Joking around aside, I know this job needs to be done right, and I’m not about to fuck it up just because my back hurts or my dirty mind wants to wander and think of my better thirds.
The hospital’s across from the penthouse I’m holed up in. I may or may not have used Damon’s black card to buy this place this morning, but hey, it’s necessary for the job Damon hired me for. Prime sightline. Perfect distance. And if Damon wants to bitch about the charge later, he can do it knowing his baby brother didn’t have to hide out on a roof in the freezing cold.
I’ve been lying here for hours, where time’s been stretching out in a strange way that my brain’s chewing on itself just to stay entertained. To top it off, my elbows ache, my lower back is complaining, and I counted all the ceiling cracks across.
Doesn’t matter. Got a job to do. So I breathe slow and watch the hospital through the scope. And wait and wait.
It’s so much waiting that if impatience burned calories, I’d be even more shredded by now. But this is the job, and I’mexcellentat the job, even when sniping’s ninety percent lying still and telling my body to shut the hell up.
Out of nowhere, the hospital lights cut out.
Every window across the building drops into darkness like someone flipped a switch. Which is impressive, honestly, because I know for a fact that place has a generator. Multiple backup systems that hospitals brag about in brochures.
I’ve been waiting all day for this. Lights out is my signal.
I let out a breath and mutter, “Fucking finally,” under my breath, like the building personally pissed me off. It sorta has.
But now that things are finally getting going, my mind betrays me and immediately decides this is the perfect time to remind me that I should be home.
I should be with the loves of my life—Em and Lix.
They’re probably cuddling right now. Cozy as hell. Kissing slow and soft and definitely without me.
I picture it against my will, because my brain’s a traitor. Em tuckedinto Lix’s side, glasses off, hair a mess, mouth doing that gentle little smile she gets when she’s so content, she can’t hide it.
Maybe he’s kissing her hair. Maybe she’s laughing all sweet. Maybe they’re both pretending they don’t miss me while absolutely missing me.
I huff and adjust my position a hair ‘cause my knee’s starting to ache and also ‘cause my thoughts are getting dangerously inappropriate for a man currently watching a hospital through a sniper scope.
“Someone’s gotta do this,” I mutter to myself. “Can’t all be cuddles and kisses and domestic bliss.”
Even though I would absolutely choose cuddles and kisses over this any day of the week.
The scope’s switched into night vision to see, since the hospital stays dark across the street.
Whatever’s about to happen is finally happening, and at least now I can stop counting ceiling cracks and fantasizing about being sandwiched between my two favorite people instead of lying here like an annoyed gargoyle doing yoga with a gun.
Through the scope, the expected idiots come into view.
Four men in black ski masks, charging ahead like drug-induced enthusiasm is a personality trait and planning to ambush and kidnap a hospital patient is optional.
Three of them fan out fast, knives out, shoulders tense, moving in that jittery way that screams hired muscle instead of anyone who thought this through.
Their masks are all identically black and cover most of their heads, the kind of mask that makes people feel braver than they deserve, like they’re hoping hiding does the work for them.
I feel my mouth tip into a smirk, because I know these guys.
Curiosity is a dangerous habit, but it’s also the reason I’m not surprised right now.
While Em’s been busy saving lives and carrying one inside her, I may or may not have hacked into her MedBay monitor and followed a messy little trail of deleted footage from the ship’s security feed.
I figured if it had access to security cameras, then why wouldn’t we see who walked into Sergio and Gerald’s rooms?
Turns out Set gets sloppy when he thinks he’s erased people or footage. But it also turns out I’m extremelyexcellentat doing my job.
This has nothing to do with being an errand sniper. This haseverythingto do with protecting my better thirds, because fuck anyone who puts any kind of danger around ‘em.
Okay, fine,maybeI was also looking through the deleted footage to see if there’s any more dirty videos like me and Lix making out, but hey, a good find’s a good find.
