Page 24 of Their Property
Just admit you can’t read, T.The ribbing thought came to the forefront of my mind. It might have been funny, if I’d been able to say it. I loved hearing the guys laugh. Whenever they made jokes like that, they always included me. I could have written it down but the moment passed too quickly. Dyno had already snatched the paper from T-Bone and squinted at it himself.
“She has two meetings before lunch,” Dyno reported. “First, with the infrastructure committee, then with the public housing board.”
“What the fuck do those words even mean?” T-Bone groaned and scrubbed his hands down his face.
“I don’t know, but they’re in opposite wings of the capitol from each other.” Dyno slapped the paper to T-Bone’s chest with a quick glance at me. “How do you guys want to handle this?”
I made a few rough hand gestures with my idea, partially made-up and partially from the meager bits of ASL I did know. Usually the guys understood my meaning well enough, but I could always write it down if they didn’t. They were patient with me and always listened.
They both watched me carefully, eyes fixated on my body language. It used to make me self-conscious. Now I just found their intense stares sexy.
“You saying one of us stay in the room with her, one posted outside at the exit, and the other keep a wider perimeter?”
I nodded and moved my hands around in an orbiting motion.
“Then we’ll rotate positions for the second meeting,” Dyno confirmed. “Works for me. Sound good to you, Pres?”
“Yes.” T-Bone huffed in annoyance at the title, snapping his hand out to hit Dyno in the nipple. “Dyno-dick.”
“Save the dirty pet names for tonight,Pres.”The other man goaded him with a smirk.
“You.” T-Bone’s hand slid up to grip the back of Dyno’s head, fingers curling in his black hair as he pulled him close. They were a hair’s breadth away from kissing and Dyno’s breath hitched, as did mine.
“You can talk all the shit you want when you’re riding my cock tonight.” T-Bone grinned and closed the distance between them, planting a lingering kiss on Dyno’s lips. He pulled away, still smiling. “At least, you can try.”
I stifled a groan and adjusted my pants. I never could decide if it was hotter to watch them or to be positioned between them. Fortunately, I often had both.
We decided on our positions for the first guard rotation, then left the suite. I hung back at the end of the pack, as the perimeter lookout for the first meeting. Word had already gotten around that I was the mute bodyguard. No doubt that most of the officials here would assume I was stupid too. I was counting on it. The less guarded they were, the more I could learn about the people surrounding our pretty ambassador.
Kyrie looked over her shoulder and waved hello at me as our group followed her. I returned the gesture, my thoughts soured momentarily at the memory of last night. She had asked me if I ever learned to sign, and I acted like a dick.
Maybe I should have seen the question coming, but it was out of the blue for me. Except for T-Bone and Dyno, people didn’t notice me. They didn’t ask me questions or try to get to know me. People wrote me off as soon as they figured out I couldn’t speak. It didn’t bother me. I had gotten used to being invisible and often used it to my advantage. I was seen and valued by the only two people that mattered anyway.
But when I was treated like a normal person, it threw me off. I didn’t always know how to respond. People tried, but they didn’t know my body language and then got frustrated when I had to write things down. They usually wrote me off after that.
Kyrie didn’t. I probably killed the conversation before it could get to that point. Still, I was rude, and she had always been nice to me. I owed her an apology, and hopefully the book in my pocket would earn me a smile.
And maybe I owed her an explanation for why I acted that way, which was the main reason why I wanted some distance from her first thing in the morning. I wasn’t sure how to explain myself without prompting even more questions and possibly opening a massive can of worms.
But what worried me most was her not wanting to be my friend anymore if she knew. A perimeter walk would clear my head, help me find the right words. Keep me from being distracted. Not that she was distracting in a bad way. I just really liked listening to her speak and didn’t want to miss a word. I enjoyed watching the shift of her moods and thoughts in her facial expressions. She was like T-Bone in that way, so openly expressive. It was beautiful and refreshing to see how someone felt just by looking at their face or listening to their voice. I was envious of people who could do that.
Dyno went into the meeting room with Kyrie while T-Bone posted himself outside the door. “I’ll let you know if I see anything,” he said, eyes already sweeping the corridor.
With a soft caw, Munin flew from his shoulder to one of the beams high in the ceiling. The raven was a treasured companion to all of us, but his bond with T-Bone was unique. T-Bone was the only one who could temporarily leave his body and see through the bird’s eyes like they were his own.
We had no explanation for this ability, except that it was a gift from the Allfather, Odin himself. It was our secret weapon, how we had won battles and found each other when lost. It was how we were able to rescue Kyrie in Blakeworth.
Be careful, I mouthed to T-Bone. There were plenty of capitol employees still walking the halls, and we weren’t exactly open about our gifts from the gods. T-Bone lost control of his body when looking through Munin. He would go limp like he was unconscious, and people would take notice.
“Cover me when you double back,” he said. “Between you, me, and the bird, nothing should get past us.”
I nodded and started off on my patrol, heading toward an outside exit. The windows from Kyrie’s meeting room faced a small outdoor area, and I wanted to make sure nothing had a clear view of her or anyone in that room.
This area was a small courtyard with a stone fountain in the center, benches under drooping willow trees, and well-maintained greenery that was also lush and sweet-smelling.She would like it out here, was my first thought.
Kyrie hated being cooped up inside, I noticed. She grew bored and fidgety, and a blank look would cross her face as she daydreamed. Depending on what she was thinking about, sometimes her eyes would brighten or her lips twitched into a smile. I wondered what she thought about that brought out those reactions.
I should probably stop thinking about her so much.
