Chaos & the Geek (Grace Grayson Security #1) - Elizabeth Stevens Page 0,16
sight of me. I told myself it wasn’t there. I’d seen nothing. It couldn’t have been there. Especially because a moment later she was avoiding looking at me again. And her tone was totally nonchalant.
“Hey. You finish early?”
I shook my head. “Need to change for a job. I’ll be out late.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“You’re…okay?” I asked.
She nodded again. “All good. Thanks.”
Not knowing what else to say, I went to my room to change and hurried back out again as soon as possible.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
“Sure. Bye,” she replied with an absent wave as she looked over one of her books.
I sighed and headed back down to my SUV, feeling antsy and uncomfortable.
I was meeting the boys at an event – one of the many galas the Nelsons put on for charity – and was in danger of being pretty well on time now. But that made for a nice change.
When I got out and headed for the foyer of the theatre, I saw that Tank was already there and Rollie was pretending to throw punches at him. Nico and Hawk were having an in-depth discussion, arms pointing in different directions, as Nico looked at his tablet.
“Going over the layout?” I asked as I walked up to them.
Hawk nodded. “One final sweep. Everything looks good.”
“I don’t know why I had to be on the ground for this,” Nico grumbled.
“Because the Nelsons have zero faith in their tech skills,” Hawk answered.
“Did you get to the penthouse?” I asked Nico.
Nico actually looked up from his tablet and had a vague hint of a smile on his face. “Oh, yeah. Hey.” He nudged his elbow towards Hawk. “You never told us your sister was cool.”
Hawk stopped his survey and turned to Nico in surprise. “Cool?” he scoffed. “Bert’s not cool.”
Nico gave Hawk a look that suggested he very much disagreed. “Hate to be the bearer of bad news, dude. But your sister’s definitely cool.”
I was obviously not the only one who heard the appreciation in his voice.
Hawk pointed at Nico. “Just what do you mean by she’s cool?”
Nico shrugged. “I mean she’s cool, man. She’s great.”
Hawk was obviously not sure how to take the news, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it either. Nico’s eyes lit up at the thought of Amber. What did that mean? Nico’s eyes were known to light up at the thought of pizza, so it didn’t have to mean he was interested in her. But was he?
“Great how?” Hawk asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
“She speaks my language, for one thing. Obviously games. Into the same shit as me. Knows about the sanctity of the spawn point.”
I’d heard about the sanctity of the spawn point. I still had no idea what it meant. I felt a momentary twinge of something too close to jealousy that Nico had met her once and had already managed a better conversation than I had with her in twenty-three years.
Hawk looked at me. “She might come in handy for this year’s Christmas presents.”
“She did get my t-shirt,” Nico said proudly.
I remembered which one he’d been wearing that morning. It was the one I’d bought him last Christmas. I hadn’t understood the reference, but the guy at the comic book store assured me it would go down well.
“It’s not like he has the most obscure taste on the planet,” I huffed, straightening my jacket unnecessarily and looking around like I was doing another sweep.
“Yeah, but I might actually win the present contest this year with Bert’s help.”
“I would be very interested to see what she’d come up with for me,” Nico said, and the appreciation was well obvious in his voice this time.
“Just you watch how interested in my sister you are there, Nico,” Hawk warned.
Nico actually laughed, and it was almost self-conscious, both of which were odd for him and made me doubt his next words. “I’m not interested in your sister. I just think she’s cool.” He paused, then added, “She’s probably the coolest chick I’ve met.”
“You touch her and you’re dead,” I growled.
Hawk’s mouth had been open to say something, his finger pointing at Nico again. But at my words, he turned to me, still pointing at Nico, and blinked a couple of times. He finally shut his mouth, looked at Nico, back to me, another couple of blinks, then back at Nico.
“Yeah,” he finally said, far less threateningly after my outburst. “What he said. Bert’s off-limits, mate.”
“Who’s fucking Amber?” Rollie asked as he and Tank strolled over.