“I’m okay,” he muttered, even though he was sure he was blind in his left eye. Did slushies cause blindness? You’d think those kids from Glee would have all needed canes or seeing-eye dogs if that were true.
He laughed out loud, but quickly cut it off as Lucifer’s nails dug into his arm. “Do you think this is funny? Do you know how hard I had to work to get you back on top again? This will ruin you. How did they even get that footage? What were you thinking?”
Elijah just let her talk. There was no use attempting to defend himself when she was on a tear. Better to just let her talk it through.
“Where the hell is Paige? We need to figure out how to spin this. Fuck. This is a disaster. You’ve ruined everything.”
Elijah would have laughed again if he didn’t think it would get him murdered. Lucifer reallyneeded to work on her tough-love approach. Had he ruined everything? Was his career over? He didn’t think so… but deep down, some secret part of him hoped it was true.
“Jesus, Calder. Just stop fucking our clients. Is that too much to ask?”
Jayne Shepherd tilted his head at the scene unfolding before him. He lingered in the doorway, not ready to draw attention to himself. He’d overdressed for the meeting, but that was probably for the best. Normal people concerned themselveswith making a good first impression, especially for a job interview. He hadn’t dusted off his funeral suit, but he’d put on his nicest black pants and a crisp white button-down and pulled his auburn hair into a ponytail. He had trimmed his beard, so he looked less like a wildling and more like somebody who owned a microbrewery.
Calder, the client fucker, looked more like a roadie for a metal band than a paid security agent. He’d pulled his long brown hair into a messy knot onto the top of his head. He sported a patchy five o’clock shadow and wore a faded sleeveless t-shirt revealing many tattoos. He didn’t seem too bothered by Jackson Avery’s exasperated statement. Shep imagined very little in life bothered Calder. He filed that knowledge away.
“Jack, man, that’s not fair. Why am I being called out when we all caught Linc banging his fiancé like a broken screen door on this very conference room table not forty minutes ago?” he asked in a lazy drawl.
Jackson rose to his full height placing his hands on the table, leaning in, his voice low and calm, “Because his fiancé isn’t one of our clients.”
If Jackson had hoped to intimidate the other man, he’d failed, which told Shep that Calder knew Jack well enough to know he wasn’t a hothead. They’d obviously worked closely together. Anybody who’d just met Jack would supposethe six-foot-three wall of muscle with his ever-present perma-frown would be quick to anger. Shep had thought the same thing the first time they’d met. Even now, seeing the man in his street clothes of jeans and a white hooded jacket, he looked like somebody you wouldn’t want to mess with.
Calder gave a harsh laugh. “Yeah, not a client anymore. The man fucked the one and only client you hired him to guard, and you gave him his own branch. Shit, by that logic, I should be a regional supervisor by now.”
Shep cleared his throat, knocking on the door frame. Five heads swiveled in his direction in unison. Jackson Avery grinned, crossing the room and gripping him in a rough hug, slapping his back with more force than necessary. Shep embraced him back, ticking off the seconds until he could break the contact. The white fabric of Jackson’s hoodie was a stark contrast to the warm umber of the man’s skin tone. He still wore his hair cropped close to his scalp and there wasn’t so much as a wrinkle around the man’s deep brown eyes. Despite the things they’d seen and done overseas, Jackson didn’t appear to have aged a day in ten years. Interesting.
“I thought you’d changed your mind,” Jackson said.
Shep shook his head, forcing an easy grin. “Nah, brother. I underestimated LA traffic. How does anybody ever make it to work on time in this city?”
“Nobody works around here, man,” Calder said, scratching at his stomach. “They’re all just living on hopes and dreams.”
Jackson clapped Shep on the back one more time before turning back to the group. “Jaynie, meet my team. This is Linc, he’ll be heading up the LA office.”
Shep gave a slight wave. “I heard. Nice to meet you.”
The imposing man with his high and tight haircut gave a nod, scrutinizing him closely before crossing his arms over his massive chest and leaning back in his seat.
Jackson pointed to the would-be regional supervisor. “This lazy talking fuck is Calder. Don’t listen to a word he says. Everything that falls out of his mouth is bullshit. Also, don’t leave him alone with anything you don’t want him to mount like a horny goat.” Shep cut his eyes to Calder who just grinned.
Jack pointed to a blond man with a chiseled jawline and perfect teeth. “The pretty one is Webster. He’s great with computers and with charming his way out of cyber-crime charges. Do not give him your personal information.”
Webster was pretty, Shep supposed. He looked like he should be an underwear model or somebody selling tooth-whitening strips. Shep wouldn’t have pegged him for a computer nerd and he was excellent at reading people. “Noted,” Shep said, frowning at Webster’s two-fingered salute.
“This one here who looks like he crawled into a cage with Conor McGregor is Connolly. Connolly likes to punch first and ask questions later. He forgets he’s not in the ring anymore.”
It was hard to say what Connolly looked like under the swollen purple eye, the stitched-up lip and his missing front tooth, but Shep couldn’t imagine most peoplebrave enough to square up against the man in a boxing ring. He was built like a tank.
When Connolly caught him staring, he grinned, looking like a Jack-o’-lantern. “You should see the other guy.”
“Guys, this is Jayne Shepherd. I call him Jaynie… you can call him Shep. I brought him on to handle the Dunne case.”
They all grimaced, looking anywhere but at him. Interesting.
“Better have brass balls,” Webster muttered.
Before Shep could think much of it, Jack pointed to a chair at the end of the table. “Have a seat. We were just about to get started.”
Shep dropped into the chair and Jackson gestured for Linc to take over.
