Lost and Found (Masters & Mercenaries: The Forgotten #2)(31)

“All she knows is I’ve recently moved to Canada,” he explained. “I’m sure she assumes I’m a resident in the building, but I didn’t talk about my roommate. It’s a simple thing, man. Instead of you working for a bank, we both work as bodyguards. We share the place because one of us is usually working.”

Robert seemed to think about it for a moment. “It could work. It’s a new job and we’re both single men. The job would likely require odd hours, so maybe the company put us together here for a couple of months until we figure out the lay of the city, so to speak.”

“Or you could go with the boyfriend thing and offer to share her,” Sasha said with a smirk.

“Over my dead body.” He hadn’t meant to say that. Certainly he hadn’t meant to sound like a crazy person.

Sasha chuckled. “Sorry. We spent too much time in that Bliss place. Of course you wouldn’t want to share a woman you just met with a man who is your friend. It’s perfectly logical that you would already be incredibly possessive.” He stood up and stretched. “I’m going back to the house. It’s obvious you don’t need me. Dante, come along. We have a few days before we have to be back at our shitty jobs.”

Dante started to follow him. “He means that literally. The toilets there are horrific, and I won’t even go into handling medical waste. I want to be the one who gets to fuck the girl in the lift next time.”

“That wasn’t part of his job,” Ezra pointed out as the duo opened the door.

Owen let the door close before turning to Ezra. “I’m not sorry.” He couldn’t apologize for it. He knew he should in order to keep the peace, but somehow he couldn’t make the words come out of his mouth. “I did what I had to do.”

“Tell me you’re not more involved with the woman than you should be.” Ezra brushed some of the dog hair off his pants.

He couldn’t lie but he did have an excellent distraction. He wished he’d had a chance to look at the file he’d snuck out of her bag, but he would always have turned it over. This was a job. Yes, she’d been hot as hell and he couldn’t wait to spend more time with her, but this was a job. “I wasn’t so involved I didn’t nip a file from her tote bag. And before you nag at me, that bag was overflowing, and it would have been easy for her to drop it. Unless she stopped between the subway and the apartment building and checked to make sure it was still there, she’ll have to conclude it fell out or got pinched while she was on her way home.”

“That bag she carries seems to be an issue,” Jax acknowledged. “River said she’s helped her pick stuff up when it fell out at least twice. But I’m not sure what her medical research is going to do for us.”

Tucker stepped up. “I’d actually like to get my hands on it. So far all I’ve done is cleanup work and getting the researchers coffee and lunch. I’m not sure why I needed to fake I’m in med school for that.”

“Internships are more about making connections than actually learning the technology,” Ezra said. “But I would like to see what you get from her files, too.”

What Ezra really wanted was to see how far Tucker’s medical knowledge went. He couldn’t forget the fact that Jax had discovered a Dr. Reasor had worked for McDonald. They’d looked for the man and couldn’t find a trace of him.

But then McDonald had been good at making people disappear.

He put his bag down on the coffee table and reached in. “I haven’t looked at the files. Being in such a tight space bothered her. She did this meditation thing and that’s when I slipped this out of her bag. I would have gone for more, but she’s not good at meditating either. It only lasted a minute or two and then she was back to talking about comic books and her favorite TV shows.”

He pulled the folder free and opened it.

Shite. Not medical research at all.

“What is it?” Robert asked, stepping in.

“It looks like financial reports.” It was a bunch of numbers and accounts. Nothing at all that would tell them about Becca’s research.

He’d fucked up again.

Ezra held out a hand. “Let me see it.”

He passed the folder to his boss. “Sorry. It’s not what I hoped it was.”

Ezra opened the folder and started to look through the paperwork.

“I wish you hadn’t done this,” Robert said.

“I followed my instincts.” He hated feeling this way. It was especially hard because while he’d been in that lift with Becca, he’d felt different. He’d felt like he mattered, like he belonged somewhere.

“Your instincts are crap.” Robert shook his head and backed away. “I’m going across the street. I need a drink. I’m sure you can deal with unpacking the same way you took over the op.”

He turned and walked out.

Tucker grabbed his jacket. “Don’t take it hard, Owen. He’s been touchy as hell since he realized Ariel wasn’t in London. Until she flies back and he knows she’s safely at The Garden, he’s going to be a wreck and he’s going to take it out on everyone.”

“She’s perfectly safe,” Ezra said, his eyes not leaving the pages in his hand. “And I don’t hate having her here to do some sessions after what happened in Colorado.”