Page 30 of Forged in Peril

But that didn’t mean she was ready to let anyone else in. Not yet, and perhaps not ever.

“I appreciate any help you can give, even if I’m not ready to bring anyone else in right now,” she said. “And I’m glad that I can trust you.”

Grace understood the question written in her eyes.

“You can, Bristol. I promise.”

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

CAMERON

Cameron stepped out of the fifth floor elevator and headed down the hallway, unsurprised to hear the sound of Grace’s bubbly laughter as he made his way toward the coffee lounge.

The FBS office manager worked hard for the most part, but the odd time that she disappeared without warning, it was easy to figure out where she was hiding.

“Hey, Hinton,” he said as he rounded the corner, “reception is looking for you, and Ben–”

As he reached the doorway of the lounge, he stopped short.

Grace, he’d expected to see.

Bristol? Not so much.

“Hi,” he said to no one in particular, his eyes flitting between the two women as he took in Bristol’s red-rimmed eyes and Grace’s unusually serious expression. “Is everything okay?”

“You startled me,” Bristol said. “Sorry, I’m about to leave, actually. I know it’s not break time, and it won’t happen again. I just need to use the bathroom.”

Without giving him a chance to respond, she picked up a huge cosmetic bag that must have belonged to Grace, and disappeared into the bathroom that adjoined the break area near the hallway.

“What on earth is going on?” he asked Grace, unable to conceal the hint of annoyance that had snuck into his tone.

“Nothing that I’m at liberty to discuss, Cameron,” Grace said, raising a single eyebrow and plopping herself into one of the chairs.

“But–”

“She can speak for herself, and she’ll do it when she’s ready. Let it go.”

There was something in her eyes that shut him up immediately.

Whatever was going on with Bristol, he wasn’t going to hear about it from Grace.

At least she was opening up to someone, by the looks of it. It was something.

“Message received, boss,” he joked.

“Good.”

Grace reached into the depths of her cavernous handbag and withdrew a tube of pink lip gloss, reapplying it as she waited for Cameron to say more.

“Anyway,” he said, clearing his throat, “I take it you’re the reason Jaclyn is complaining to me about having to set aside important case work to–if I remember her exact wording–‘play with Hinton’s error-ridden spreadsheets and put in the legal department’s highly urgent order for staples and trash bags?’”

Before Grace could respond, Bristol headed back toward the table. Her eyes no longer looked red, and her brown hair hung sleek at her shoulders.

“To be fair, she, like everyone else, is late getting her order in,” Grace said, glancing over at Bristol with an approving smile. “I know it may not be groundbreaking stuff compared to, say, solving an impossible case in front of the judge by demystifying the chemical properties of ammonium thioglycolate, but it’s an important part of keeping Forge Brothers Security running smoothly.”

Cameron stared at her, wondering if perhaps he had in fact been hallucinating for the past twenty seconds.

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