Page 5 of Behind the Scenes
“Are you fucking kidding me with the Rams? No way, Xavier,” Gideon said as he threw a basketball he’d been holding straight at his best friend’s head.
It ricocheted off the foosball table and rolled over toward the dart board near where Hunter sat.
“They’ll get to the playoffs maybe, but forget about them going any further. Maybe in a few years, but this year? No way.”
As always, Xavier took that as his cue to stand up full of indignation, righteous or not, and respond with his usual attack he knew would bother Gideon, a lifelong Washington fan. “At least they’ll make it to the playoffs. Not like your Redskins, who can’t find their ass with both hands. You guys got the shaft when you got the wrong Gruden brother, dude.”
And on and on it would go until the game came on and they glued their eyes to the big screen TV on the wall in front of them. Thankfully, that wouldn’t be too long from now because the last thing Hunter wanted was to get pulled into their football argument. His team hadn’t seen the playoffs in so long he wondered why he still stayed true to them, and he didn’t need to defend them against Gideon and Xavier, who would definitely turn their attacks against him once they heard the name Chargers.
Nope. Better to just let them fight it out while he relaxed and pretended not to hear their argument.
His phone began to ring in his pocket, stopping the conversation occurring nearby. He pulled it out and saw Tess’s name on the screen. Persephone’s assistant, she probably wanted to talk to him about a case.
“Tess, let me guess. You couldn’t do without seeing me today, even though it’s Sunday,” he said with a smile, instinctively flirting with her as he had from the moment he met her.
Gorgeous and single, Tess Andrews had no business being around so many men and looking so incredibly hot all the time. She had a sexy librarian thing going on with the way she sometimes wore her hair in a bun and glasses that made her look studious. One look down her body, though, made anyone with an ounce of testosterone in his body think those long legs and perfect ass would look much better without those skirts she wore, even though they often barely came to the middle of her thighs and only highlighted how hot she was.
“You know we don’t work regular hours around here, Hunter,” she said sweetly with a lilt in her voice that told him she was flirting with him too.
“True. Then I’m guessing you just wanted to talk to me then?”
“Sorry, no. Persephone would like you to come to the office.”
Their banter over, he accepted that he’d likely have to work that day. Not until after the game, though. A man had to have some time to himself. After the last few weeks, he deserved at least a few hours of relaxation.
“Sure. Tell her I’ll be up right after the game.”
His answer was met with a few moments of silence and then Persephone’s voice came through loud and clear into his ear. “Now, please, Hunter. There’s a situation that requires our special brand of help.”
There went his day off. He knew they didn’t work like that in Project Artemis, but for Christ’s sake, he couldn’t be the only one of them who could take this case, whatever it was. Looking over at the two men in front of him who rarely seemed to be anywhere but right there in the game room, he resented having to go to work once more.
Resigned to how this day would go, he answered, “Sure. I’ll be right there.”
Standing from the leather recliner he’d planned to spend the afternoon in, he stuffed his phone into his pocket as Gideon and Xavier began to bust his ass. Smug fucks.
“Hunter is Persephone’s lapdog,” Xavier joked in a singsong tone.
Gideon, who always tended to be less juvenile, teased, “Yeah, man. What is it with you? Did you get on her bad side? You’ve gone on three assignments in the past few weeks. She’s working you like a dog. You need to bite back, bro. Show her you’re a man who doesn’t take shit from anyone.”
He knew if Nick was anywhere in earshot, these two wouldn’t be so mouthy about the woman who ran Project Artemis. Intensely protective of her, Nick would lay them both out for shit like that.
“Oh, yeah, Gideon? Why don’t you do that first and see how it goes when Nick fucks you up six ways to Sunday?” Hunter asked as he picked up the basketball and hurled it in their direction.
That got the both of them to back off, and Gideon put his hands up as if to surrender while Xavier caught the ball. “Okay, okay. I was just busting balls. I didn’t mean anything by that. It’s just that she does seem to always turn to you lately when there’s a case. Xavier and I haven’t been out on one in over a month.”
At that, Xavier piped up and said, “Not that we have any problem with that, so don’t go blowing our gig. Better you than us, man.”
“You have a real all-for-one-and-one-for-all thing going there, X,” Hunter said as he turned to leave. “I’ll make sure to mention it to the boss when I talk to her.”
As he walked out of the game room, he heard the two of them return to busting his ass about being Persephone’s lapdog. He wished he didn’t feel exactly like that lately. If she sent him out today, this would be the third assignment in a row given to him. Granted, he knew what he signed up for, but why did he have to be the one she looked to all the time lately?
He made his way down the hallway toward the other side of the house as he thought about the fact that Nick’s being gone for the past few weeks likely coincided with how much she’d relied on him to go out on cases. Nick had probably told her to stick with the tried and true, and since Marius and Dax were busy on their own cases and Roman had moved to the admin side of things since meeting Kate, that left him, the two frat boys, and Julian since they hadn’t gotten anyone to replace Roman yet.
No wonder she kept picking him.
Crossing through the living room, he caught sight of Tess waiting for him at the end of the hallway that led to her office and her boss’s. As he walked toward her, he regretted the part in his contract that stipulated there was to be no fraternizing between any employees of Project Artemis.
Not that Tess had ever given him any clear sign she wanted more than flirting, but a guy could always dream, right?