Why do they even make coffee mugs this small? Who drinks so little coffee? I had reached the bottom of my cup, again, and stood to refill it. As helpful as that quick makeout with Wesley had been, it hadn’t been anywhere near enough to fully recharge me after healing myself and the two boys from near fatal wounds. No two ways about it, I was wrecked.
Jonathan didn’t seem like he was in any great hurry to leave, either, so I was trucking along on a solid-caffeine fuel system. Until now. How the fuck was the coffee pot empty?
“Don’t give me that look,” Caleb chuckled, having followed me over to the kitchen. “You’re the only one that has been drinking it.”
He had been waiting out in the living room when I’d finally redressed myself and come to join everyone and he was being... weird. To say the least. My only guess was that he was freaking out about what my healing him might have done, and that was understandable. I was freaking out, too.
Shaking the coffee pot a couple more times, just in case I’d missed some, I pouted and gave Caleb my very best please caffeinate me face. He rolled his eyes at me but did dig around in the fridge and pass me out a bottled Starbucks Iced Latte.
“Better than nothing,” he told me as I read the label and wrinkled my nose.
“Pumpkin Spice Latte? Blergh. Pumpkins are vegetables and don’t belong in coffee, Cal.” My exhaustion was making me bitchy, but that was an opinion I’d stick by.
“Oh, well, if you don’t want it...” He reached out to take it from me, and I snatched it away with a decidedly Gollum-sounding noise.
“It’s caffeinated; I’ll take it.” I grumbled my way back to the living area and took my seat on the couch between Cole and River once again. The two of them had been maintaining as much skin to skin contact with me as they’d been able to without it turning into a dirty makeout session in front of my adopted dad, who was also their boss. It was definitely helping, but it was also making me edgy and fidgety waiting for Jonathan to leave already.
To my disappointment, the weirdness I’d been getting from him after Vali’s near death, and my subsequent rescue from what could have ended up as a life of sex slavery, was not all in my head. If anything, it was worse now.
“All right, I think I have all the relevant information now,” Dad finally said as I twisted the lid from my gross pumpkin coffee thing and Cole slipped his hand under my T-shirt to rest on my lower back.
“Finally,” I grumbled, and he gave me a look. A typical parent type of look.
“Do you have any leads on who might have been responsible for this crash today?” Jonathan continued, turning his attention back to River, who shook his head.
“No, sir. Not the crash or the car bomb. But whoever it is, we’ll find them sooner or later,” River stated confidently, and Jonathan raised his silver eyebrows.
“But you have no leads?” my Dad clarified, and River shrugged.
“We’re the best for a reason, Director. After all, we did catch the notorious Fox, didn’t we?” River’s knee bumped mine, and I snorted. Technically yes, they had caught me. But if we were being technical about it, they were also going to let me go.
“Mm, and now that brings us to you, darling daughter.” Jonathan turned his business face toward me, and I just grinned at him. Maybe if I acted like nothing was wrong, he’d stop being a damn weirdo.
“Yes, Father dear?” I teased back, and he grimaced. Our relationship had really never settled into a true parent/child situation, so the titles made us both cringe a bit.
“Tell me what you learned from this Vic character? Did he give you any insight into your powers? Or your history?” He leaned forward with his forearms resting on his knees, and I caught the guys glancing at me.
“Um, a bit, yeah.” Ugh, this is hard. I had no idea how much I was really prepared to tell him about all of this. Yes, he was the closest thing I had to family, other than Lucy, but he was also the owner and director of a secret intelligence organization. Did I really trust that he wouldn’t try and utilize my abilities to further his own agenda?
“Well? Are you going to fill me in, kiddo?” Jonathan frowned, and I knew he thought I was being cagey. Which I absolutely was.
“Maybe later? I’m still processing all the information. It was a lot to take in. Oh, but apparently I’m already twenty-one! My name and age that I thought I knew when social services took me in was apparently planted information. So... there’s that.” I shrugged uncomfortably as his brows shot up in surprise.
“ All right, maybe tomorrow you might tell me more?” Jonathan suggested gently, and I nodded. “For now, let’s sort out what is to happen here. Kit, the new recruit class already started two weeks ago, so you’ll need to do a bit of extra work to catch up. You’ll be assigned a room in the girls’ dorms, and someone can come by later this afternoon to show you the way. Alpha team, I understand that Kit is taking responsibility for your insubordination, but I am assigning you office duties for a month regardless. You can stay here in this apartment for the duration, until your next assignment.”
“Wait.” I sat forward. “You mean I can’t stay here with them?”
“You’re a new recruit, not a member of their team,” Jonathan explained. “Regardless of our personal connection, it simply doesn’t make sense to have you up here in the apartment tower when the rest of your class will be in the dorms.”
“That’s not going to work for us, Director,” River interjected, taking one of my hands with his non-injured one. “Respectfully, Kit is not like your other recruits. We’d prefer she remain up here with us, and one of us will need to sit in on her classes. Someone has tried to kill her, I can’t even count how many times, and I know I speak for the whole team when I say I’m simply not comfortable letting her out of our sight at the moment.”
Jonathan opened his mouth to respond, but Cole cut him off. “As her father, I don’t imagine you have an issue with this request. Right, Director?”
For a split second, Jonathan looked almost annoyed, then a very brittle smile pasted across his face. “Of course not. I simply thought it would be better for Kit to fit in if she were in the dorms with the other new recruits. But you’re absolutely right that her safety is my top priority. Which would you prefer, kiddo?”
“Uh.” I frowned at Jonathan, considering his reasoning. But I wasn’t a new high school kid trying to fit in, and I really couldn’t care less if the other recruits didn’t like me over something as stupid as where my bedroom was. “I’d prefer to stay with the guys, thanks.”