gone. Is that alright with you?”
Her brown eyes meet mine and I freeze. I notice how much the dark rings around her eyes have faded. How much her coloring has improved and what a few days of good food and sleep has already done for her. She looked more and more like the girl in the picture Detective Edwards showed me. She smiles at me and nods.
“I don’t know what time I’ll be back but I’m leaving a little early to meet up with Sneak. I should be back before dinner, maybe we can get some takeout. There are a few menus in the drawer. You can have Missy order something for us. She knows what I like to eat.”
She shrugs, making it difficult for me to gauge her thinking.
“She’ll be here around ten and I’m not leaving until she gets here,” she busies herself pouring the finished coffee into the mugs. She hands me one and smiles again. My breath hitches. Fuck, her smile lights up the room. I take the mug from her and take a slow sip, the hot liquid burning my tongue as punishment for staring so hard.
She mixes some creamer into hers and takes a sip.
“I’m going to hop in the shower,” she makes no move to stop me. I take my mug with me and head to the bathroom, briefly contemplating a cold shower.
Damn it Hudson, you shouldn’t notice things like her smile.
*****
Hudson
I walk into the modern office on a mission: talk to Sneak, straighten out this shit with King and head home. I need to gather as much information about Erik as I can before showing my cards to King. After meeting Alice last night, I don’t know what to expect from him.
“He’s not in today,” Annabelle, King’s receptionist, watches me from her spot at neat desk centered in the middle of the room. She’s isn’t simply a receptionist to the company, more like job-site mother. She cared for each of us more than her job required. She was also someone you did not want to fuck with. Her quiet, sometimes murderous stares were the only warnings you needed. Hanging my head, I approach her with a shy smile.
“He leave anything for me?” I ask hoping like hell I don’t get shit from her too.
“He did,” she smirks knowingly before handing me a thin manila folder. I sigh, there couldn’t have been more than a dozen pages in it. Her dark eyes watch me, missing nothing, and her smirk turns into a smile. “Disappointed cowboy?”
“You know me Belle,” I shrug, trying to play it cool, like I didn’t care. The problem was I did care, maybe a little too much. “Missed you last night at dinner.”
“May’s home for the week,” she explains. May was her college-age daughter. Sometimes I forget Annabelle was older, she definitely didn’t look old enough to have two adult age children. “How’d it go?”
“Better than I hoped,” I answer cautiously. I’m sure my sister had already called this morning, telling her all about the dinner with Alice and the guys. Annabelle’s dark eyes watch me like a hawk. I knew she was studying my reaction for any further details. Flipping through the folder, I try to ignore her gaze. There wasn’t any new information regarding Erik or Alice but it would have to be enough for King.
“Any idea when our electronic detective might be back?”
“He’s running an errand for King, a client needed some...detective work done on his wife’s computer,” she smiles sweetly and I chuckle.
“Kingston available?”
“Go right in,” she singsongs.
Nodding at her, I walk towards the large office door to her right. I knock hesitantly, before shaking off whatever is tormenting me about this meeting. This was Kingston, my brother in arms, what in the hell did I really have to worry about? I open the door to find him sitting behind a large desk, file folders in stacks around him. He motions for me to take a seat and adjusts the phone pressed against his ear. I sit, flipping through Sneak’s research again.
“Seth, got to let you go man,” he laughs into the phone. “I’ll have Max check
Her brown eyes meet mine and I freeze. I notice how much the dark rings around her eyes have faded. How much her coloring has improved and what a few days of good food and sleep has already done for her. She looked more and more like the girl in the picture Detective Edwards showed me. She smiles at me and nods.
“I don’t know what time I’ll be back but I’m leaving a little early to meet up with Sneak. I should be back before dinner, maybe we can get some takeout. There are a few menus in the drawer. You can have Missy order something for us. She knows what I like to eat.”
She shrugs, making it difficult for me to gauge her thinking.
“She’ll be here around ten and I’m not leaving until she gets here,” she busies herself pouring the finished coffee into the mugs. She hands me one and smiles again. My breath hitches. Fuck, her smile lights up the room. I take the mug from her and take a slow sip, the hot liquid burning my tongue as punishment for staring so hard.
She mixes some creamer into hers and takes a sip.
“I’m going to hop in the shower,” she makes no move to stop me. I take my mug with me and head to the bathroom, briefly contemplating a cold shower.
Damn it Hudson, you shouldn’t notice things like her smile.
*****
Hudson
I walk into the modern office on a mission: talk to Sneak, straighten out this shit with King and head home. I need to gather as much information about Erik as I can before showing my cards to King. After meeting Alice last night, I don’t know what to expect from him.
“He’s not in today,” Annabelle, King’s receptionist, watches me from her spot at neat desk centered in the middle of the room. She’s isn’t simply a receptionist to the company, more like job-site mother. She cared for each of us more than her job required. She was also someone you did not want to fuck with. Her quiet, sometimes murderous stares were the only warnings you needed. Hanging my head, I approach her with a shy smile.
“He leave anything for me?” I ask hoping like hell I don’t get shit from her too.
“He did,” she smirks knowingly before handing me a thin manila folder. I sigh, there couldn’t have been more than a dozen pages in it. Her dark eyes watch me, missing nothing, and her smirk turns into a smile. “Disappointed cowboy?”
“You know me Belle,” I shrug, trying to play it cool, like I didn’t care. The problem was I did care, maybe a little too much. “Missed you last night at dinner.”
“May’s home for the week,” she explains. May was her college-age daughter. Sometimes I forget Annabelle was older, she definitely didn’t look old enough to have two adult age children. “How’d it go?”
“Better than I hoped,” I answer cautiously. I’m sure my sister had already called this morning, telling her all about the dinner with Alice and the guys. Annabelle’s dark eyes watch me like a hawk. I knew she was studying my reaction for any further details. Flipping through the folder, I try to ignore her gaze. There wasn’t any new information regarding Erik or Alice but it would have to be enough for King.
“Any idea when our electronic detective might be back?”
“He’s running an errand for King, a client needed some...detective work done on his wife’s computer,” she smiles sweetly and I chuckle.
“Kingston available?”
“Go right in,” she singsongs.
Nodding at her, I walk towards the large office door to her right. I knock hesitantly, before shaking off whatever is tormenting me about this meeting. This was Kingston, my brother in arms, what in the hell did I really have to worry about? I open the door to find him sitting behind a large desk, file folders in stacks around him. He motions for me to take a seat and adjusts the phone pressed against his ear. I sit, flipping through Sneak’s research again.
“Seth, got to let you go man,” he laughs into the phone. “I’ll have Max check
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