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“Maybe,” Kate said, pacing as she chewed her lip. “Who am I if I’m not a doctor?”
Cara snorted. “I’m dying to figure out who I am. I can’t be this shell of a woman anymore. I want the action and the romance and?—”
“You already have the romance,” Claire retorted.
“Yes, but is it still with Mark? Think about it,” I said pointedly. They all cocked their heads curiously like prairie dogs. “If our occupations—or our essence—is all because of what Giulia made us, then maybe our attraction to the men in our lives isn’t real either. Maybe they’re not who we’re meant to be with at all.”
“She’s right,” Kate said, turning to me and gripping my arms. “I’ve only ever known Knight, but what if I’m not meant to be with him? What if…I’m meant to be with…with Derek?” She grimaced at the thought. “God, I hope he doesn’t really wear tights all the time.”
“Hey! That’s my husband you’re talking about,” Claire snapped. “And I happen to think he looks good in tights.”
“Oh, he does,” Cara smirked. “I’ve seen his package and boy is it?—”
“Would you stop drooling over my book husband?” Claire snapped. “Until we figure out exactly what’s going on, you can’t go around fantasizing about other men.”
“You’re not in my head,” Cara grinned. “And right now, I’m imagining Derek in his Batman costume.”
Claire gasped and lunged, but I stepped in front, stopping her from attacking her friend. “Alright! Ladies, we need to pull ourselves together. Fighting right now isn’t going to make things better. Claire, she can’t help that she’s discovering who she really is. And Cara,” I said, spinning around to face her, grimacing when I saw the look of pure lust on her face. “Pull it together. This isn’t the time to start spontaneously orgasming.”
Cara’s face drooped. “Why would she take that away from me?”
“Probably because the men of Reed Security are supposed to be one-woman men, and if you’re fucking everything in sight, that makes it a little difficult for the storylines to play out. Now, can we get to work?”
“We already set everything,” Kate pointed out. “What more is there to do?”
“Set the charges and watch it all implode,” I grinned. “Grab your tits, ladies. We’re about to have some fun.”
Kate cupped her breasts, looking at me awkwardly. “Um…what does this do?”
I rolled my eyes, seeing where this was going. Kate was a doctor at Reed Security, but dumb as fuck in stasis. “We’d better run.”
I grabbed the last of the charges and raced away from the building, hiding behind some trees. In the distance, I could see Rob running from the building, Hunter and Craig were on his tail, chasing him down as if hell was nipping at their heels.
“Are you ready for this?” Claire asked excitedly.
“Oh, I was born ready for this.”
When they got close enough, I flipped the switch and watched as an explosion took out half the building, crumbling to the ground.
“Uh…Rob’s going to move, right?” Claire asked.
“Yeah.” Another charge went off and another section of the building exploded, crashing down around Rob. He looked up just as a giant section fell right on top of him, squishing him underneath. I winced, watching as Hunter and Craig stared on in disbelief.
“Look out!” Claire stood, shouting at the top of her lungs.
But instead of running away, they looked in our direction, which turned out to be a fatal mistake when the rest of the building fell on them, burying them underneath.
Claire flinched beside me. “That…wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“What a bunch of idiots,” I hissed, getting to my feet. “Who runs right at a building when it’s exploding?”
“I would say our men,” Cara piped up, “but I don’t think it’s for the same reasons they do it when Giulia’s writing.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking they did it out of stupidity,” Claire agreed.
“Maybe we can just inflate them,” Kate piped up. “You know, like blow-up dolls.”
Crap, this was going to be an adjustment. I was used to the people I worked with on a daily basis, but everything was changing now. How was I supposed to deal with this level of stupidity?