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CHAPTER TWO

“Are ya freakin’ kiddin’ me?”

It took a great deal of willpower not to look. Despite Ryden’s growls and curses carrying from across the floor, Jay kept his eyes on his book. He congratulated himself on not lifting his gaze at the sound of heavy boot stomps approaching his desk.

King’s office faced the front of the open plan office floor, which meant Jay’s desk did as well, since it was just outside and to the right of King’s office door. Jay could see everything that happened in the office at all times.

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

Jay held a finger up, finished reading his sentence, and leisurely placed his bookmark between the pages. He then put the book on his desk and looked up at Ryden.

“Is there something I can help you with, Mr. Foster?”

“For one, stop callin’ me Mr. Foster. Makes me sound like a kindergarten teacher about to hand out apple slices and juice boxes. Two, I know you’re the one responsible for this nonsense.”

Jay blinked at him. “You forget where we work. You’ll have to be more specific about the nonsense you are referring to.”

“Fair enough, but you know what I’m talkin’ about. What did you do to my computer?”

“Me?” Jay fluttered his lashes. “I don’t know what you mean. I haven’t touched your computer.” And he hadn’t.

“You don’t have to touch my computer,” Ryden hissed. “You probably just batted your lashes and got someone in Cyber to mess with it.”

That he had done.

Every email Ryden received in his inbox over the last week addressed him by a different name, which changed daily. The best part was that the whole office went along with whatever his name was that day. Jay loved every minute of it.

With perfect timing, as usual, Joker appeared and handed Ryden a tablet. “Hey, Rydell, I need you to sign this.”

Jay pressed his lips together to hold back a laugh. The indignation on Ryden’s face brought Jay so much joy, more than his morning salted caramel cream cold brew and chocolate croissant.

“Really?” Ryden swiped the tablet from Joker, signed the form, and then shoved it back at him.

Ace stopped next to Joker and grinned at Ryden. “Hey, Marine. What’s the word? Is it Grease ? Is Grease the word?”

“Ha ha. Y’all are so hilarious.” Ryden turned to Jay and thrust a finger at him. “I know it was you.” He spun and marched off toward the staff room, probably to get another much-needed coffee. Joker held his fist out to Jay, who bumped it before everyone returned to work.

To his right, someone released a heavy sigh. Jay was so familiar with everyone at the office that he didn’t even have to look to know who it was.

Jay smiled brightly. “Good morning, Mason.” He swiveled his chair and chuckled at Mason’s arched eyebrow.

“Certainly seems to be for you.” He motioned to King’s office, and Jay followed, closing King’s office door behind him. He sat in one of the comfy chairs before King’s desk and pulled out his phone to take notes.

On Monday mornings, Jay met with King to review the week’s schedule, make any necessary changes or updates, address any issues from the previous week, and discuss new tasks. Since King was still on his honeymoon with his husband, Leo, Mason was officially in charge.

“How long has it been?” Mason drawled.

Jay was lost. “How long has it been since what?”

“Since that night.” Mason gave him a pointed look.

“Oh, how long has it been since that night?”

It had been months. A lot had happened in that time. Well, with the Kings, not Jay. Sadly, nothing had changed in Jay’s life in months. And that was fine. Who needed change? He’d changed his coffee and wardrobe, and that was plenty for him.

In the few months since that night, Saint had moved in with Val, Joker had broken his leg and healed, Lucky had almost died in a snowmobile incident, Ace and Colton had gotten a puppy, several employees at Four Kings Security had been promoted, and King had gotten married.

It was a beautiful ceremony, and Jay was so happy he’d been able to attend via video.

Leo truly was a genius. Ugh, Jay needed to start dating again.

What was he waiting for anyway? It had been way too long since he’d hooked up with someone.

“Jay?”

Jay snapped himself out of it. Yikes! He was not one to have his head in the clouds at work.

Focus . “Sorry. Lamenting my very boring life choices. The answer to your question is, it’s been months, and if you’re about to tell me it’s time to forgive him, the answer is no.

” Mason would have to pry his pettiness from his cold, dead hands.

“I was going to say no such thing. He made his bed and now he’s gotta lie in it. What I was gonna say is, how long are you two gonna keep this feud up? It’s been goin’ on since the day he started working here, and if it gets any worse, our insurance premium is gonna go up. Again.”

Jay shrugged. “I don’t know. How much longer do you think he’ll continue to annoy me?”

“So what you’re saying is, this is gonna go on ’till the day we all retire. Good to know.” Mason sighed. “And here I thought Lucky was stubborn.”

Funny. Lucky often said the same thing about Mason.

The two shouldn’t have worked, what with them being so hotheaded and stubborn, but they did, and it was sweet.

But Lucky and Mason were nothing like Jay and Ryden because Lucky and Mason were adults.

Ryden was a big man-child with no sense of self-preservation when it came to Jay.

Mason tapped away at the keyboard, and Jay pulled up his task manager app. It was time to get to work and forget about the annoying Marine and his equally annoying mischievous smile. Ugh, why ? Stop it!

“Looks like Jack added a new client over the weekend, so I’ll need you to get all the documents together for him.

Our usual shipments are coming in on Thursday, and the Warner event has moved venues, so more paperwork.

As soon as that’s finalized, schedule Red for the new risk assessment.

Speaking of Red, when you’re done here, he wants to see you to review schedules and reassign people.

The event he just finished running a risk assessment on doubled in size at the last minute, which means more security.

The family has added a new employee, and since he’s connected to the client and his family, we were instructed that vetting was unnecessary. You know how Red feels about that.”

Yep. Red hated when there were unknown variables. Too unpredictable. A clause was added to the contract in instances like this. Four Kings Security would not be liable because a client hired their family member and excluded them from the vetting process.

“Got it,” Jay replied, adding all the necessary tasks and reminders in his app.

They moved employees around all the time.

Flexibility was key to working at Four Kings Security because clients and events were often unpredictable, especially in Florida, where in the middle of summer, a hurricane could pop up, and suddenly, everyone was scrambling to move things up sooner or reschedule for later.

Not an easy task when hundreds or even thousands of people were scheduled to fill a large venue.

In this case, Jay had to familiarize himself with the client and the contract to find the right agents for the job.

New contracts had been signed over the last few days, along with potential clients who’d emailed their interest in a consultation, so Jay would have to schedule appointments for all of them.

Then there were the clients who were likely to call to reschedule or speak to whoever was in charge of their security.

“Did you order the treats?” Mason asked without an ounce of sarcasm.

“Last week,” Jay confirmed.

When working with K-9s, a lack of treats would lead to an uprising. No one wanted to be out of treats while on the job.

“Those pups are bigger divas than every employee here,” Mason said, this time amused.

Jay nodded. “Never come between Chip and his freeze-dried lamb liver.”

Bacon was Chip’s favorite, but Joker wasn’t about to work an event with real bacon in his pockets. It had not gone well for the last security agent who tried that. He learned the difference between a Belgian Malinois and a German Shepherd real fast.

After reviewing everything on his schedule for that week, Jay left King’s office to start his day. Several agents on the floor had left for jobs in the field, while others were scheduled for training downstairs, leaving only a few in the office.

It was Jay’s job to know everyone’s schedules.

Unsurprisingly, the most challenging part of his job was knowing where the Kings and Wild Cards were throughout the day.

Correction. Where Ace, Lucky, and Joker were throughout the day.

The others tended to be where they were supposed to be. Most of the time.

Joker was in his office because he wasn’t scheduled for an event until later that night.

Jack was out with Cybersecurity agents, working from the surveillance truck.

Red was in his office and would be at his event later that afternoon.

Jay sighed. Of course, he had no idea where Ace and Lucky were.

Ace had been in his office earlier, but his door was open, and it was quiet inside.

Everyone knew when the cousins were in the building. There was no way of not knowing. Jay finished making a few notes at his computer before heading into Red’s office.

“Do you know where Ace and Lucky are? They have a training session in half an hour.” Jay sat in the chair in front of Red’s desk.

Red shook his head as he tapped away at his keyboard. “I don’t know. They ran out of here like their asses were on fire, saying something about flan. I couldn’t understand the rest.”