Page 74 of Love at First Rep

Garrett wouldn’t let Rafe go far. They shifted so Rafe’s legs draped over Garrett’s lap, their arms around each other as Rafe sat against the corner of the couch.

Garrett took in his new surroundings. The dark, empty place only had a fridge against the far wall and a table with a few laptops on it and chairs surrounding it, plus a few beat-up couches. The location may have been ominous, but Garrett was a little more worried about the people in front of him.

Fake Zorro ripped his head covering off, and Garrett gasped.

“Miguel?” Garrett whispered. He hadn’t seen Rafe’s brother since the funeral. “I thought you were doing your doctor thing overseas, saving villages and shit.”

“I was for a while. Now I save these idiots.”

Idiots. Plural. Who are these people?

“I’m the one who’s been making sure Rafe did his job.”

Garrett narrowed his eyes. “You’re Herman O’Cabrón?”

Miguel’s eyes darted to Rafe. “That’s what you called me? I’m offended.”

Anatoly snorted. “That’s the best code name ever. Fits perfectly.”

“How so?” Garrett asked.

“Hermano is Spanish for brother,” Rafe answered, his eyes only on Garrett.

“And cabrón?”

“That means asshole,” Rafe said with a smirk, the first sign he hadn’t completely spiraled since this shit show started.

“He got you there,” a familiar voice said as he walked in front of Garrett.

“McHugh? You really are a part of this?”

Forget about Rafe spiraling. Garrett was about to beat him there.

McHugh scoffed. “I’m the one behind all of this. Garrett, let me introduce you to The BFS,” he said, his arms going wide.

Yup, Garrett was losing his mind.

He tried to focus, but he couldn’t manage it.

First, I have to figure out why the room is spinning and my vision is going black.

23

Earlier that day…

RAFE STRODE TOWARD THE door, anger humming in his veins.

His phone conversation with Anatoly and Miguel the night before had left him fuming. Putting this mission above Garrett’s safety and sanity was never the plan. How did they expect Rafe to start a life with Garrett if they traumatized him first?

The tremble in his fingers betrayed his nerves as he raised his fist, pounding on the door. For good measure, he shot a middle finger at the hidden camera hanging over it.

Cherrywood didn’t have many abandoned warehouses they could work from, but the team managed to find an old slaughterhouse in a town nearby that still had working electricity and water.

A tinny voice from a speaker by the door shattered the quiet in the empty alley behind the slaughterhouse.

“The cake from Aversa’s Bakery is delicious.”

Rafe clenched his fists. These dumbasses and their code phrases.