Page 97 of Spy With Me
Devi rewarded her with a brilliant smile. “I know you can doit. And think about how proud Coop and Lou are going to be when they get backand you two are not at each other’s throats. I still can’t believe they leftyou two here together.”
Devi sat back again, looking at the clock. Time was movingat a snail’s pace, and she wished she could have at least sat with Lou and Tashand watched over him. But no. She had to stay put and not climb out a window.
“They don’t want to further kill Lucy’s cover. She can’t goback to Disrupt because there’s zero way Huisman doesn’t know she’s a plant,but she might be able to work it from another angle. I do feel bad about that,”Kala admitted. “She worked her way in. She’s been working at it for years.”
Progress. “And Kenz wanted to be as alone with Ben aspossible. Do you think she’ll tell him?”
Kala’s head shook. “With Tristan there? And I’m pretty surethat Tim guy was going. I doubt it. She’ll wait for some weirdly dramatic timeand announce her love for him and then we’ll have to deal with that asshole forthe rest of our lives.”
Marriage had not made her cousin more romantic. “It’s calledhappily ever after.”
“I call it shit I put up with,” Kala returned. “So what wasall that spanking and moaning about this morning? You and Zach decide to makemy dad want to die? Don’t get me wrong. I approve thoroughly, but I didn’tthink Zach would feel the need to spank you after all the moaning from lastnight. Dude, you are not quiet. Kenzie cried because she said it was sobeautiful, but I just wanted to sleep, man. You need to be quieter with youremotional connections.”
She shrugged because she didn’t care that everyone heardthem. That way the group would know they were serious. “He was still upset thatI didn’t tell him about the whole ‘a dude tried to roofie me and oops, itturned out to be his dad.’ Personally, I don’t think I should be heldaccountable for that. They don’t look alike. How was I supposed to know it washis dad? No one gave me one of those filethingees,and you know they really should have.”
Kala’s lips turned up, an amused expression that Devi hadseen on her uncle’s face. “We call it a dossier.”
“Well, I did not get one.” And that was a real oversight onthe part of the team. She might not be getting an Agency paycheck, but she wasdefinitely Agency adjacent. Shouldn’t that come with privileges?
“I think he would have been upset about anyone who tried toroofie you. He’s your Dom. You didn’t let him know you needed protection,” Kalapointed out.
“Well, he wasn’t at the time. We were kind of broken up.”
“Were you?”
It had felt like a breakup. “I mean he didn’t bother to tellme he was leaving. Not Dom-like behavior. But also, I didn’t mind the spanking.It’s kind of my thing, so I’m not going to complain, and honestly, when he goesinto all the things he’ll do to me if I put myself in danger again… It doesn’tthrow me off. He should think of worse things than taking a violet wand to mypink parts. That’s sounds like a fun Saturday night to me.”
Kala pointed her way. “You pull some shady shit again and itwon’t be your boyfriend you answer to.”
The last thing she wanted was a throwdown with her cousin.Lucky for her, she knew how to distract a Taggart. “Please refer to himproperly. He’s my fiancé.”
Kala shook her head. “You really doing this?”
“Yeah. I love him.”
Kala stood and moved to hug her cousin. “I’m happy for you.”
Devi reveled in the affection. Kala could be standoffish, soDevi appreciated every hug. “I’m happy for me, too. But now I have to tell mydad. My mom will be thrilled. She loves Zach. Dad, not so much.”
“He’ll come around when he sees how happy Zach makes you,”Kala promised and moved back. “Well, if he’s not in prison.”
“You are horrible. Don’t say that.” Lucy walked in, frowningfiercely. “She does not need to hear that.”
“It’s the freaking truth,” Kala shot back and then visiblycalmed. “Sorry, Devi. I shouldn’t have mentioned that Zach might go to jail.”She turned back to Lucy. “Now what put that constipated look…that worriedexpression on your face?”
She was trying. Not hard, but trying. “Very good, cousin.”
Lucy’s nose wrinkled. “What’s wrong… Never mind. I know theanswer. You’re Kala. Anyway, I think we have a van that’s circled the blockfour times now. I went to the safe room to chill out and watched the securitycams for a couple of minutes. It could be a work van looking for an address orsomeone killing time.”
“Or it could be trouble,” Kala announced. “I’ll go take alook. You make sure we’re locked down.”
“The security system is good. The doors are all locked, butwe’re not a fortress,” Lucy admitted. “Well, except for the safe room. It’ssolid. It should survive a bomb if they dropped one on us.”
“Then maybe we should get in there.” Kala’s head moved,gesturing for Devi to join her.
In a small room with the two of them sniping at each other?No thanks. “Come on. Can’t you make sure it’s a bad guy before we lockourselves in?” She’d seen the safe room, and it locked down hard and fast andwas meant for one or two people who liked each other a lot. It was kind of apanic room that locked and stayed locked for four hours after the button waspushed. Four hours of intense therapy with Kala and her Bliss twin did not seemlike how she wanted to spend her day. “Please. If you lock it, we’re stuckinside, and what happens if your dad wants us to move? What if Zach needs totake his mom somewhere else? He won’t go without me. He’ll wait and put himselfin danger for what might be a dude who’s lost.”
Kala sighed. “Fine. Lucy, did you run the plate?”
