Page 52 of Missing Pieces (Brantley Walker: Off the Books #12)

Archer arrived at HQ an hour early for the meeting.

Not because he was an overachiever or wanted to impress the bosses—although that certainly wouldn’t hurt.

No, it wasn’t so much eagerness as it was a text from Darius letting him know he had some paperwork that needed to be taken care of so they could get him on the payroll immediately.

For a brief moment after reading that text, he considered telling Darius he had changed his mind.

He hadn’t changed his mind, but his mood had deteriorated after the incident at Spencer’s last night.

While he wasn’t one to dwell on things for long, Archer had spent a good portion of the night thinking about where he went wrong.

It wasn’t until the light of day that he realized he wasn’t at fault for that debacle.

It was Spencer who was putting up the roadblocks.

And last night, Archer realized that Spencer wasn’t on the same page as he was when it came to what they were looking for in a romantic encounter.

Hell, he wasn’t sure they were even reading from the same book.

At twenty-nine, Archer wasn’t interested in playing games, and he damn sure wasn’t looking to be manipulated. He was ready to settle down. He wanted to find what Simon had found with Violet, what Brantley and Reese had found with each other. He was no longer interested in the casual routine.

Sure, he was all for some sweaty, naked fun with a hot guy.

Who wasn’t? But he wasn’t interested in being shown the door afterward.

After last night, he was convinced that was the path Spencer was on.

He wasn’t sure they’d had a single conversation that didn’t involve Spencer bringing up sex. Or the lack thereof.

For fucks sake, they’d only been on three dates.

Well, two and a half since last night’s was a bust.

So, after his momentary pity party, Archer decided he would keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Sooner or later, he would find the guy he was meant to spend his life with.

The one who would open up about himself and let Archer in.

Or perhaps he was looking for something impossible, and he would be back on the casual sex bandwagon in a few months.

Either way, he wasn’t interested in having another mental debate.

Now, as he stood at the door of HQ and waited for someone to let him in, he shoved all thoughts of his romantic life—or lack thereof—to the back of his mind.

Finally, the door panel chirped, and the lock disengaged.

Not sure what to expect, he pulled the door open and stepped inside.

Archer was surprised to see people sitting at their desks, heads down, fingers flying over keyboards.

The couple of times he’d been there, he’d found more personal interactions taking place.

For some reason, he liked the idea of them having enough work to keep them busy like this, while at the same time, they could take a break to chat.

Having worked for Simon for so long, Archer spent most of his time on the road, rolling solo.

He was looking forward to having a team.

“Mornin’,” someone muttered.

“Look who it is,” another said.

Archer plastered on a smile. “Morning. Is Darius around?”

“He’s upstairs,” the redhead—he could not remember her name—said as she approached. “But I can help.”

Archer tried to flip through his memories for a tiny clue, but he couldn’t find one.

“Rebecca,” she said as though reading his mind. “Everyone calls me Becs.”

That’s right. Becs.

“Good morning, Becs,” he said, repeating her name in his head as he looked at her pretty features.

She pointed up to the loft. “Darius is workin’ on something, but he told me what paperwork he needed. It’s waiting for you at your desk.”

“My desk?” He had a desk? Awesome.

“Don’t sound surprised.” She pivoted on her heel and led the way to the back of the barn. “You weren’t planning to sit on the floor, were you?”

“Only if I had to.” He grinned, realizing the entire space had been restructured since he was there yesterday.

As in all the desks had been rearranged, and now there seemed to be more room.

How that was possible, he wasn’t sure because it looked like they had more stuff.

He noticed a few additional screens mounted on the long side wall, a few chairs clustered around a small round table, and a dark blue loveseat tucked under the stairs, ready and available should someone want to sit on it.

The big question was: when did they have time to do this? Last night? This morning?

“This is us,” Becs said, gesturing to a cluster of desks neatly arranged in the back corner.

There were five desks arranged in the shape of an I, with two on each end and one in the middle.

“Slade and Evan sit there,” she explained, pointing to the two desks they were passing before swinging her arm to the other side. “You and Atticus there. And I’m in the middle so I can support all four of you when needed.”

“Support?”

“I’m your research analyst. When you’re out in the field and need things, you’ll contact me. I can get you pretty much any information you need from here.”

He liked the idea since he’d spent most of his career doing the legwork himself. He was sure he still would do a good portion of it, but having support would help tremendously.

“Check it out,” Becs urged.

Because he saw no reason not to, Archer went to the empty desk and pulled out the large ergonomic chair. He eased into it and found it was far more comfortable than it looked. Plus, it was made for him—from the big and tall office supply store, he was sure.

“I don’t see the paperwork,” he told her as he wheeled himself forward, resting his elbows on his desk.

“That’s because it’s right here,” she said, hefting a box from beside her desk. “MacBook Pro. All set up and ready for you. Just log in.”

Amused, Archer opened the box and pulled out the laptop computer and the related accessories. When he flipped the lid up, the screen came on, asking for an email and password.

“It’s in the top drawer,” Becs told him from where she was sitting at her desk.

Within a minute, Archer was logged in and looking at the various applications on his home screen. He clicked the one for email, and there he found more instructions in the form of an email from Rebecca Richter, including details on how to set up a passcode for the door lock.

Glancing around to see that everyone was still working away, Archer decided there was no time like the present to get it taken care of.

Half an hour later, he had submitted every required form and was considering going through the case board instructions when the door opened and Brantley and Reese walked in with Tesha in tow.

As though it were routine, Tesha wound her way through, getting attention from everyone while Brantley and Reese said their good mornings, making their way to the back.

When Tesha approached his desk, Archer fought the urge to drop onto the floor and cuddle with her, choosing instead to give her head a scratch.

He was a dog lover, and he’d already fallen head over heels for her.

“Archer.”

Looking up from Tesha, he said “Brantley” in the same tone.

That earned him a smile.

“They get you all set up?”

“I’m an official team member now,” he said, gesturing toward the computer.

“Fucking fantastic,” Brantley muttered as though he hadn’t expected him to say that.

“Guess it’s a good day to start, huh?”

“You have no idea,” Brantley responded, glancing back at Reese, who was coming out of the kitchen with two cups of coffee.

“Morning,” Archer greeted Reese.

“Mornin’. You get a chance to talk to Simon about…” Reese waved a hand behind him.

“The meeting yesterday?” Archer shook his head. “We chatted for a while, but he was still tossing it around when I left. It wouldn’t surprise me if he stayed up all night and hashed it out with Holt, though.”

“I hope he did,” Brantley said. “We’re gonna need some direction, and if the team decides to take this case, I don’t want to waste a minute.”

Archer was about to ask him which part he was referring to when the door opened again. Ryan Trexler and Zachariah Tavoularis strolled in, Decker Bromwell right behind them, looking like a man walking into the chamber for his lethal injection.

At that point, talk about the case was put on hold as they waited for everyone to arrive.

Jay Rodriguez came over with Charlotte Miller, aka Charlie, so that Archer could be formally introduced to her.

He appreciated Jay doing the introduction since he’d forgotten the man’s name already.

Luca Switzer took a minute to say good morning, and shortly after that, Elana and Darius came downstairs, both greeting him with smiles.

More introductions—or rather re-introductions took place as people trickled in. Archer was grateful as it gave him another chance to put faces with names.

Holly appeared from somewhere, looking both dreamy-eyed and nervous, though Archer wasn’t sure why.

He attempted to put her at ease by asking how she liked working with her brother.

Evidently, at least according to Holly, Luca was a pain in the backside.

Based on the smirk he saw Luca flash, the man was well aware of his reputation.

Evan walked in, and Archer noticed his gaze shot directly to Becs, but he quickly rerouted his attention when she looked up at him. Interesting. The former detective recovered nicely when he plastered on a neutral expression and walked over.

“You on board full time yet?”

“I am,” Archer confirmed, shaking the man’s hand. “Starting today.”

“That’s really good news. We’ve got a great team. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

Archer did, too, but he merely nodded, letting Evan get on with his day.

“Is Baz comin’?” Brantley asked, his question directed at Darius.

“He is. Said he might be a couple minutes late. JJ’s also gonna join via phone.”