Page 75 of Harper’s Renegades

“Keep talking. You’ll see more of it,” I muttered.

“Hmm, what was that, oh dearest love of my life?” Ghost asked, batting his lashes at me.

“Enough, you two,” Magnus said, cutting off my retort. “Here’s a key to your room, Jaxson, and yours, Ghost. Doll, here is your key to our room,” he said, offering me the plastic card.

“Wait, why are we in three rooms?” I demanded.

Magnus gave me a warning look. “Why would my wife and I sleep in the same room as my brothers?”

Right, we weren’t on vacation anymore. We had a role to play and our noses to keep clean before we smuggled this girl out. Not to mention the assassin coming after us probably knows they all bunk together.

“Sorry, must be the jet lag getting to me. My brains are all muddled. I’m sure a shower and some coffee will have me right as rain,” I answered, smiling up at Magnus, wrapping my arm around his. “Lead the way, hubby.”

Chapter thirty-two

Harper

I could see why Magnus picked this hotel since it was within walking distance to the coffee shop where Prim worked. It was a nice enough day, and after getting the film of travel grossness off me, I felt a million times better. Add to it that we got to go for a walk and stretch our legs was even better.

The term coffee shop wasn’t what I would have used for this place. It reminded me more of a restaurant, almost like a Panera, where you order at the counter then take a seat, and they bring you your food. They had tons of amazing-looking food items for all meals of the day or just a pastry if that’s what you wanted. Everything about this was perfect because I was hungry and in need of caffeine.

Magnus ordered for all of us once we’d looked up everything online, so we knew what the options were. I got a simple soup and salad with an iced coffee, then wandered through the dining area to find an open table and to scout out who was working. The one thing none of them seemed to be able to find was her work schedule, almost as if she was being paid under the table or not kept on a routine shift.

When I didn’t see anyone with vivid pink dreadlocks, I took a seat near the back corner of the restaurant, where we could still see everything that was going on. This was another skill the guys were trying to teach me, to be aware of my surroundings and use them to my best advantage. It was actually quite easy to pick up being in such tight spaces, making sure you weren’t blocked in, knowing your exits or had your back to the whole room, keeping someone from jumping you. Stealing was also thwarted by doing this, which almost happened a few times on the train.

Ghost joined me first, carrying four cups of various coffee, set them down, and gave me a wink. “Smart pick on the table, the same one I would have picked. You see any sign of her?”

“No, but it’s Saturday afternoon. She could work in the mornings,” I suggested. “How late is this place open?”

“Oh, these places are open twenty-four seven or at least until eleven at night. They know that Moscow isn’t a city that sleeps, so tea and coffee are always accessible,” Ghost explained.

“Then our job just got that much harder if we can’t get her schedule,” I groaned. “It will be more suspicious of us to be lingering around here all day into the night. People are going to notice.”

Ghost slid over my coffee. “Take a drink, angel, then take a deep breath, okay? This is not our first job. This is what comes with the territory. Some things you can plan for, while others you need to deal with on the fly. Just because we can’t find it online in their computer database doesn’t mean it’s not written down somewhere.”

“Why does she look like she’s panicking?” Jaxson asked as he set food down on the table. “Did something happen?”

“No, she’s fine, just getting a taste of what being on the job is like,” Ghost explained.

Jaxson nodded, taking his seat, and passed out the silverware. “Dig in, gorgeous. You haven’t been eating much the past few days. I know you say it’s because of traveling, but now we’re not, and if it goes on much longer, Magnus is going to resort to hand-feeding again.”

I let out a sigh and pulled the soup over to me. The aroma of the chicken noodle was savory and made my mouth water. There was a hunk of fresh bread to go along with it that I dunked in. It tasted as amazing as it smelled, and it made me realize I was way hungrier than I’d thought.

“Good you got her to eat,” Magnus announced when he placed his tray of food down, passing some over to Ghost.

“You were right. The threat of feeding her did the trick,” Jaxson teased.

I stuck my tongue out at him before going back to my food. “I might even need to order something more,” I mumbled. “The portions are smaller than I’m used to in the States. Don’t get me wrong, these are far more reasonable for a person to eat, but I’m not sure I feel reasonable about my hunger at the moment.”

The guys chuckled, and each took a portion of what they had, piled it on a plate, and slid it over to me. My heart melted at how fucking sweet these men could be when they weren’t driving me crazy. This was the part of them I fell in love with and showed up just when I was about to kill them.

“You really do love me,” I sniffled, digging into the rest of my food.

While I indulged my stomach, the guys kept their attention on our surroundings, watching the comings and goings of people. After we’d been there for about an hour, Ghost got up and wandered off. I assumed he was going to the bathroom, but then I saw him chatting up one of the younger workers, who also happened to be a pretty brunette.

“Someone better tell me what’s going on before I stab that man with a fork when he comes back,” I muttered, grabbing said utensil.

Jaxson reached out and uncurled my hand, slipping the weapon out of my grasp before replacing it with his own hand. He lifted our hands up and kissed the back of mine, watching me with laughter in his hazel eyes. “He’s just pretending. He’s the best at getting information out of people. If we can get this girl to tell us when she’s working, we can lay out a plan. Otherwise, we will need to leave and come back later when everyone from this shift has left.”