appointment.” Why the hell had he agreed to get his hair cut at Hair Comes Trouble? Right, because Fitz’s best friend, Laz, had given Jack the puppy eyes and Jack was too much of a sucker to say no. Sometimes friends sucked.
“There’s a kissy-face emoji after it, though,” Ace pointed out.
“I’m sure he adds that to all his texts.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Ace said, removing his phone from his pocket. He tapped away at it before showing Jack his text from Fitz. “My emoji is looking at me with suspicion. Like, what is that? Why do I get the suspicion emoji? Is he expecting me to make off with his hair dryer? Give him a bad review on Yelp? Why do you get a kissy face and I get apprehension?”
“Because you’re shady as fuck,” Joker said with a snort.
“Screw you. What emoji did you get?”
“I got a happy face and a little service dog emoji for Chip.”
“What the hell? I mean, Chip I get. Everyone loves him, but why do you get a happy face? No one likes you.”
Joker grinned smugly. “My emoji and my dog’s emoji say otherwise.”
“Whatever.” Ace rolled his eyes before turning that intense gold-green gaze on Jack. “So… you gonna call him?”
Jack shook his head. “Nope. It was a confirmation appointment. From his salon, I might add. Not a personal text.”
“But it had a kissy-face emoji,” Ace said, waggling his eyebrows.
“It was probably a mistake. Everyone, get out of my van.” Jack ignored their collective groans. They called it a van, but at nearly thirty feet in length, it was a surveillance beast, decked out with all the latest and greatest surveillance toys. The chairs were ergonomic and reclined, providing maximum comfort for long hours on the job. It was equipped with everything from a weapon safe to an espresso machine and mini fridge.
“Come on,” Joker moaned. “You’re going to make us walk in this heat?”
Jack didn’t blink. “You’ve trekked through deserts with a sixty-pound dog on your shoulders and your equipment, you can handle two blocks in the Florida sun.”
“Bro, we were the ones doing all the running while you sat in your comfy chair under the AC vent,” Ace grumbled.
Jack stilled, his hands over the keyboard. Lowering them, he slowly swiveled his chair toward Ace.
“Shit,” Maury muttered behind him. “Guys, let’s get the hell out of here.”
Maury, Megan, and Sil said their goodbyes before flying out of the van like someone had lit their asses on fire. Someone was about to get lit all right, but it wasn’t his team.
“Are you saying we don’t work as hard because we’re sitting in front of a screen?” Jack asked, narrowing his eyes. He used to have arguments about what he and his team did all the time, but the Kings knew better. Every now and then they’d forget, and Jack would have to remind them, or in Ace’s case, bust his balls.
Cybersecurity were the nerds, and although he and his team were treated with respect, they were also treated differently from everyone else because no one understood what the hell they were talking about most of the time. Not that Jack or his team cared. They knew how important their job was. Hell, without cybersecurity there’d be no Four Kings Security. “Just because my team and I don’t spend our time dodging bullets, avoiding getting punched in the face, or running down bad guys, doesn’t mean we don’t work just as hard.”
Ace took a subtle step back toward the door, his hands up in surrender. “No, I know. I mean, what you guys do is really important. I wasn’t saying that.”
“Then what were you saying, Anston?”
“Um, I was saying you gotta be careful with that AC. It’ll dry your eyes out, and you need those to, uh… do what you do… and things.”
Jack tilted his head. “Mhm.”
“And, uh… thanks for having my six. I better go. Wedding stuff, you know. Gotta check up on Colton. See if any florists need saving or any new shades of ‘blue but not blue’ have magically appeared.” He motioned behind him. “It’s such a nice day, I think I’ll walk. See you two later.” Ace bolted from the truck, and Jack moved his gaze to Joker before they both broke out in peals of laughter.
“Fucking with him never gets old,” Joker said, wiping a tear from his eye.
Jack nodded his agreement. He stood and headed for the driver’s seat, Joker dropping into the passenger seat with Chip on the floor between