JJ continued with, “They’ll have Darius Frost as their analyst.”
Reese shut off the water, snagged the dish towel to dry his hands. “Why Darius?”
“Because he’s the best at what he does.” She smiled. “Well, besides me, of course.”
“And Luca?” Reese mentioned.
“Yes, and besides Luca.” She huffed as though put out. “Trey and Evan’ll need someone to keep up with them, so Darius is the best choice.”
Brantley nodded slowly. “Okay. Keep going.”
“You’ll have Slade Elliott work with Allison Bogart. She’s smart, she’s tough, and she can handle a flirt like Slade.” She smiled brightly. “And that’s the same reason they’ll have Rebecca Richter working with them. Slade could use a couple of ladies to keep him in line.”
Reese laughed. Looked like she had Slade pegged already.
“That leaves…?” Brantley asked, clearly to move her along.
“Charlie to pair with Decker Bromwell. They’ll work with Jay Hernandez.”
Now standing beside Brantley, Reese waited for her to explain her reasons there.
“I think Jay’s gonna need to focus, and you’ve got Charlie, who’s used to being the lead partner. She’ll be able to work alongside Deck in the field and keep Jay busy digging into the details.”
Brantley glanced over at him, smiled. “She nailed them all pretty accurately, huh?”
Reese nodded, grinning at JJ. “Yeah. She’s good.”
He wouldn’t bother to tell Brantley it was basically a recap of the conversation Reese had with her last night before they quit for the day. He didn’t mind letting her have the credit for it.
Chapter Two
Trey Walker arrived at HQ before anyoneelse for the first time since he started working for the task force last October.
And okay, fine. He wasn’t the first because he’d seen Brantley, Reese, and JJ having breakfast inside the house when he’d walked past on his way to the barn. He could’ve stopped, chatted for a couple of minutes, had some coffee, been … sociable. Instead, he decided it was better for him to look busy. He’d seen the sideways glances Brantley’d given him every day this week when he had strolled in after everyone else. Sure, his brother would say he didn’t care the hours they kept as long as they got the job done, but that didn’t mean Brantley wasn’t silently passing judgment.
In Trey’s defense, he’d been indulging in some late nights these past few months. Six months to be exact. But it was only once or twice a week—three at the most.
Four last week, but who’s counting?
Christ.
His thoughts drifted to Magnus Storme, the damn dog trainer who’d been plaguing his mind and occupying his bed as of late. Didn’t help that he’d encountered Magnus and his cocky smile again last night when he’d been heading out. Evidently, Thursday evenings were at-home training days for Tesha. Probably be wise to remember that so he could make himself scarce the next time.
Even now, he thought about Magnus and how the man had shown up on his doorstep last night. As usual, Magnus had sweet-talked his way right into Trey’s house, then damn near directly into his bed. It was something the guy was good at. No matter how hard Trey tried to resist the much younger man, it never worked.
It usually meant he needed a couple extra cups of coffee to keep his eyes open.
Not that he was obsessed with Magnus and his cocky smile. The guy was merely a distraction, a way for Trey to forget about all the shit that had gone wrong in his life these last few years. Namely his divorce and the epically bad relationship choices after.
And yes, he could admit it, he had an addictive personality—or so he’d been told—which he liked to believe was why he tended to fixate on certain things. Like booze and sex.
Granted, he’d kicked the booze, but the sex … damn, that was a difficult habit to break. Especially since Magnus could rock Trey’s world like no one else.
As long as it remained only about sex, Trey was willing to enjoy the few hours they had together, which was why he’d stopped trying to fight it. He was indulging in something that wouldn’t go anywhere, and he saw no reason not to enjoy it while it lasted. It wouldn’t be much longer, he figured. When the sex became routine, it would be over for both of them.
Trey booted up his computer then headed to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. It was always there for him when he arrived, so it took a minute to figure it out. Once he got it brewing, he paced the floor, glancing at the empty desks, thinking about all the interviews they’d been doing, the people they were going to hire to fill them, what this place would look like once they did. They’d tossed around names the past few days, so he had a pretty good idea who they’d settled on, but he wasn’t going to pretend to know what to expect. This was all new to him and every damn day seemed to throw another curveball his way.
He thought back to when Brantley had offered him the job. Trey’d been working as a security guard for a high-end hotel, going through the motions. He’d just started up a very intriguing relationship with Cyrus Jernigan, a good friend of Brantley’s, and he’d mistakenly believed his luck was shifting. New job, new man.
