Page 13 of Emergency Exit
“Don’t be logical at me, Smoak,” said Piper, her eyes twinkling. “Those ones aremyhumans, and I’m used to them.”
Harper grinned. “Well, I’m hoping that with Ash around, I’ll find some humans of my own to get used to. I’d like to have friends again. No one even showed up to help me move out when I broke up with Cooper.”
Piper let out a shocked gasp. “Not OK. Bitches who cut and run after a breakup arenotyour friends.”
“I didn’t even ask to borrow anyone’s truck. I just wanted help carrying stuff.”
Piper kicked the ADA button on their building’s front door and waited for it to slowly swing open.
“I will let you borrow my truck, and I would help carry stuff.”
“Really?” asked Harper, trying not to tear up.
“Really,” said Piper.
“Next time you want to creative dress I will do the thinking for you,” offered Harper. It was the only thing she could think of that was at the level of a truck borrowing.
“Bet,” said Piper, grinning.
5
Ash
The Nanny
Ash flopped backward onto the mat with a groan and began to slowly strip off his hand guards. Shihan Brad leaned over him.
“Gonna make it, kid?”
Brad was forty-five and had just made Ash look slow and stupid.
Ash spit out his mouth guard. “No.”
Brad only laughed. “No one said you had to stay for two sparring classes.”
“Yes, they did. It was you. You told me.”
“I didn’t say youhadto. I said it would be good for you.”
“You know he just wanted other kids to play with,” said Carlo drily. Ash grinned at the shaggy-haired blue belt. They both knew Brad prized skilled sparring partners. Getting invited to the second class meant that a student had reached the level Brad considered fun.
“That is true,” admitted Shihan, completely unrepentant about causing other people terror.
Ash had been coming to the late sparring class since orange belt, which was early in a student’s career. Ash put it down to having brothers. He was all too familiar with the dynamic of struggling to stay alive while tagging along with someone far more skilled.
Shihan Brad Miller ran a karate dojo out of a small storefront in Beacon Hill. Ash’s favorite part of being self-employed was that he could usually fit all the classes he wanted to take into his schedule. Ash had been training for five years and had madeit up to red belt. He could have gone faster, but belts weren’t the objective. His goal had been to acquire some of the physical skills his brothers had seemed to have been born with, but along the way, he’d found that he liked the sport.
As Ash helped mop the floors with the other students, he wondered what Harper would think of him taking karate. He didn’t mention it often because a lot of people seemed to believe being a rich adult only included hobbies that were alcoholic.
The other students trailed tiredly out the door as Ash piled his gear into his bag.
“So?” asked Shihan as he carried the A-board in from the sidewalk. “How’s it looking? Is this government deal going to be a thing, or what? I’ve never seen Danny so stressed in his life.”
Ash laughed. “It’s his first time negotiating a sale like this, isn’t it?” Shihan was the only person who called his brother, Dr. Daniel Miller, “Danny.” The multi-PhD genius had built a small but amazingly disruptive airplane tech firm. Ash wasn’t sure what their most recent invention consisted of, but he knew it was cool enough that the government didn’t want it on the open market and intended to buy it outright.
“He said he’s never done anything with this many zeros before, and he’s having nightmares,” said Shihan. “He’s also freaking out because he hasn’t heard from them in weeks.”
“They’re doing background checks on the entire negotiating team,” said Ash reassuringly. “That takes time. I know I’m approved, and the last communication I had said they’d be sending me items to review in December.”
