the last. Finally, when he was about to hang up and, ultimately, give up, she answered.
Lucian felt his eyes close when her smooth voice carried over the line, asking a polite, “Who is this?” Lucian realized that, for the first time, he had called her on his cell.
Reached out to her.
Personally.
“It’s Lucian,” he said, gripping the edge of the filing cabinet. In front of him, the manilla folder was like the Holy Grail. He heard a couple of clicks and then complete silence. She was going to hang up, he thought. “Don’t go. Let me talk. Alright?”
If he thought waiting for the dial tone was bad before, it was nothing compared to the anticipation that he felt right now as he waited for her to answer. A whole minute went by before she replied, her tone completely changed. It was almost like a robot had taken over her.
“Okay.”
He took a breath, preparing himself. Never in his life had he grovelled before -- even when he had been at the hands of a merciless general, in enemy camps, riding to his death...not ever. He wasn’t going to now, either, but it was cutting it close.
“I only said you were off of the field, not fired.”
“Same thing, right? What else would I do if I can’t go on rotation with everyone?”
“Paperwork. With me. You could...be a trainer. We need new recruits; I’ll let you handle that.”
“Talon is in charge of that,” she said into the phone. He could just picture her, leaning against a maroon colored wall with her arms over her chest, phone between her ear and cheek. He didn’t know why, but he could see her rocking a maroon and orange house, with brown couches and a nice big TV. It was a cozy image, one that almost...appealed to him.
“He’s going to be taking less responsibilities. Jamie and he are engaged.”
“Let me guess,” she said with her familiar sneer. “She doesn’t know about it.”
“You guess correctly. Listen, you know that folder you gave me a while back?”
There was a silence on the other end. The tingle in the back of his neck worsened to a full blown itch, spreading down his back. Lucian ignored it.
“I didn’t give it to you -- you took it from me.”
“Same thing,” he said, rolling his shoulders. God, his back.
“Whatever. What about it?”
“I read over it, and I want you to come over. And...go with me. To the meeting. With Zyn.”
“You sure you want that, boss?” she drawled. He hadn’t noticed it before, but she had a slight accent. Damn, how much hotter could she get? He crossed over to his desk, opening a drawer.
“I have your badge and gun ready, if you want to meet me at the place. You know where to go, right?”
“Nope,” she said, acting as if she didn’t care. Something told him that she did know where, though. He told her anyways. When she answered with an “okay” and hung up, he grabbed her gun and badge. Whatever was crawling up his back, it was getting annoying. He was doing the right thing by inviting Devlin to go with him. Wasn’t he?
Talon led her to the large indoor court. He had a basketball in one hand, and a volley ball in the other. Going by the way her eyes were trained on the volleyball, he could only guess which one she wanted to start with first.
Never in his life had Talon played volleyball. Not in his younger days at school, not at the beach, or even for fun. Football and basketball had been his calling when he’d been younger, but he had had a feeling that Jamie was physically active. Her fit body and the way she moved was proof enough of that.
The building was large, spacious, and full of everything you could imagine. He could bet that she was tired of watching movies, so going to the Hunger Games would have to wait till later.
“Talon, I’m not dressed for this. I’m going to look stupid!” she complained, shoving her bangs behind her ear only to have them flop forward again. He shrugged, walking to the opposite side of the court. There was two volleyball nets set up, and he chose the one closest to the exit.
“You could never look stupid. Plus,” he said with a smirk, “they have showers for when we’re done. And I know the owner, so this place is reserved just for us. If you want, you could actually just get naked right now and save