Page 72 of The Fire We Make

A part of him was tempted to have Remy hack into her phone to find out but he knew that was too far, even for him.

Instead, he decided he’d take her attention back.

Without announcing himself, he made his way down to her office, knocking forcefully on the door.

She quickly locked and set the phone aside as he entered.

“Joy,” Ace said in greeting.

“Adonis,” she returned.

“I thought I told you to call me Ace.”

She shrugged. “I like Adonis better.”

The corners of Ace’s mouth curved slightly. “You enjoy being difficult.”

A wicked little smile spread across her lips. “With you? A little.”

Ace liked that about her. She never backed down from him. It wasn’t like other people who mustered a bravado they didn’t have to appear tougher than they were. She genuinely didn’t give a fuck. She genuinely believed she could say what she wanted because no one could beat her ass.

And that shit turned Ace on too much for him to be angry.

“Well get your stuff and bring your difficult ass upstairs. I have some things to run by you.”

Joy smirked as she stood, gathering her things.

Chapter Nineteen

“This is it?” Joy asked, looking out the window at the large warehouse in the middle of Manhattan.

Through means Joy didn’t question, Ace was able to find the contact for the low level soldier that was supposed to be on duty at the time of the raid. He’d been dodging Ace’s calls for a week so when Joy arrived at the office that morning, Ace informed her that they would be doing a pop up instead.

“Yup,” Ace replied, unbuckling his seatbelt. Joy did the same and moved to open the door but a heavy hand on her thigh halted her movements.

“Hold up,” Ace said.

He looked out the window and Joy followed his line of vision, seeing a tall dark skin man with locs and glasses exit another car and pull out a device from his pocket. A moment later, he locked eyes with Ace through the window and gave him a subtle nod.

“Aight let’s go,” Ace said.

Joy raised a brow, “What was that?” she asked.

“Checking for bugs and cameras. We’re gonna be having sensitive conversations with our client and discussing trial strategy. Clearly these investigators don’t mind playing dirty so we can’t be too careful.”

Joy gave him another glance then nodded, climbing out the car. She didn’t remove her pistol from the holster in her dress pants and she couldn’t help but notice that Ace didn’t either.

He stepped out first and rounded the front of the car, speaking in hushed tones. The conversation ceased when Joy joined them.

“Joy, this is my friend, Remy. Rem this is my associate, Joy,” he introduced.

“Good to meet you, Joy,” Remy greeted her.

“Same to you,” she replied. “Shall we go?”

Ace nodded. “Let me do the talking, aight?” he reminded her as they crossed the pavement.

“Sir, yes sir,” Joy saluted playfully as they crossed onto the other side of the street.