“Nope,” I told him cheerfully. “We have a meeting in the Oval in fifteen minutes.”
Dallas groaned. “I’m gonna need to go find a clean shirt.”
“And probably a new jacket,” I added, eyeballing the new hole in the one he was currently wearing.
“What a fucking day,” Dallas said, scraping his auburn hair out of his eyes and snagging his glasses off of the side table.
“I saw you two, Maverick, that day in the kitchen—” Zeke was saying as we rejoined them but he stopped as soon as he saw us.
“What did you see?” Dallas asked, his green eyes darting in between the two.
“Nothing,” the two of them said together, looking more suspicious than ever.
Dallas just snorted at that. “And here I thought we didn’t keep secrets from each other.”
“Dall—” Zeke began but Dallas just cut him off with a wave of his hand as he turned to the door.
“Not tonight, Zeke, you guys can tell us all of your dirty secrets later. Right now I need to find new clothes and some caffeine before I drop, seeing as that beer is probably off of the table for the night, right B?”
“Right,” I said, though my mind was still on Zeke and Maverick as I hurried to follow after my brother.
Dallas may not have cared at the moment what their secrets were, but I found myself morbidly curious.
What had they been talking about and what had Zeke seen in the kitchen?
***
Lennon looked a little less worse-for-wear than the last time I’d seen her.
When we’d handed her off to Lisa and Landon to take up to the residence and clean her up, the front of her dress had been soaked with blood and her pale blonde curls had been crushed and mussed beyond repair.
Now she sat on one of the fancy couches in the Oval Office under her mother’s arm and dressed in a matching dark blue sweat set that made her pale face look even paler as she stared blankly ahead of her, clearly still in shock from the events of the evening.
Agent Collier was already there when the president’s assistant ushered us inside and it was obvious that he had already given President Holloway a rundown of the events of the night because she looked pissed.
“Good evening, agents, I hear it has been a doozy of an evening,” McDaniels said from the sofa across from the president and Lennon. He looked exhausted, probably thanks to hopping onto an emergency flight from Arizona to D.C. on next to no notice.
“Yes, sir,” Maverick said, taking the lead.
“First off,” Athena Holloway said as she pulled Lennon a little closer to her. “I want to thank you for saving my daughter’s life. It’s clear that had you not been there the outcome of the evening would have been very different. Agent Dallas Wilson, will you step forward?”
I glanced at Dallas who looked shocked but took a step forward anyway, his hands clasped in front of him even though I knew it had to be hurting his shoulder.
Athena smiled at him. “Thank you, Agent Wilson, if you hadn’t been there to take that bullet then my daughter may not be here with me now. Your service is honored.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Dallas replied, looking uncomfortable.
Lennon, for her part, seemed to have snapped back to the present and she looked like she was swallowing back tears that I wished more than anything that I could rush forward to hug and caress and purr away.
But Collier’s earlier words were still ringing in my mind.
We wouldn’t be able to do anything for Lennon if we were yanked off of her detail. So I pushed down the damned alpha instincts that I’d pretty much been giving free rein over the past few months and stood up a little straighter.
“Now,” Athena continued, shaking off the sentimentality she seemed to have been feeling and drawing herself back into her presidential persona. “The second thing I feel we must discuss is whether or not Lennon will be continuing to fulfill the rest of her obligations for the election.
“As opposed to…?” Maverick asked, his voice trailing off as Lennon shot her mother a shocked look. It was obvious they hadn’t discussed this part before we entered the office.
“Staying here at the White House where it’s safe. Collier feels that it would be best whereas my chief of staff seems to be worried about what it will look like for my image.”
