Demon's Trust (The Chronicles of Arcayos #1) - Raven Dark Page 0,70
my jeans, just as she’s done, and join her at her desk. My guess, she’s probably expecting me to shift my feet awkwardly as I try to work out what to do with myself under eight pairs of eyes.
Instead, I lean against her desk, arms folded, watching her pointedly as she dumps a cup of cold coffee into a trash can by her desk.
“Are you going to introduce us to your new friend, Cass?” someone says.
I glance over at the other officers seated at desks spread out in the room.
Cassidy sighs. “Sure.” She nods to the one who spoke. “That’s Tyrone Jackson. And across from him, Steve, his partner.”
Tyrone nods, and Steve lifts a hand with a smile. I shake their hands, keeping my face a neutral mask, as if I’ve never seen them before.
“Over there, by the computer are Louie Ferrara and his partner, Ryan Kendal. And over here with the blond hair, that’s Max Harding, and his partner, Julie Parker. Guys, this is Haakon Gunderson.”
She drawls the name out. She really doesn’t want me here. The thought excites me.
Julie gives a wave and smirks at Cassidy. Max Harding gives me a nod.
Max is sitting back in his seat the way I’ve seen men sit watching a football game on television, sizing the new player up. He watches Cassidy, keeps running his gaze up and down her gorgeous body.
The body that belongs to me.
Good job that Cassidy is ignoring it altogether, or the fucking I’d give her tonight would leave her sore for days.
“Hiya,” Ryan says. He stands and puts out a skinny arm, shaking my hand. “Welcome to the squad.”
His partner, Louie, puts down a cinnamon roll, wipes his hands on a napkin and stands up, giving me a strong handshake. “Unusual name. Hawken. Sorry if I mangle it. I’m not good with names.”
“Just call me Hawk if it’s easier.” I put on the same charming smile I gave Colburn.
“Hawk. Love that name,” Ryan says, taking his seat. Louie and the Jacksons give him a look as if wondering what to do with him, and his face goes beet red. He shrugs. “What? It’s badass.”
The Jacksons chortle.
Watching from the sidelines, Cassidy rolls her eyes.
Louie crumples the wrapper from his roll and chucks it good-naturedly at Ryan. “Why are you always such a dork? You’re embarrassing me.”
Ryan shrugs.
“There you go, Hawk,” Julie says with a grin. “You’ve already got a fan.”
“I guess Powers and West aren’t here,” Cassidy says with a glance around the room. “You’ll probably meet them later.”
“At last, now there’ll be someone to keep this firecracker in line,” Max says, giving Cassidy a wink.
Normally, I’d agree with him, but the smarmy way he says it makes me want to hold him underwater until the bubbles stop.
Cassidy ignores him, rifling through a stack of files on her desk. That’s my little warrior. Keeping her cool.
Julie shakes her head. “Max, don’t be such a prat. Hawk, don’t take any leaves from his book. You’ll end up with Cassidy’s boot up your ass.”
Laugher ripples around the room.
“Or getting booked for sexual harassment,” Tyrone growls, glaring at Max.
“And watch out for these two,” Ryan says, jerking his thumb at the Jacksons. “You’ll know when they like you because they’ll start putting whoopee cushions on your chair or snakes in a can in your drawer.”
The Jacksons give identical grins.
“Or invisible ink in your pen,” Louie grumbles.
I chuckle. “I’ll keep an eye out.” I don’t know what a whoopee cushion is, but it’s obviously a prank of some sort.
One can’t help liking these particular humans. I can see why my Cassidy was miffed at me for wanting her to quit her job.
“We’ll get out of here as soon as I grab a coffee, Ar… der… are—are you up for some?” Cassidy’s cradling a pile of manila folders in her arms—or she was. They scatter, flopping to the floor. Her face is scarlet, and she scrambles for them.
I can’t help a smirk as I go over and bend down in front of her. “No, let me get those for you.”
When she meets my gaze, her face is sheet white, her jaw clenched, eyes wide with horror.
Since I can’t say anything to reassure her, I give her a minute shake of my head. Her mask slips back into place.
I gather the files and stand, helping her up. No one seems to have noticed, too busy chattering amongst themselves.
Cassidy grabs for the files.
“I’ll hold onto them,” I tell her, putting them out of reach.