Page 47 of Twisted Devotion

“The perimeter guards handled it before it was close enough to alert you. And some of them happened while the two of you were at the facility,” Nikolai explains.

I pin Nikolai with a stare. “I don’t care. I want to be informed about every attempt, regardless of the magnitude. I thought that was clear from the beginning of this assignment.”

Nikolai lifts his brows at me, and Jackson whistles under his breath. “I’ll make sure to let you know next time,” Nik says.

“Thank you. Now, if there isn’t anything else to add, I’d like to shift the topic of the conversation to my replacement once my contract is fulfilled,” I say.

Jackson stiffens beside me, and I can’t bring myself to look at him. I didn’t mean the question as an insult to him, but Iamleaving eventually, and I’d like to know who is taking over my position given its importance.

And Jackson’s.

My heart skips, then speeds up. I haven’t given much thought to what life would be like after this assignment, and thinking about it now makes me a little nauseous.

“We can discuss that, yes,” Nikolai says, “Skylar and I haven’t started vetting candidates yet, and I’m leaving tomorrow for a week to visit Aaron.”

From what I’ve heard from Allison and Aurora, he hasn’t seen his son since everything went down with The Experiment. Having been an integral part of the organization, I can imagine Aaron’s been having a difficult adjustment since its collapse. At least he’s still kept in touch with his dad and Skylar. If Nikolai had to say goodbye to his son for a second time, I’m not sure how he would handle it. Not well, if I had to guess.

Letting out a slow breath, I nod. “Okay. Let me know if you need help.” I try to throw some humor into the mix by adding, “It takes a special kind of crazy to deal with this one.” I jerk my thumb in Jackson’s general direction, earning a deep-throated chuckle.

“Hey, quit trying to get rid of me so quickly. You’re still stuck with me for almost two months,” he says.

I plaster the sweetest smile I can force onto my lips and flash it at him. “One month, three weeks, and four days.” I’d saved a countdown on my phone the day I took the assignment and I happened to glance at before the meeting.

He blinks at me, then surprisingly, he frowns. It only lasts a second, but I catch it, and the sight makes my stomach drop. I guess I haven’t given a lot of thought to the end of my assignment. As much as I dreaded going into it, there’s a small part of me now that isn’t looking forward to it being over. Granted, thatpartis likely located between my thighs.

Before I can say anything, Skylar clears her throat and says, “If there’s nothing else, Nik and I should get back to the hotel.” She looks at me. “Send me an email if you need anything.”

“That’s it?” I ask, and she nods. “Seems like this could have been done over the phone. And not so early,” I finish after yawning.

“They probably wanted to make sure you hadn’t hog-tied and gagged me and shoved me in a closet somewhere,” Jackson offers.

Nikolai laughs. “Something like that,” he says, going on to elaborate, but I’m not awake enough yet to listen.

With the meeting adjourned, Jackson and I head over to the facility for the afternoon. There aren’t any procedures scheduled, but Jax said he had paperwork to go through, so I lie on the couch in his office and stick my nose in a book while he works.

My eyes blink open when my phone chimes on the table beside me, and I quickly glance around the room to find Jackson still behind the desk. I didn’t mean to doze off. I swipe my phone open and pull up the new message—it’s from Kyle.

Whatcha up to? Want to meet for dinner tonight?

I chew my bottom lip, wondering if I can get one of the senior guards to cover the evening rounds at the house.

“You look deep in thought,” Jackson comments, leaning back in his chair as he watches me.

“Kyle wants to have dinner,” I tell him.

“The elusive foster brother?” he asks, to which I nod. “Interesting. Do you want to go?”

“Of course.” I tap my phone to keep the screen from timing out. “I just . . . I don’t know. It’s still weird. And I’d have to find another guard to—”

“Go. I’ll message Nikolai and see if Skylar can come back later to babysit me for the night.”

I can’t help but smile. He didn’t have to do that—offer to give me the night off. Technically, when we’re at the house, I’m not on active guard duty, but after the attack at the facility, I’ve been on high alert no matter where we are. Having Skylar there will calm my nerves about not being there myself. “Yeah, okay. Thanks, Jax.”

“My pleasure, Red.”

I quickly type a reply to Kyle and haul myself off the couch. “I’m going to take a lap and check on things. You good here?”

He nods, turning his attention back to his computer. “We can head home when you get back.”

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