Cap narrowed his eyes and snatched the glass out of his hand. “No.”
We watched him chug the glass of water back.
“Thanks, Brutus,” he grunted as he wiped at his mouth.
Brutus just plucked the glass from Cap’s hand before walking over to place it in the sink.
“Orders?” Brutus asked.
Cap placed his hands on his hips. “Pretty much what you’re doing now. Stay with the girls. Make sure they are buddied up if they leave the house at all to wander the property. Keep doing regular patrols around the acreage of the compound, just in case.”
Business as usual. Got it.“We can do that.”
Cap dug his burner phone out of his pocket. “I’ll send a mass text when I decide to have church on the matter. This is still a developing thing, so I don’t want to pull anyone away from anything important until we’ve got another direction to head in that we have to hash out.”
I tilted my head. “Anything I can help with until then?”
Cap typed across the screen of his phone. “Do you happen to know where Ariel is? I’d like to tell her what happened, but privately.”
“She stays in Amanda’s room a lot,” Brutus said. “Well, when Wrecker isn’t here.”
Cap snickered. “All right. And where’s Amanda’s room?”
I pointed up to the sky. “Go back inside. Up the stairs, second hallway on the right, all the way down to the last door on the left.”
Cap just grinned and shook his head at me. “Your brain is something else sometimes, you know that?”
I just shrugged. “Don’t know how to let it be anything else.”
Cap chuckled before he turned to Brutus. “When’s your next patrol?”
Brutus checked his watch. “Two hours.”
Cap nodded. “Come get me before you start. I’ll do this patrol with you before heading back to the compound.”
“King’s crew is good, yeah?” I asked as the three of us started back inside.
“Oh, yeah, they’re good,” Cap said with another chuckle as he slid the glass door open for us. “Excited to have some action for once. Damn man was ready to hop in there with a fucking hose.”
I smiled as I slipped back into the kitchen. “Sounds like King.”
“How’s Anna getting along while she’s here?” Cap asked as he stepped inside behind us and slid the door closed. “King wanted me to get a sitrep on her.”
Brutus’s face fell. “She likes pickles.”
“She… what?” Cap asked.
Brutus’s face darkened. “She. Likes. Pickles. They’re fucking gross, Cap. And she likes them.”
Cap slowly looked over at me.
I slowly looked over at him.
And then the two of us burst out laughing.
“It’s not funny,” Brutus growled.
I placed my hand against the kitchen countertop and leaned over to laugh. “You’re so bent out of shape over those pickles.”
