Page 4 of Broken Rebel

There was a simple pale pink flower, small and delicate on the front of her thigh, high enough that I caught a glimpse of the edge of her yellow panties. I wanted to wring her goddamn neck for making me feel this way. I wanted to walk over there, shove her back on the desk, and give her what she wanted from me, hard enough the fucking walls shook.

“It’s a cherry blossom.” She tilted her head to the side again, looking down at it, thumb lightly brushing over her skin. “It’s a symbol, to me anyway, of moving on, of new starts. I’m not sure it’s finished yet, I might add some script.”

Moving on? What the fuck did that mean? My phone vibrated in my pocket. I checked the screen.

Hunter: Stop looking up Ruby’s skirt and get your ass down here.

The guy was obviously watching us through the surveillance camera in his office. Hunter King, my best friend since we were snot-nosed kids, started the King Agency with his brother Van several years ago. While Hunter did a stretch in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, I joined the crew. Shoving my phone back in my pocket, and refusing to look back at Ruby who was still standing in front of her desk, gaze burning into me, I strode to the internal security door. I entered the code, and headed to Hunter’s office. Van had an office down here as well, along with a break room and other rooms the guys used if they needed a place to work.

I walked in and scowled at the stupid fucking grin my friend was aiming my way. I turned to Jude and shook my head when all I saw was a row of the big bastard’s glowing white teeth. Jude Wayland, an ex-cop and, at six-foot-five and two hundred and fifty pounds of solid muscle, as intimidating as hell when he chose to be. Right now was not one of those times.

“Do not say one fucking word,” I growled. Jude pretended to lock his lips and throw away the key.

I turned to Van, who was also there, and the only fucker not smiling. “Let’s get on with this, shall we?” I glanced around the room. “Where’s Zeke?” Zeke Stanton was an ex-Marine, a sniper before he came to work at the agency. He and Van had enlisted together, had been in the same unit. But Zeke had stayed on after Van opted out. When he’d come home, he was a different man. There were some serious demons riding him, and sometimes I thought the guy had a death wish.

“Out on surveillance.” Van said. “It’s important, too important to pull him out.” He leaned against the wall. “Which means, with everyone else on high priority cases, you’ll be going it alone with this skip.”

Ruby walked in at that moment and handed Van a coffee and a muffin. “Thought you might need this since you got in so early.”

Van’s expression softened a little as he accepted it. Recently Hunter had taken a step back from fieldwork, the high-risk stuff anyway. He’d done it for his woman and son, but the guy seemed happy enough with the change in his position. He and Van had kind of traded off and Hunter now did more work in office. But Ruby and Van had grown close while he’d been behind the big desk. Looking after him, making sure he ate enough, that he had what he needed, was second nature to her. It would annoy me if I didn’t think she’d do the same for any one of the guys here.

She glanced around the room, pushing her black-rimmed glasses higher on her nose. “Anyone else want a drink while I’m feeling generous?”

The woman acted tough, but she was a natural nurturer. Always had been. It was one of the things I admired about her.

The guys gave her their orders while Hunter talked. “I’m not happy about you not having back up. Maybe we should hold off on this one. Pick this guy up when you have someone at your back.”

This skip I was going after was violent, yes, considered high risk, but nothing I couldn’t handle. His preferred targets were usually women, and I wanted him off the street as soon as possible. I shook my head. “We wait another day, we lose him. I know that for a fact. This is our one and only shot, for a while anyway. I want him out of commission.”

Hunter rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know, Nec . . .”

“You need someone to play lookout?” Ruby asked, butting in. Hunter dipped his chin. “What about me?”

“No,” I said before Hunter could open his mouth.

She ignored me completely. “Come on, Hunt. How dangerous can it be? What? I’ll be sitting in a car feeding information to Neco?”

Hunter looked at her thoughtfully. “Yeah, basically.”

“You can’t be fucking serious,” I growled.

Van crossed his arms, adding his ten cents worth. “She’ll be safe. The truck’s like a fucking tank. No one’s gonna get to her.”

Hunter offered me a look that said sorry, but tough shit. “Van has a point. This is about getting you in and out in one piece.”

Tension filled me, until it overflowed. “Would you let Lulu do it?” I growled.

The room went silent, deathly so. Lulu was Hunter’s fiancée, the mother of his child, and I’d just compared her to Ruby. Fuck. I ignored them and turned to Hunter. “This isn’t happening.”

I could feel Ruby’s eyes burning into the back of my head, could feel her anger battering me with every word I said.

“We don’t have a choice,” Hunter said. “And you said it yourself, we can’t let this guy go.”

No one said a damn thing to back me up. Not a surprise. They knew what was between me and Ruby was deep, went back a long way, but I’d never claimed her as mine, and that’s what these guys understood. That was how our world worked. I also knew Ruby wanted me to back off, stop sticking my nose in, that I pissed her off when I got involved. Well, tough shit. She was my responsibility, had become my responsibility the first time I pulled her in through my bedroom window and wiped away her tears, and that would never change.

I walked out of the office before I said something I’d regret, the sound of Ruby’s Doc Martens thudding on the carpet after me. I ignored her and headed for the elevator.

She grabbed my arm. “What the hell is your problem?”