Meanwhile, Stella was an open book.And the way her already sunshine-bright smile warmed when she looked at her husband, he’d say Hadley’s ideas about their marriage were accurate.This woman either wasn’t aware her husband was a sleeper agent, or she was fully aware and adored him anyway.
Hadley and Stella continued to make small talk for a few moments while Cole and Eric sized each other up.
Cole would be willing to bet he’d have a slight advantage in a physical fight against this guy.He was a little taller, had reach on his side, and if he hadn’t missed his guess, he’d say he outweighed Eric by at least ten or so pounds of muscle.Eric probably had a speed advantage.Cole had never been very fast.But what he lacked in speed he made up for in his sheer willingness to destroy an opponent.So, while it wouldn’t be aprettyfight, Cole wasn’t worried.He could defend himself and Hadley if he had to.
“Isn’t that right, honey?”Hadley elbowed him in the side.
Damn, she had a sharp elbow!“Um…sorry…what?”
She rolled her eyes playfully.“He’s got so much on his mind with the new job and everything.You’ll have to excuse him.I was just saying how much we’re loving the neighborhood so far and how everyone here has been so welcoming, right?”
He really needed to get his head straight.Hadley was doing all the work on this mission and he was offering fuck all.He smiled down at her.At least he hoped it was a smile.Moving his face muscles that way still felt so damn foreign.“That’s right.We’ve certainly never been invited to a barbecue on day one before.”
Stella laughed.“That’sallMitzy.Did she bring you the charcuterie board?”
“Yes!”Hadley grinned at her.“I couldn’t even identify half the things on that board.It was awesome, though.”
“I think she makes those boards just to make normal people feel bad about their culinary skills,” Stella joked.
“Worked on me,” Hadley agreed.
“Where did you live before this?”Eric asked in a sharp tone that led Cole to believe the guy’s people skills were as rusty as his own.
Cole took the question as the test it was meant to be.Eric had found the planted fake IDs in Cole and Hadley’s home office and he wanted to see if he could trip them up.Dude was in for arudeawakening, because he knew his fake history backwards and forwards.His people skills might suck, but his memory was fucking flawless.“Jersey,” he answered.“Before that, Ohio.”
Stella grabbed her husband’s hand, and Cole saw her give it a hard squeeze.“Emma said they’d traveled a bit for Clark’s job, remember?”
A muscle in his jaw twitched as he glanced down at his wife.And as she stared back up at him, clearly squeezing the fuck out of his hand, they had what seemed to be a silent argument.He wanted to grill Cole for more info.She wanted him to back down.
After what appeared to be an impressive battle, Eric let out a deep sigh and relaxed his stance ever so slightly.Huh.Good to know the sleeper agent wasn’t out of control.
Mostly because hiswifeclearly had all of it.
Cole wished that gave him the upper hand in this interaction.It didn’t.He knew damn well he’d back down if Hadley gave him that stern glance, too.
But because he was in a bad mood, he asked Eric, “What about you, man?Where are you from?Thought I noticed a little bit of an accent, there.”
He had, too.Good old Eric did a hell of a good job hiding that accent, and he could probably fool 98% of people intro thinking he was a run-of-the-mill, Joe Average American.But Cole wasn’t part of that 98%.
Eric narrowed his eyes at him.Cole smirked.Target hit, he thought.
“I’m originally from Poland,” he answered, jaw so tense it looked like he might snap a molar at any moment.
Riiiiggghhhttt.Poland.
“Wow, you have a good ear,” Stella said innocently.“We’d probably been on ten dates before I noticed that little accent.It only comes out on certain words.”
Hadley let out a nervous giggle.“I certainly didn’t notice.Hey, listen, Clark and I have to run, but we’d love to talk more.How about dinner tomorrow night at our place?”
“No,” Eric said at the same time Stella said, “Yes!We’d love that.”
Eric and Cole continued to glare at each other as Stella and Hadley exchanged phone numbers.
“Why did you invite them over?”Cole hissed after they said their goodbyes and made it back to their own yard.
“Because we have no proof he’s actually the sleeper agent, so we need more information, but if I’d let the two of you talk for one more minute, I was afraid you were going to whip out your dicks and start measuring,” she said calmly.“It was déjà vu back to when you were arguing with Franklin.”
You tell me if you think I’d win that particular contest.You felt it last night.
