16
S he wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting from a place called a mess, but it wasn’t organized chaos. It looked like a canteen or an all-you-can-eat restaurant, with a food counter running down one side. The tables were spread out and filled with people. She followed Caleb to the food counter, and her eyes widened. “That’s a lot of food.”
“There’s a lot of us, and most of us are growing boys who eat a heck of a lot.” He grinned at her. “Pick what you want. It’s all free. Part of the perks I told you about earlier.”
“I prefer this to the plane.” She took the tray he offered and picked up a plate. “Imagine never having to worry about cooking again.”
“Are you telling me you can’t cook?”
Was he teasing her? Well, two could play that game. “Says Mr. Grilled Cheese.”
“Hah.” He started loading his plate and hers with food when she’d only grabbed a portion of some kind of savory pie. How many people did he think she was eating for? Ten, maybe a dozen, apparently, because he wasn’t done with adding potatoes, vegetables, or even what looked like stuffing balls. But he also grabbed dessert and put half the plates on her tray and the other half on his. “Umm, are we stocking up for a famine?”
“Nah, but if you want seconds, there might not be any left.” He led her across the floor to a table with some free chairs.
She returned Becky’s smile, placed her laden tray on the table, and slid into a chair next to her, breathing out a sigh of relief when Caleb took the spot next to her.
“Girl, thank Gawd you are here,” Becky whispered. “Because there is so much hawt testosterone in this room, I need some queens to help balance it out.”
She never thought she’d say there could be too many hot men in one place, but kudos to Becky for calling it. There were way too many of them. She scanned the room. “Is smokin’ hot a requirement to work here?”
Becky snickered. “Right? Because there isn’t an ugly one in the bunch.” She munched on a French fry. “Now, if you’re talkin’ messed up ones, those we’ve got a whole bunch of, starting with the one next to you.”
I knew it. He was too perfect.
She side-eyed Caleb. “What’s wrong with him?” She couldn’t wait to hear Becky’s answer. “Do I need to run?”
“No more running.” Caleb glared at Kentucky. “Control your woman, Smith.”
“Hah.” Kentucky rested his hand on Becky’s back. “Not a chance. She rules me, not the other way around.”
“Pussy.”
“Shut it, Tate,” Kentucky smirked across the table at the man seated opposite Caleb. “Your turn will come, and we,” he gestured to Caleb, and then himself, “will make sure to remind you of the stupid shit which comes out of your mouth.”
“Never gonna happen.”
Someone had sealed their fate. Never tempt that bitch, because she’ll bite you in the ass every single time.
“Now he’s done it,” Becky quipped. “We’re gonna need a bigger table like Alpha team to accommodate Tate’s future wife.”
Rose giggled as the rest of them laughed and teased Tate. She should have been eating—she was hungry, but she was fascinated by the dynamics of the room. She’d expected for it to be mostly men, and it was; however, the number of women also at the tables surprised her. “Are all the women wives, girlfriends, or…?” she whispered to Becky.
“Some, not all.” Becky reached for a bottle of wine in the center of the table, but Kentucky beat her to it and topped up her glass.
“Would you like some wine, Rose?”
She shook her head and smiled. “No, thank you.” How come she hadn’t met men like these before? Ones who'd obviously taken a Susan Stoker Alpha Hero and Manners class. Men across the country should be lining up for that class, or at least to read Susan’s books to get an idea of how a woman should be treated and looked after. There would be far fewer assholes like Janek if A Susan Stoker Special became a standard class for boys and men everywhere. “I appreciate the offer, though.”
“You’re welcome.” Kentucky settled back in his seat next to Becky, clearly content to let her chatter and do her thing.
“Aria is our sniper.” Becky pointed out a woman seated at a table alongside Dalton’s wife, Lina. Becky lowered her voice and whispered, “She’s as badass as Lina but a bit prickly. If she’s a bitch to you, bite back, and soon you’ll be besties.”
Umm, not sure about that. I’ll just stay away from her and see what happens.
She hated confrontation and tried to avoid it at all costs.
“Are you okay?” Caleb whispered in her ear, and she shivered for a different reason. “Do you want to leave? Because we can bring our food back to my place. Kace will give us a go-box.”
“No, no.” She turned toward him and paused. She hadn’t expected his mouth to be right there. She licked her suddenly dry lips and raised her eyes to meet his. “I’m okay,” she whispered. “I promise. Becky is fun. She’s just telling me who’s who, and it’s a lot.”
“Okay.” The corners of his eyes crinkled. “If it’s too much, tell me, and we’ll leave.”
She nodded and turned back to her new friend. “Sorry…”
“Girl, I’m never gonna bitch about you having a moment with your man?—”
“He’s not?—”
“Maybe not yet.” Becky winked, mischief all over her face. “But he will be. Because I’d hit that.” Kentucky growled, and Becky patted his cheek. “Shh, I’m fishing.”
“You mean you’d hit it with a skillet? Or maybe a bus?” The snark she’d buried for way too long decided now would be an awesome time to be reborn, and the quip escaped through her lips before she even had time to think the words in her head. “Do bullets count as ‘hitting that,’ too?”
“I’m offended.” Humor laced throughout Caleb’s voice was the only thing that kept her from covering her face with her hands or sliding under the table to hide. “Should I be offended?” he asked nobody in particular.
“I would be, man,” the fourth man at the table told him seriously. “Maybe your lady would prefer to stay at my house instead.”
“Eww, no. Not a chance.”
Shit.
I said that.
Out freaking loud.
Oh my God.
She could never come here for food again. Caleb would have to hit up his brother to organize a delivery system. They were all laughing at her.
“I knew it.” Becky chortled. “I freaking like you.” She nudged her with her elbow. “While the boys are ribbing each other, let me fill you in on the others here. You met Lina at the wedding, right? Dalton’s wife?”
“Yes.”
“I pointed out Snow—Aria,” she corrected. “On the other side of her is Lily. Lily’s Rexar’s wife. Did you meet her?”
She shook her head. “I’ve met Rexar and RJ, though.”
“Awesome. And I know you know Willow because she was on the plane with us, too. Then there’s Eedana and Adalyn.” She pointed out the other two men. “Eedana is Logan’s?—”
“She owns Bison?”
“Yes, that’s her. Adalyn belongs with Rory, and they have a little boy, Sam, who’s probably out causing chaos with RJ.”
“I’m never going to remember everyone.” She didn’t understand why, if she was only going to be here for a few days, she needed to know everyone. But she didn’t want to be mean to Becky. In a different world, she could easily see them becoming friends. But long-term friends weren’t going to be possible for her.
Maybe Caleb and these people can figure out a way to help me escape Janek without me losing everything again.
For the first time in a long time, a spark became a flame, and the flame warmed her from the inside out… hope. She really hoped it wasn’t like fate, and if you tempted it, it wouldn’t betray you as fate would.
“Are you listening?” Becky nudged her.
“Sorry, my mind wandered.” She stuffed a mouthful of food into her mouth and chewed. “It does that sometimes. I don’t mean to be rude.”
“Eh, girlfriend, all this hawtness around, it short circuits the brain at times. You’ll get used to it.” She grinned when her husband growled at her again, and Becky’s cheeks reddened. She elbowed him hard, then cleared her throat and pointed out someone else. “The dark-haired woman at the back of the room is in training. The bosses haven’t decided what team she’s on yet, but possibly Delta team.” She obviously recognized the confusion on her face and tagged on, “Alpha Team is where Lina and the others are. This is Bravo, that’s Charlie, and Delta is all about girl power.”
She was so confused.
“Delta team is mostly women who have a unique skill set,” Caleb supplied in her other ear.
How curious.
“What skillset?”
He chuckled softly, his breath warm against her ear. “I can’t tell you that without clearance.”
That’s a movie reference, right? Or maybe that’s, ‘if I tell you I’ll have to kill you.’
“Okay.”
“Dalton,” he explained, “isn’t like most contractors in this business. He doesn’t care if the operator is male or female. If they can do the job he needs filling, then he’ll hire the best there is. This job can be hella sexist at times. But here, he’ll kick a man to the curb just as fast as he would a female. Mission first. The only exception to that is family. He’ll put family first and go balls to the wall to keep our wives, partners, and kids safe.”
“He sounds like a good man.”
“In this industry, it’s the good men willing to do bad things in any hell hole on earth to survive.”
There was a warning in his words. She thought he was telling her he was a good man, but not everything he’d done was something she or any civilian would typically approve of. She nodded and went back to her food, using it to cover her thoughts while she tried to figure out if that was what he meant. She could ask him about it later, she decided, or she could ask Becky. She might tell her.
From under her eyelashes, she could see the people at what Becky had called the Alpha table getting to their feet, and one of the women was making a beeline to their table.
“Hi.” She stopped right next to Rose. “I’m Lily, RJ’s mom. I just wanted to say I’m so sorry he nearly ran you over on the four-wheeler…”
“It’s okay, he missed.” It was nice of her to come over. “His dad handled it. I’m Rose.”
“Rexar is still figuring out the dad thing.” Lily’s smile was sad, as if it hurt to admit that. “And RJ that he has to answer to someone who isn’t me. But they are getting there.”
There was a story behind that comment, but she didn’t want Lily worrying that she was upset or angry at her son.
“Serious, no harm done.” She nudged Caleb. “Tell her, Caleb.”
“It’s good, Lil’, he came close, but to be fair, we stepped off the porch. He couldn’t have known we’d do that.”
Her cheeks heated. Caleb hadn’t stepped off the porch. She had.
She opened her mouth to apologize but snapped it shut when Lily’s face brightened.
“Thank you.” Lily smiled. “I’ll tell Rexar to reduce the number of stalls he has to clean. It won’t hurt him to know actions have consequences, especially when there’s a vehicle involved.” She turned her head when Rexar called her name from the door. “I gotta go. I’ll come over tomorrow evening, and we can get to know each other better.”
Rose watched as she hurried across the room, and her husband tugged her against his side, pressing a kiss to her temple.
Caleb pulled me close like that.
It doesn’t mean anything.
Don’t even think it.
We are not them.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“Um—nothing.”
She was saved from answering further by Kacey coming out of the kitchen carrying a plate of food. He waved to the men on Charlie team’s table and jerked his chin toward the one they sat at. She realized he must be telling them he was going to sit with them. He sat in an empty seat between the two men across from them. She realized he and Caleb looked very similar, but one was dark and the other light.
They are brothers, so it makes sense.
“Thank you. Kacey, right?”
He nodded. “Thanks for what?”
“The food, dinner.” Crap, did she screw up again? But she’d started, so she might as well finish. “As someone who doesn’t like to cook, I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” He jabbed his fork around the table. “I like her. Nobody else thinks of thanking me for feeding them. She does.” He glared at Caleb. “Keep her, and don’t fuck it up.”
“Bastard.”
“I might not be very good in the cooking department…” It was nice to offer, right? “But I can wash a plate like a boss.” Thank you, cash-in-hand jobs at way too many restaurants to count. “If you need help in the kitchen, I can do that.” At least if she had something to do, she wouldn’t feel like she was taking advantage of Nemesis Inc.’s kindness.
Kacey chewed on a forkful of food and studied her as if trying to decide if she was serious or not. “Not tonight, but feel free to run into the kitchen if you need something or you get bored. For now. Just chill, and if my brother pisses you off, come find me, and I’ll straighten him out.”
She made a mental note to come over when she knew she was allowed to and offer to help again. “Thank you. I’ll do that.”