“What are the fucking odds…” I trail, dumbfounded as I keep rereading the email. Maddox creeps over my shoulder before snatching the mouse from me and maximizing the screen.
“There’s no way…” He says low, pressing his hand into my shoulder.
“What is it?” Kairo asks, finally looking up from his phone.
Before I can speak, Maddox beats me to it. “Rosalie’s PR manager reached out to us for a private security detail.”
The blonde is up and flying across the room before he crowds around the monitor. I give them the chance to readover the message, and then read it again to get over the initial shock.
A devious chuckle tumbles past Kairo’s lips. “Oh, this is too good. We have to take it.”
I whip around to him, my features hard. “And do you have the money for a flight to Los Angeles?”
“I have enough saved for the three of us,” Maddox shrugs.
“Not helping,” I bite. “We aren’t doing this.”
Kairo pulls back, spreading his hands open as that shit-eating smirk pulls up the left corner of his mouth. “I say we take a vote. All those in favor of taking the job?”
Both chuckle fucks raise their hands high, waiting for my reply with bated breath.
When I stay silent for far longer than they’re comfortable with, Kairo shakes my shoulders. “Come on! You can’t say this isn’t fate!” He looks deranged as he glances between me and the computer screen. “Haven’t we always begged for an opportunity like this? It fell right into our laps, and you’re telling me we’re just going to ignore it?”
In my wildest dreams, I allowed myself to answer the siren call of Rosalie—her perfect smile and bright green eyes alight with something fiery. When I sleep, she’s everything I could have imagined her to be if her life weren’t so unforgiving. She’s bratty, headstrong, and addictive—something I’m scared will be the truth once we’re all reintroduced to each other.
She isn’t the only one who’s changed. Kairo keeps his hair cropped short with the sides buzzed from our time in the military. He also abandons his contacts unless we’re working, and opts to wear his wire-framed glasses instead. Maddox’s hair is a little overgrown and shaggy since he didn’t mesh well with the harsh regulations during our service. We’ve all filled out far more than when we were teenagers, needing the strength for the military, and now our current tanking business.
The tattoos and well-defined structure can only get us so damn far. We’re plummeting into the hole at breakneck speed, and I know Kairo is right.
We need this job.
I sit back in my chair, rubbing my hand across my eyes. “Fine. I’ll respond. Get the next red-eye flight to Los Angeles.”
“Yes!” Kairo yells, nearly tripping over his boots as he throws the door open that leads to the stairwell to our connected apartment. “I’m packing our bags!”
“Don’t touch my shit!” I command, but he’s already bolting up the steps. I shake my head, glaring at Maddox. “If either of you fucking embarrasses me…”
He won’t meet my eyes.
“Look at me, Mad.” I push.
His gaze flickers to me, and I see what he’s plotting beyond those dark eyes. His special interests have got us caught up in some shit before, and I refuse to have a repeat of the last time.
“We won’t,” He says with no conviction behind his words.
I stand, towering over him as I collar his throat tightly. I level our noses, and he stares back at me with half-lidded eyes.
“Keep your fucking delusions in check, Mad.” I grit my teeth harshly. “I won’t save you a second time.”
That morbid curiosity shines through his gaze like a fucking promise of something he can’t contain—the beast he is at his core. There’s so much we could have lost because of him, and he knows it.
“If either of you steps out of line, I’ll put you back myself. Do you understand?”
His jaw grinds beneath my hand. “Yes, Sergeant.”
My eyes narrow before I release him. “Get us on the next flight.”
He turns on his heel, and I don’t hear from him until we’re done packing and the taxi Kairo called is waiting out front for us.
