her new office before stepping inside.

“Hi.” Autumn swivelled from the computer in front of her on the sleek glass desk and faced her new boss, who was now seated in the chair on the other side of her desk, his posture relaxed as he leaned back, legs spread in front of him.

“I just wanted to check you have everything you need.”

Autumn looked around at the office Mitch had shown her to this morning and let out a nervous laugh, throwing up her hands. “Are you kidding?” She looked at the travel cot in the corner, the baby play station that was still boxed up against the wall, and the playmat before her gaze fell back on Jack. “I can’t believe you did all this.”

Jack shrugged his shoulders, brushing off the kindness. “With you bringing Maggie in, I wanted to make sure you have everything you need to make this work.”

“I have more than enough. It’s very kind of you.”

“Not really. I just don’t want to give you a reason to leave when you see the amount of work that needs doing.” His warm chuckle filled the room.

“I just need to gain access to some of these files then I can run some reports and see where we are with things.”

Jack nodded once. “Lopez will be in shortly to set up your computer and access to things. There will be some things that are strictly confidential for Alex or me, but as time progresses, we can discuss that. Are you good with the filing side of things? I’d like most things filed in our secure cloud with as minimal paper as possible.”

“Yes, I understand confidentiality as my last job was the same. I can scan a lot of this and get it on the cloud but the rest I can file using the system Madison set up.”

Jack stood. “I’ll need your bank details to pay your salary.”

“I’ll email them over.” Autumn felt good having a purpose, not that having Maggie wasn’t the best reason in the world, but it didn’t stimulate her brain, and she’d realised she needed more than that.

Jack walked to the door, glancing at a sleeping Maggie as he did, his lips twitching up. “Oh, to sleep the sleep of the innocent.”

Autumn got up and walked towards him. “Can I ask you something?” She wasn’t sure if he’d answer, but she was curious.

“You can ask, no saying I’ll answer.”

Autumn nodded, tipping her head. “Fair enough. Why are you doing all this? Helping me, giving me a job.” She twisted her fingers around the length of her hair, guilt swarming her that she’d doubted his kind intentions.

Jack looked at her intently as if he weighed up his answer before he spoke. “Eidolon is more than a bunch of men who work for me. They’re family, you can’t put yourself in the kind of danger we do and not know you’d die to protect your teammate. When you have that level of commitment, you stop being teammates and become brothers. Mitch is my brother, and you mean a lot to him, so that means you mean a lot to us now too.”

“Wow, I don’t know what to say to that.”

“Don’t get me wrong, the fact we get to take down this dangerous group is also a big factor, but we’d already decided before we knew the details.”

“And the job, is it a pity job?”

Jack laughed. “Only in that you’re taking pity on me. As you can see, I’m up shit creek with my paperwork.”

Autumn laughed as she looked at the boxes of filing around her. “Well, filing is a guilty pleasure.”

“I guess it’s a win-win for everyone.”

The door behind him opened, causing Jack to turn towards the sound. A woman with beautiful red hair poked her head in and smiled. “Pax, what can we do for you?” Jack sounded amused.

“I thought perhaps Autumn might need a hand getting settled in the job.”

The woman called Pax walked in, looking elegant and sophisticated, her blush pink dress moulded to her body. Autumn looked down at her own bohemian dress of petrol blue with orange flowers, simple V-neck and floaty short sleeves, and wondered if it was a bit too grunge.

Pax walked straight towards her, a broad grin on her beautiful face. “Wow, I love this dress, it’s so pretty.”

Autumn started as the woman pulled her in for a hug before she returned it somewhat awkwardly. “Thanks, I love yours too.”

Autumn looked at Jack as another woman walked inside. She was shorter than Pax with long dark hair and full lips.