O Lord & the Queen (Grace Grayson Security Book 3) Page 2

  She smiled. “Yes, but I heard there was an emergency and Nico needed to be up. Ergo, helping.”

  “Thanks, love,” Chaos said, looking at his girlfriend.

  The only time the guy went to mush was when Bert walked into a room. Mind you, Hawk was the same and most of us weren’t far behind. Chaos had got our arses through some fucking serious shit, and he only made it through because he was trying to keep Hawk alive to get back to his sister - while we all tried to keep him alive. So, we all had a lot owing to that little woman.

  The fact she was the closest person who spoke my language was a bonus. She might not have been fully fluent, but she got me. She was the only one of the people who had the misfortune of calling me friend that I liked more than I didn’t. I loved them all, but I was under no obligation to like them all the time. It was what made us more like family than friends.

  When I’d first met Hawk’s little sister in Chaos’ apartment, I’d recognised a familiar soul in her and we’d clicked instantly. With Bert, I didn’t have to be one Nico or the other. I could just be me. It had taken me off-guard to start with but, as time had gone on, I’d come to appreciate the relationship. Not that it had ever been in danger of being anything other than friendship. Bert may have been one in a million to me, but it had honestly never crossed my mind for us to be more until our mutual friend Petra had joked about it once.

  After that, the whole Bert and me thing definitely had crossed my mind. It crossed my mind, then firmly vacated a split-second later. Which I’m pretty sure was why I could be myself with her – same way I was myself with the team: there was no pressure, no possibilities for failure, and no expectations. I was more than used to potential friends running in the opposite direction thanks to my stellar personality. I’d never been worried or afraid about that.

  “Can we get on with it?” My voice still grated, and not just from the added annoyance my thoughts had caused me.

  “Where’s your suit?” Chaos asked.

  “My what?” All I could think of was super-suits…

  “We need you on a job, Nico. Plain and simple,” Hawk said.

  “Right, I’ll get my computer.” I made to get up, but Chaos stopped me.

  “We need you on a normie job, Nico.”

  I blinked. “Okay. I must still be asleep. You want me to what?”

  “Raegan Lane works for Olafson. She’s found herself in some shit and needs detail.”

  “So? Can’t one of you fuckers do it?” I asked, looking around the room.

  They all shook their heads. “She needs it now and no one else is going to be free for round the clock detail.”

  Round the…? This was just getting better and better by the minute.

  “I do have my own shit to do.”

  “Yeah, well your shit can be done from this chick’s couch if need be,” Hawk snapped and I wondered what had crawled up his arse and died that morning. I decided, for my health, not to ask him.

  I snorted; the idea of me on a normie job was too funny. “Yeah, Olafson’s going to want all my glory on a job.”

  “This is why you need the suit,” Rollie said in wonder, the plan dawning on everyone in the room.

  “Oh, hell no…” I breathed.

  “Think of it as role play,” Tank sniggered.

  “I do not do any of you fuckers.”

  “It should be short-term.” Chaos crossed his massive arms and I knew this wasn’t a request from a friend, this was an order from my CO.

  “Fucking…” I muttered. “Fine.”

  Chaos went into lecture mode. “Olafson flagged this with me a little while ago. Said there’d been some shady shit uncovered and to put us on stand-by–”

  “Wait a second,” I said, sitting up and pointing at him. He looked at me expectantly. “This is the thing, isn’t it?”

  “What thing?” he asked innocently.

  It might have taken my sleepy brain a little too long to work it out, but I got there in the end. “The thing you… Ugh. This is the thing you were talking about before Hawk’s engagement party.”

  Chaos shrugged. “Is it?”

  Of course, it was. Olafson never did a single thing even vaguely related to security without running it by us first anymore. He wasn’t Faulkner, but his nose still had a touch of brown on it.

  “You said that was hypothetical. You said any change to my contract was only going to happen after a long conversation. You said not to worry about it.”

  He nodded. “And you don’t have to worry about it. I’ve sorted out all the details, all you have to do is show up and get paid.”

  That was neither the point nor what I’d meant, and he knew it. I glowered at him, but Rollie got in before me.

  “Wait on. Changes to contracts? If he’s getting a pay rise, I think it only fair we discuss this as a group.”

  “No one’s getting a pay rise,” Hawk said quickly then looked at Chaos. “Are they?”

  Chaos barely contained the eye-roll. “Nico will get paid accordingly, same as any of you on any job.”

  “But it’s not a raise. As such?” Rollie checked.

  “No,” Chaos told him.

  “Good.” Well, that had Rollie happy.

  What about me? “And when you say ‘round the clock’ and ‘from her couch’, that means literally around the clock and from her couch?” I looked between the bosses.

  Which was somewhat of a farce. Chaos and Hawk were in charge on paper, but we’d always – for the most part – made decisions together, as a team. But it didn’t mean they couldn’t delegate when necessary.

  “There is a very real possibility her life is in literal danger,” Chaos said gently. “That means I expect you to not leave her side until the danger has passed.”

  I frowned. “I’ve never done that sort of job before.”

  “No. But you’re more than capable.”

  I was almost won over by the sentiment, but Rollie’s words put a stop to that.

  “Of being with another human twenty-four-seven?” Rollie laughed. “I would pay to see that.”

  “Rollie,” Tank chastised in his quiet, deep voice.

  Rollie had the decency to look somewhat chastened, but he still looked gleefully wicked and I knew he was waiting for the whole thing to bite me in the arse.

  You and me both, brother.

  Although I wasn’t quite so happy about it.

  “Get all your shit sorted as quickly as you can for working remotely, get some gear packed, change and get to Olafson as soon as possible. Contract starts today.” Chaos finished like that was the end of it. No discussion.

  We were in each other’s shit books for now. But they were the kind of shit books that would erase after nothing more a little bit of time. Family, and all that. So, I left it.

  “Lucky I don’t date. Expecting me to drop everything at a moment’s…” I muttered as I walked out.

  It wasn’t a discussion. But I did get the last word in.

  ****

  “Nicolas Daniels of Grace Grayson Security to see Mr Olafson,” I said to Olafson’s personal secretary.

  There were perks to working for Grace Grayson Security. Namely, you got to walk most of the way straight into the boss’ office.

  She raked her gaze over my body and smiled welcomingly. “Just a moment.”

  She got up from her desk and exaggerated her hip sway as she walked to the big double doors on the other side of the room. I knew my eyes were supposed to follow her gait and they did so purely because there was nothing else to look at.

  After a knock on the door, she popped her head in. “Mr Daniels from Grace Grayson, sir.” A pause. A nod. A look to me. “He’ll see you now.”

  I nodded to her and got past her with the least amount of body parts touching as I could manage. She was giving it her best shot though.

  “Ah, good to see you,” Mr Olafson said, standing up from behind his desk.

  I
inclined my head in reply.

  “Ask Miss Lane to join us, will you?” he asked the secretary.

  She nodded and was gone for less than a minute.

  “She’s on her way up, sir,” she said, still eyeing me off.

  “Thank you, Janice,” Olafson said with a curt nod.

  Janice had no choice but to leave.

  We stood around in mostly awkward silence while we waited for Miss Lane.

  “I hear Patrick’s engagement party went well,” Olafson tried for conversation.

  Being me, I just nodded again.

  When it came to security, I liked to rival even Tank’s ability to be a stoic, silent wall. If only a slightly smaller scale. I’d rarely been allowed in the public – Mr Nelson’s yearly gig was about it – but, when I was, I did my best to make sure no one had any cause to remember me.

  Thankfully, it was enough to put Olafson off more small talk. The next noise, other than the ticking of a clock, was a commotion from behind the door. Next thing, a small body fell through it with an embarrassed giggle.

  “You right, love?” I heard Janice say as the person tried to untangle themselves from a potted plant by the door.

  “Yes. Yep. Fine. Thanks, Janice.”

  It was five words, but that voice did something to me.

  Then the person turned around and I got a good look at her.

  I felt my stomach plummet out of my arse.

  She could barely have been five-foot-six, with dark purple hair, a thick fringe, and big blue eyes framed by black glasses. She bit her lip as she looked around the room and smiled sheepishly at Olafson. She wore wide leg jeans and her t-shirt had the freaking Millennium Falcon on it.

  “Sorry, Mr Olafson,” she said. “I came as quickly as I could.”

  “It’s no problem, Raegan. I’d like to introduce you to…” Olafson looked at me, having already forgotten my name.

  I hated dressing up. I hated role-play. But Olafson like things a certain way and damned if I wasn’t going to do a job properly.

  “Nico is fine, sir,” I said in my best gruff imitation of one of my teammates, and Raegan’s eyes snapped to me.

  “This is Nico,” Olafson said to the pixie dream in front of us.

  She nodded at me. “Nico.”

  I gave her a curt nod in return. “Miss Lane.”

  I watched her mouth ‘Miss Lane’ like no one ever called her that and she had to remember it was her.

  She had the makings of my own personal kryptonite.

  “I do wish none of this was necessary, Raegan. But Grace Grayson have a stellar reputation. You’ll be in good hands.” Olafson turned to his desk to pick something up.

  “If only,” was said so quietly I couldn’t be sure I’d actually heard her right.

  “Sorry?” Olafson asked, turning back for a moment.

  3

  Raegan

  I blinked.

  Had I actually just said that out loud, or had I imagined it?

  I cleared my throat and tried to think of anything remotely decent for public consumption. “Uh, I said I’m sure. I’m sure Nico will be very good at his job.”

  I mean, I was sure Nico would be good at his job.

  I was also kind of keen to know what it felt like to be in his hands.

  Because he was unnecessarily hot. Like unfairly hot. Like ‘why do bad things happen to good people’ hot. But then so was every single other Grace Grayson dude I’d ever seen. So why I’d expected this one to be any different I didn’t know.

  He wore a dark grey suit that looked like it had been poured onto his body. His light hair was swept back impeccably and his blue eyes surveyed me with the practised ease of a man with too much confidence. He was chiselled and delicious, if a tad lankier than what I was used to with the Grace Grayson buffet. Because buff…

  The dude was making me seriously reconsider my dislike of suits.

  Well, no. He wasn’t making me reconsider. All reconsidering had been done and my brain was wondering what it would take to get a guy like that into my bed. Based on the fact he’d barely looked at me, it would take a whole lot more than I was willing to give. Which was a shame really. But then, there was no way a guy like that and a girl like me had any future beyond maybe a couple of tumbles in the proverbial hay. Which made the effort seem even less worth the reward, brilliant though I expected it to be.

  I pulled my mind (most of the way) out of the gutter in time to watch Mr Olafson give Nico an ID card and super sexy lanyard.

  It would be sexy if it was the only thing he was wearing…

  Bad brain.

  “Raegan can have that set up to get you access to whatever you need. Kit said you’d know what to ask for.”

  Nico nodded at Mr Olafson, but didn’t say anything.

  Up until that point, I hadn’t been aware that strong and silent was my type.

  Mr Olafson continued, “I understand you know the parameters of the contract. Of what I’m paying for?”

  Another nod from Nico. His silence didn’t seem to faze Mr Olafson.

  “Good. Good. Well, Raegan. I will leave you in the very capable hands of Nico. I trust you will keep me apprised of any developments on your end?”

  One more nod from Nico.

  Okay. The novelty was slightly starting to wear off now.

  “Yes, sir,” I answered, if only to spare Mr Olafson from having a conversation with himself.

  Mr Olafson nodded. “Good. I expect Nico will need a word with Duncan, see the office and such before you leave for the day?”

  It was clearly a question aimed at Nico, but he – you guessed it – just nodded again.

  “I’ll – uh – take him down to the Dungeon now then, sir,” I said.

  Nico’s eyes flew to me at the word ‘Dungeon’ and I almost regretted my word choices. Almost. I didn’t know what he was thinking – whether that was a good, interested look or a bad, shocked look on his face – but I wasn’t okay with being embarrassed for being me so I told myself to get over it.

  “Thank you, Raegan. Let me know if you need anything.” It was a dismissal and I was happy to comply, even if the last words hadn’t been directed at me.

  “Thanks, sir. Will do.” I looked at Nico. “To the Dungeon, then.”

  Nico inclined his head in a way that wasn’t quite a nod, but also totally was because he was agreeing with me. I’d never noticed how much one nod could convey before. Like, people actually could communicate wordlessly.

  “Okay, then,” I said, as much to fill the silence and to stop myself thinking about how sexy wordless communication looked on this particular suit.

  As we walked to the lift, I wasn’t quite sure who was leading who. Nico somehow managed to lead but also be following me since, naturally, the guy didn’t know where we were going.

  The ride down in the lift was awkward to say the least. It was the kind of awkward silence that defined awkward silences. So, of course, I filled it with rambling conversation.

  “So, Duncan’s our boss. He’s great. Real supportive and totally professional. Really lucky to have him. Then there’s Jackson. His last name’s Pollock, but I call him Pillock. Not to his face, obviously. That’d just be rude. Jackson’s a family name. Pollock was his parents’ name. Best not to mention it. They hate art. Especially modern art. But especially body paint.

  “He’s fine. Just intense. And super pessimistic. Like, very doomsday. Likes reminding you of all the bad shit.” I looked at the silent, suited deliciousness, not that he was giving anything back. “Not you. Obviously. He hasn’t met you. But the royal you. General you, if you will.” I saluted, as you always have to do to generals.

  “Whatever, right? So that’s the Dungeon. It’s a mess,” I laughed, sub-consciously willing myself to shut up. “But it’s our mess. You know?”

  I looked at him again.

  He was just watching me with slow blinking eyes like he couldn’t beli
eve he’d been given me. Like he couldn’t believe he was so unlucky as to be stuck keeping my mouthy arse alive.

  I cleared my throat. “So, they really think my life’s in actual danger, huh?”

  “Yes,” was all he’d say on the matter before he turned his head to see how much longer he’d have to be stuck in a lift with me.

  “Helpful,” I muttered to myself. “So…Nico, huh?”

  He nodded.

  I sighed. “Good talk, man.”

  I half expected, with my luck, that the lift would choose that moment to break down and we’d be trapped until the next morning. Thankfully, it reached the basement safely and the doors opened.

  I stepped out hurriedly, tripping on the pristine, flat carpet. Nico’s hand shot out towards me as though he was on autopilot.

  “Uh,” I chuckled as I rearranged my glasses. “Thanks.”

  Another nod.

  “That’s gonna get real old,” I said quietly.

  Nico’s arm moved to the doors but I waved him away.

  “This princess saves herself,” I told him. I chose to believe he didn’t get the joke rather than think I wasn’t witty, so I clarified, “I get my own doors.”

  His eyebrows rose slightly as though in question. “And if the room were occupied by hostile forces?”

  I swallowed all the stupid answers. “Okay. Fine. I don’t get my own doors.”

  I waited while he pushed the doors open to the Dungeon. He looked around quickly then indicated I precede him in. As I did, I immediately looked to Duncan’s office. He must have been waiting for us because he was looking our way.

  I did the best ‘point and eye roll’ at Nico I could manage while I was walking in front of him. Duncan smiled.

  “I need a word with your boss,” Nico’s deep voice said.

  “I need…” I put a stop to that quick smart!

  Because the last thing I needed to do was tell him I needed him to go back to just nodding so my brain wouldn’t disappear to fantasy land every time I heard his voice.

  It was good.

  Too good.

  It was discovering there were such things as porgs good.