The Mercenary Next Door (Rogues and Rescuers #2) - Lucy Leroux Page 0,80
me!” Rosamie had wailed when she heard the news.
“We will visit a lot, I promise.”
“Not enough,” her friend pouted, squeezing her tight until Ransom convinced her to let go with a hit-and-run kiss that had Rosamie clutching the air after him.
The still-together couple had come over in the evening for dinner. Ransom being Ransom, he’d passed the invitation to all their current and former Auric teammates, and, suddenly, it was a party. Laila didn’t recognize any of the faces, but that didn’t stop them from embracing her as if they’d known her for years.
“Everyone is so friendly,” she commented to Julio, who Mason had introduced as his friend Klein’s boyfriend.
“That’s because we feel like we know you already,” the friendly Hispanic man said enthusiastically, lifting his refilled champagne glass to clink against hers. By that point, she and Mason had been toasted so much she felt as if her blood was half champagne. Laila felt light, almost fizzy with joy.
“Mason has been pretty tight-lipped about his love life. The first time we heard he had one at all was when he started asking for you at the hospital,” he said, leaning in conspiratorially. “It was the great mystery of the year—who is Laila? We were all dying to know. But when Mason was lucid again, he clammed up. Luckily, Ransom has no such restraint. We’ve been rooting for this.”
He put his hand on her shoulder. “You know we were all very worried when he was hurt earlier in the year. Even though he’s been promoted out, he’s one of the team’s rocks, part of the foundation Auric is built on.”
Taking advantage of the group’s preoccupation with their drinks, Laila drew Julio aside to a quiet corner.
“You have a very deep loyalty to them all, don’t you?”
“They deserve it,” he told her.
“Do you ever worry about the danger of the job?”
“I do,” he admitted. “Mason getting hurt shook me up. He’s so solid. You just can’t imagine he’d ever be vulnerable. My partner Louis and I talked a lot about safety around that time, and my fears for him and our family. Auric trains its people well, and they don’t take any chances. Louis insists he’s safer now than when he was in the army or would be as a cop.”
“Was he also a police officer?”
“No, but Santos was for a while after the army.”
“I hadn’t realized that.” Mason had proudly introduced her to his former team leader, who’d brought his wife to the celebration.
“What about the other thing? About Auric?” she asked in a quieter voice. Her eyes flicked to the crowd of big, boisterous men and their partners. “I trust Mason enough to know he’d never work for bad people, but do you ever have any misgivings about the company? You hear things about some private security firms being bad actors.”
Louis’s chest puffed out, but he didn’t seem offended. It almost appeared as if he approved of the question. “Auric isn’t like that. Not with Elias Gardner and Ian Quin at the helm. Louis has told me how they turn down sketchy jobs that seem legit on the surface. They’ve gotten rather good at sniffing out shitty people. Even once they expand, they’re going to stay small enough to keep an eye on things. And if they don’t, every man has an out clause. It’s in their contract.”
Laila’s brow furrowed. “What kind of out clause?”
“It’s kind of like an old-fashioned morality clause they make actors sign. But in their case, the men have to agree never to do anything that goes against the founding principles laid out in the Auric charter. The novel part is that it goes both ways. If the company ever takes a job that makes the men cross that line, the men, too, get to walk away without having to worry about finishing out the rest of their contract.”
Her lips parted. “That’s amazing…and comforting.”
Julio nodded. “You’ll see when you meet them. Elias Gardner and Ian Quinn both served. They understand the concerns that a man might have when going into this line of work. I’ve heard Ian say more than once they wouldn’t want to hire anyone who didn’t worry about their employer crossing the line.”
Feeling a whole lot better, Laila was far more enthusiastic about meeting the Auric founders. Both made an appearance midway through the festivities, congratulating her and Mason with genuine warmth.
Ian Quinn hugged her. “Welcome to the family,” he said before wishing them well and saying goodbye so he and Elias