“Hey!” Reid complains but stays where he is. “My ass is not a table.”
“Then take a seat like a reputable member of society,” Hayden points out.
Reid looks effectively admonished, so he stands with a miserable scowl and takes a seat beside Jacob on the sofa as Dante stays standing, surveying the scene with a curious tilt of his head. When Reid flicks Dante off, he just grins at Reidwhile shoving more chips in his mouth. I’m already tired. I’d forgotten how exhausting they can all be after spending a few quiet weeks at Mason’s house.
Scully comes out from the kitchen, winds herself between Dante’s legs, then heads over to the sofa to plop herself in Reid’s lap.
“Oh my god, she touched me,” Dante says in clear shock.
Reid looks curiously at him. “She touches you all the time.”
“What?”
“Mostly when you’re asleep,” Reid clarifies. “She likes to sleep on your butt.”
“No way,” Dante chokes out.
“Never mind.” Hayden claps his hands to get everyone’s attention. “I’m still her favorite human.”
“Just let him think that,” Reid stage-whispers to Scully.
“Tomorrow’s mission is downtown. There’s a financial investing firm that’s syphoning funds from their clients and into their own pockets. We’re going to tank the business so that the liability insurance they’re forced to carry by the federal government will pay out to their clients.”
“That’s devious, boss,” I say for a bit of levity.
Hayden sniffs. “I know. Anyway, I can disable the cameras, obviously, but this is a high-rise downtown with, like, forty floors, so I need the brawn to get me up there so that Reid and I can do the hacking. I’ve sent the blueprints to your phones.”
“Homework,” Jacob mumbles with clear displeasure. “I don’t need blueprints if you’re shutting cameras down internally.”
“You will need them to know where the security guards are stationed,” Hayden argues, eyes narrowing dangerously.
“No, because they get up and do their little lookie-loo walks. We’ll just deal with them as we come across them.”
“No,” Hayden says through gritted teeth, eyes burning like the depths of hell. “You’ll review the blueprints likeusual, do you understand?”
Jacob stares Hayden down but ultimately gives up by slouching farther into the sofa. “Okay.”
Hayden looks thoroughly pleased at Jacob’s acquiescence. Finally, after everyone spends a few minutes looking over the blueprints on their phones, Reid lifts his hand to ask a question. This will be great.
Hayden points at Reid with a nod of approval. “Yes, go ahead, Reid.”
“Can I kill someone?” Reid asks with a feral smile.
“No,” Dante says quickly.
I expect Reid to argue, to tell Dante to fuck off, but instead he just grins and looks down at his phone while typing away. That look does not bode well, actually. At least from what I’ve come to know of Reid.
“Be back here tomorrow at eight on the dot. No earlier, no later.” Hayden stares at Jacob for a moment, then disappears up the stairs.
“What did you donow?” Dante demands, clearly on Hayden’s side.
Jacob rolls his hand in annoyance. “Existed.”
“Seems worse than normal.” Dante narrows his eyes. “Do you have another girlfriend?”
“No!” Jacob yells, shocking us all. Even I jump back a little. Jacob clears his throat awkwardly. “No, I don’t have a girlfriend, and I’d prefer if no one asked that or mentioned it anywhere near Hayden. Understood?”
“Uh,” I say awkwardly.
