Red After Dark (Blackwood Security #13) - Elise Noble Page 0,22
And I’m telling you, she’s not doing any interviews today.”
Didn’t matter. I had what I needed. The blond guy had turned, curious, and I recalled who he reminded me of. A guy I’d seen at a Navy reunion dinner I’d attended with Black, had to be five or six years ago now. Ridley? Radley? Something like that. He’d been Black’s commanding officer before he joined the SEALs, and according to my husband, a Grade A asshole. Last I heard, he’d started up his own security company, although he operated at the other end of the market to us with cut-rate, dubious-quality contractors who I wouldn’t trust to give out parking tickets.
“Sorry, there must have been a miscommunication. I’ll go get it smoothed out.”
And I also needed to call Black. I had a feeling he’d be very interested in the latest development.
CHAPTER 9 - SKY
“THERE’S BEEN A change of plan,” Black said.
Day three of my new job, and I’d already drafted my resignation letter. The handwriting was a little shaky because I’d been too tired to hold the pen properly, but it was still legible.
So far, I’d run the equivalent of a marathon while Alex rode a trail bike alongside, lifted weights until I thought my arms were going to fall off while Black watched over me, turned black and blue through fight training, and possibly broken a toe when I tripped up the stairs in exhaustion. My ears were still ringing from shooting, and the amount of damage I could do with plants terrified me. I was never, ever eating anything cooked by Sofia. Carmen was also trying to teach me Spanish, but I couldn’t remember anything except joder.
And now Black wanted to change things?
“Does it involve me running anywhere? Because I’m not sure I can crawl.”
“I have to go to Kentucky.”
Hurrah. Did that mean I’d get a lie-in? “Have fun.”
“So you’ll have a new trainer tomorrow.”
Fucking fantastic. “Is he a sadist in his spare time?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Oh, good. Then he can’t possibly be as bad as the last trainer.”
“Tell me again why we hired you? Because it wasn’t for your charming personality.”
“Right now, I’m not even sure.”
Black’s lips quirked. Was that meant to be a smile? So far, he’d been a miserable bastard, all “do this, do that, die if you want, I’m not picking you up.” I had no idea what Emmy saw in him.
“You’ll train with Alex as usual in the morning. Rafael’s currently in Colombia, but he’ll be back at some point tomorrow. He can pick up where I left off.”
“How? By making me dig my own grave?”
“No, that’s part of next week’s plan. If you breathe your last this week, we’ll just feed you to the cat.”
Ah yes. The fucking cat. A woman like Emmy couldn’t possibly have a normal pet, could she? No, she had a bloody jaguar. It had a fancy jungle enclosure out the back, but it preferred kipping on the sofa and mooching around the kitchen in search of scraps. Everyone else acted as if this was normal.
I was fairly sure Black was kidding about me being kitty chow, but I also didn’t want to test him.
“Tell me again why I haven’t run screaming from this place?”
“Because you like a challenge. Enjoy dinner, and I’ll see you in a few days.”
Enjoy dinner? It was nine p.m. and even my taste buds had fallen asleep. I almost went straight to bed, but I knew if I skipped eating, I’d pay for it in the morning. At least there was proper food at Riverley. Emmy’s nutritionist really cared about our diets. I’d spent so long living on junk due to a lack of cooking facilities that steamed chicken and vegetables was a tiny slice of heaven.
I could have cried when I got to the kitchen and found I wasn’t alone. Tonight, I was too tired to pretend to be sociable. But I also couldn’t afford to alienate anyone in this new world, especially when I didn’t know who they were.
“Hi.”
“You must be Sky? I’m Hallie.”
She knew who I was, yet I didn’t know who she was. “That’s me.”
“It’s good to finally meet you. And weird not to be the new girl anymore.”
“You work for Blackwood too?”
“Yup. Started two months ago in the investigations division. Dan’s showing me the ropes, but she’s gone to Kentucky.”
“Don’t you have a backup trainer?”
“Nah, I just have a bunch of cold case files to dig into. You know, review them in light of new developments, blah,