Hostile Territory (Blackbridge Security 1)

We all nod in agreement as Wren’s fingers work their magic on his keyboard.

“Is this real life?” he mutters when a smiling woman’s face fills the largest screen of the three he has in front of him.

“Major has great tits!” Puff Daddy squawks.

“Major?” Brooks asks before I can, but it’s clear we aren’t the only two confused looking at the purple-haired girl on the screen.

“A character from Ghost in the Shell,” Jude explains which draws every eye in the room.

“You into anime porn, too?” Wren asks, with weird hopeful surprise.

“I’m into Scarlett Johansson, not anime,” Jude amends.

“Can we get back to what’s really important?” Finnegan prods. “Who is that chick?”

“Whitney Nelson,” Wren says as he turns back to the screen. “The W. Nelson in apartment 913. They gave me her box of stuff.”

“You have to return it,” I tell him.

We all laugh at his discomfort when he turns back around to glare at me.

This little incident couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve spent way too much time acting like an asshole, and thankfully when I find Gaige later to apologize, he just slaps me on the back and tells me to get fucked. Ah, now life is back to order.Chapter 36Anna

“We should do this more often,” I tell Dani as I bring my fourth, or is it fifth, martini to my lips for a long sip.

Dani doesn’t respond. She’s bopping her head to a tune that isn’t even close to the slow jazz playing through the hidden speakers of the lounge.

This is the first time we’ve gone out together since we got back from the Maldives over a month ago. I’ve barely seen her in passing and was shocked when she knocked on my door earlier, asking me to go out.

“How have things been with you?” Slowly, she rolls her head in my direction.

We’re both tipsy, filling our time with tossing back drinks rather than actually catching up on girl talk, something she used as the reason for wanting to hang out tonight.

“I’m still fucking broke,” she mutters, holding her hand in the air to flag a waitress after she drains her drink.

“I can ask Dad about a job at the firm,” I offer. “You graduated with a business degree same as me.”

“Work?” she scoffs, and it makes my hackles rise.

I’ve taken an entry level position at my dad’s office, and I have to say I’m enjoying myself even though I’m not much more than an errand girl right now. He may have spotted me the job, but he doesn’t believe in nepotism. I’m going to have to work my ass off before I can advance.

“I’m not going to work.” She rolls her eyes, giving a lazy glance to the guy across the room that’s been trying to get her attention. The man doesn’t stand a chance. The Brooks Brothers suit he’s wearing may turn eyes for other women, but anything short of Brioni wouldn’t impress her.

“I love my job there,” I interject.

“Well, you’re more suited for manual labor.”

I could argue that it doesn’t even come close to manual labor, but she’s never listened to me before.

Conversation once again comes to a standstill, and she doesn’t speak again until we’ve both downed two more drinks.

“I can’t believe I gave up Deacon, and I’m still poor.”

The words come out as a self-reflection rather than a conversation starter, but she has my complete drunken attention. There are two concerns at play here, so I address the one that could cut me the worst first.

“You still love him?”

She huffs again, and it’s one of the disrespectful reactions I’ve come to expect from her lately.

“Love?” Another eye roll. “Deacon was the best lay I’ve ever had until Nikolay came along. Now that Russian god knows how to make a woman purr.”

“Deacon was the love of your life,” I remind her.

“I never said that.” Her words are low and indignant, the slur of her tone almost enough to make me believe her.

“Yes, you did. Numerous times. At the aquarium, at prom, and about a thousand other times.” I’m blaming the extensive alcohol intake for being unable to just leave well enough alone.

“In high school?”

She actually laughs at me, or maybe she’s laughing at the idea, but I keep my mouth shut. If there’s anything I’ve learned about Dani, it’s that she loves to hear her own voice, and that need only increases when she’s been drinking.

“No one finds their true love in high school, Anna.”

I could argue with her. My parents fell in love in school and have been married for decades, happily to boot.

“I felt more for Nikolay than I ever did Deacon. Hell, I still do and that man tried to kill me.”

The waitress delivers fresh drinks, and I reach for mine faster than any self-respecting woman should, but even with the copious amount I’ve consumed already, it isn’t even close to being enough to deal with what she’s telling me.