Page 4

When Lucky and Ace didn’t want the other Kings to know what they were up to, they spoke in rapid-fire Spanish, because even though the Kings and Wild Cards all spoke several languages, it was different when native speakers decided to speak at the speed of light. The cousins used it to their advantage.

The inside of Red’s office was a stark contrast to King’s.

There was a soft, calming, cozy feel. He had a diffuser running with essential oils, his couch had a big fluffy blanket and throw pillows.

The walls were painted a soft bluish gray, and several potted plants filled the room.

The office also received the most natural light on this floor.

It was all very zen. King’s office was very functional and practical. Well, mostly.

When King and Leo got together, quirky items started to appear in King’s office, like packets of Goldfish Crackers, a Lego Super Mario Piranha Plant, and socks with a Swedish Fish pattern. Jay smiled whenever he walked into King’s office and saw something new Leo had left behind.

“Okay. I need five extra security agents for this afternoon,” Red said. He leaned back in his chair. “You think we can swing that?”

Jay tapped away at his phone and brought up the office calendar.

He filtered for anyone classed as a security agent and looked through those to find who would make the best fit.

“We can do that,” Jay replied. “Rodriguez and Saint were scheduled for training this afternoon. We can reschedule them. Hill is in inventory today, so we can reschedule him. Stevens was scheduled to work later today anyway, so I can call him and see if he can come in earlier. One more.” He scanned the list of names, and one name not on the list popped into his head.

Oh. No, he shouldn’t. He couldn’t. He smiled at Red.

“Ryden is free today.”

Red’s eyebrows shot up. “Ryden?”

“Yep. I mean, he has experience with this sort of thing.” Jay didn’t move his gaze away from Red’s, and he could tell Red was thinking really hard about his life choices. Say yes, say yes, say yes.

“Fine, but you’re breaking the news to him.”

Jay resisted the urge to jump out of his chair with a cheer. Instead, he stood calmly. “It would be my pleasure.”

Red hummed. “I’m sure. Oh, and you’re going to need this.” He opened his desk drawer and removed a giant binder. “Yep, it’s one of those.” He slid the binder to Jay.

This day couldn’t get any better. Jay picked up the binder and practically skipped out onto the office floor.

Ryden was at his computer and lifted his head, his eyes narrowed.

With a composed expression, Jay sat behind his desk, placed the binder on the floor next to his chair, and met Ryden’s gaze.

He crooked his finger, motioning for Ryden to come over.

The suspicion on Ryden’s face was priceless.

“What?” Ryden asked when he stopped in front of Jay. “What’s that look for?”

“What look?” Jay batted his lashes.

Ryden groaned. “What’d you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.” Jay tapped at his keyboard, and Ryden’s phone pinged a heartbeat later. “You’ve been assigned a last-minute job.”

“What?” Ryden tapped his phone screen, most likely opening the client file Jay had just given him access to. “What is this?”

“You’re now working the Angelica Rusticucci party.”

“I’m sorry, who?”

“Angelica Rusticucci,” Jay repeated. He waited, knowing exactly how Ryden would react.

“Angelica rusty cu?—”

“Really? What are you, twelve?” Jay slammed the thick binder on his desk in front of Ryden, making him jump.

“You have to admit, it’s an unfortunate surname.” Ryden waggled his eyebrows, but Jay ignored him. He was not going to laugh. Or smile. Or anything.

“Considering the man she married is worth billions,” Jay said, opening the binder. “I’m sure she’s over it.”

Ryden tapped the top page. “I hope whatever’s in here is worth the destruction of a small forest.”

“Cordelia—Angelica’s mother-in-law—seems to think so.”

The suspicion was back, and so it should be. Ryden eyed Jay, and Jay’s grin was evil as Ryden flipped through the sleeve-protected pages, his eyes widening with every page he flipped through.

“No,” Ryden groaned.

“Yes.”

“This is…this is a nightmare.” Ryden’s head shot up. “ You did this.”

Jay gasped and put a hand to his chest. “I beg your pardon, but are you suggesting that I would be so petty and vindictive as to convince Red that you would be perfect for this job because of your vast ranching experience and ability to connect with children between the ages of eleven and thirteen?”

Ryden narrowed his eyes.

“Why, yes. Yes, I am,” Jay replied. “Congratulations! You’re invited to Ainsley Rusticucci’s Roar-some Dinosaur Ranch.

You’ll find the guest list on page 50, and the birthday boy’s friends take up pages 59 through 63.

I’ve taken the initiative and given Cordelia and Angelica your number.

” He smiled sweetly. “Maybe they’ll give you some birthday cake. ”

Ryden grumbled something under his breath, grabbing the binder and marching back to his desk.

He dropped down into his chair and opened the binder.

His facial expressions as he went through the pages were epic, ranging from horror to bafflement.

The man couldn’t hide his thoughts to save his life.

At one point, Jay had to turn his head and put a hand over his mouth to keep his chuckle from turning into full-blown laughter. This was going to be ah-mazing .

Jay made several phone calls and appointments, spoke with the agents Red needed that afternoon, updated their schedules, gave them access to the client folder, and when lunch time rolled around, he was practically done with his to-do list. When he glanced up, Ryden wasn’t at his desk.

The binder was still there, so he couldn’t have gone far. Didn’t matter. It was time for lunch.

Jay opened his top desk drawer to grab his wallet when something black moved inside.

What the—? He took a peek and something in the back of the drawer scurried .

Jay shrieked and flew out of his chair so fast that he sent it tumbling across the floor.

In his panic to escape whatever horror had invaded his space, he didn’t realize his reaction had activated all the former military personnel on the floor.

“What happened?” Lucky asked, Ace on his heels, Saint and Joker behind them.

Jay thrust a finger at his desk drawer. “Burn it! Set it on fire!”

“What?” Joker crouched down and peeked inside the open drawer. “I don’t see—Oh. Looks like there’s a spider or something back there.” He stood and arched an eyebrow at Jay. “Really?”

“Burn it,” Jay insisted, hiding behind Lucky. “I’m sure we have some accelerant in the building.”

Mason walked over. “No one is settin’ anything on fire.”

“In that case, I’ll start looking for available commercial properties, research listings, book a moving company, and order packing supplies.

” Jay did not do bugs, especially roaches and anything that resembled them.

Angry-looking spiders? Hell no. Jumping spiders were cute.

On Instagram. Where they couldn’t touch him. Nope. No way.

“Jay,” Mason said, his tone gentle as he put his hands on Jay’s shoulders. “Breathe.”

Breathe? Breathe? Cowboy was high if he thought Jay would breathe anywhere near that thing. Just in case, he shielded his mouth with his hand. He’d seen Aliens .

“There is a hideous, multi-legged thing in my desk that clearly crawled out of some hellmouth.” He gasped as a horrible thought occurred to him.

“What if it laid eggs in my desk? Oh God.” He gagged.

“What if they’re about to hatch and we’re going to be swarmed by thousands of them!

” Where was his peppermint rollerball? Ugh, it was in his desk!

He was going to be sick. Wait, he had some nausea meds…

fuck they were in his desk! “This can’t be happening. This can’t?—”

Laughter drew his attention.

No. Noooooo way.

He wouldn’t.

Jay met Ryden’s gaze. The man’s lips curled into a wicked grin, and Jay lost. His. Shit. He shrieked and launched forward, only to be caught around the waist by Mason.

“Asshole! I’m going to murder you!”

Mason sighed. “Ry, come on, man.”

“What?” Ryden blinked innocently, but no one was buying it. With a chuckle, Ryden got up and walked toward the desk. “It ain’t even real.”

Jay stopped struggling against Mason. “What?”

“It ain’t real, sweetheart. It’s a fake Halloween spider.” Ryden reached into the desk drawer and pulled out something furry and black. He held the spider up by one leg as it moved. “Battery powered.”

When Jay was in Red’s office, Ryden must have put it in his drawer.

He clicked a button, and the spider stopped moving.

Then the bastard threw it at him. Jay squeaked and jumped behind Mason.

The toy spider bounced off Mason and hit the floor, landing on its back.

Ryden pressed the button so its legs started moving again.

Jay was not taking any chances. Ryden laughed on his way back to his desk.

“Laugh it up, Marine,” Jay said, giving the mechanical arachnid a wide berth as he marched to pick up his chair and drag it back to his desk. He grabbed his wallet and headed for the elevator. “I’m going to lunch! I’ll bring you back some crayons to snack on!”

“Oh, shit!” Joker barked out a loud laugh, Lucky and Ace joining him.

The elevator doors pinged and slid open. Jay stepped inside, and when the doors closed, he smiled because he didn’t need to plot revenge for the spider. Ryden was working at a wealthy child’s birthday party this afternoon, one with video surveillance.

Knowing Ryden the way Jay did, this was going to be fun.