Helen held the line as she pulled into her front yard, spotting Mustang at the run-down little house that would be her new home office.She thought of Azrael's words on the meeting at the coffeehouse.
“All I can do is what I do,” Helen said.
“Azrael out,” and the call ended.
Now, she needed to tell her husband about the size of the intended wedding party.Silently she chuckled, thinking she'd label the table for Kurtzwilde's kids, “The Stray Bullets.”The smile stayed plastered on her face as she pulled up next to her man.
Mustang shook his head and said, “I don't even want to know.”
Chapter 3- Wound Up
Helen had only beenhome for two days and thus far, it felt like a month of Sundays.The arrival of the Explorer and the weird coffee date with a certified villain, and now, her husband informed her they were having guests.She knew it was coming, and after the holidays, she was due back at Passion Fruit's for three weeks.She had a good sixteen days, two of which were already gone before having to report to St.Paul to start training with Sour Grapes.For some reason, she wasn't looking forward to it in the least.Now this.
“Okay, who are we expecting, Michael and Abigail and the kids?”she asked.
“No, not yet,” he said, “Abi is not ready to travel with the baby and Naomi.Mom and Dad want to come for a day or so this weekend.”
“No problem.I can talk to her about the wedding, finding a location for the reception, catering, and the likes,” she said.“How much do you think I need to give her to have money for deposits and stuff like securing caterers?”
“I have no idea, but we can do a pre-paid credit card to start,” he said, looking at her side eyed.
“Jay, what are you leaving out?”she asked, watching his face.Over the last few months, she had really been learning to read his body language as well as his eyes.The look said there was more.
“My former handler, Belial, he's going to be in the area and wants to come through next week,” he said softly, waiting her to say, do, think...for what, he was uncertain.
“Does he have a hotel, or does he want to stay with us?”she asked.
“He wanted to spend the night hanging out,” he said.
Her eyebrows arched.“You taking the day off to 'hang out' with this man?”
“The day off?”
Her hand went to her narrow hip.“The day off, Jay?Or are you planning to leave me home alone with some man I don't know, considering my opinion of men in general because if you leave him here and he looks at me funny, you may come home from work to find his cut-body parts all over the house,” she said, suddenly feeling tense.
“Good grief,” he said, looking at her with fresh eyes.“I'm sorry.I didn't think about how having a man you don't know in the house would impact you mentally.My apologies.Yes, I will take a day off or make sure he leaves when I do.”
