How did I get here?
Occasionally, other errant thoughts pop in there too. Just to spice things up.
Do you have to be a real-life thirst trap to work at Redleg?
If so, how do they get around employment discrimination laws?
Why am I focused on the sex appeal dripping from these people instead of more pressing things like surviving the day or finding Kenzie?
Are Reed’s dickish tendencies a result of frequently wearing a torturous bulletproof vest?
Seriously, I’ve never been so uncomfortable in my life.
Not even when I poured myself into a girdle two sizes too small and wore it to work like a self-destructive loon. Miraculously, I made it until my lunch break before cutting it off in a fit of desperation. I knew then, much like I do now, that Iwas lucky I wasn’t born in Victorian times. A corset would be my thirteenth reason.
I’m a sweaty sausage, crammed in a steel casing that clearly wasn’t designed for meat with all this jelly. There is absolutely no way a woman with breasts was involved in the creation of this torture device.
But I digress.
Each time I successfully bat those distracting thoughts aside, I return to my initial question.How did I get here?
I’m objectively a nobody in the grand scheme of life. And yet, I’m being protected better than royalty. Armed guards just ushered me from my tower on a cloud of sex appeal with an undercurrent of fear.
My best friend, former or not, is once again at the mercy of vile killers who want me dead. Probably because I’m an FBI informant, sleeping with a special agent who’s trying to take down their crime ring.
All I want to do is look at birds.But noooo.
Instead, I’m sandwiched in the back of an SUV between Kri and her husband, Shep.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out how painfully attractive he is, as per Redleg’s hiring requirements. Light brown hair with sun-kissed blond strands and the most mesmerizing blue eyes I’ve ever seen. His hotness isn’t surprising, considering Kri had me questioning my sexuality from the moment she arrived. They match.
Her dreamy coworkers formed a protective barrier around me from the moment we slipped out of Reed’s condo until we jumped into the waiting SUV, which was at the condo’srearentrance with Aaron revving the engine. They didn’t want to risk being spotted leaving through the front. Given that Kenzie was snatched from there, I was fine with their approach.
Not that I would have objected even if the power of speech were something I possessed at the time.
Save me, bodyguards of legend.
Kri rubs my forearm soothingly. “Try to breathe, Lila. We’re almost there. It doesn’t look like we’re being followed either. All good.”
I nervously lick my lips. “Where are we going?”
The bulky, beefy snack in the front seat answers. “Reed instructed us to take you to the FBI field office. They’re expecting you. We’re five minutes out.”
“Is Reed already there?”
Mental pat on my back for not sounding like a wilted pile of lettuce.
“Not yet.” Kri brings her mouth to my ear, adding, “Which is probably for the best.”
Perplexed, I squint at her to wordlessly beg for an explanation. I’d blurt out the question, but considering her hushed volume, it clearly isn’t something she wants broadcast.
Kri pointedly surveys the vehicle, pinging her focus at each guard individually.
Sadly, I haven’t had enough sleep for charades.
With a frustrated roll of her eyes, she whispers, “No need for them to lay eyes on Reed.”
Light bulb.
