"You're exaggerating."
"You slapped me in the face, Auggs," I told her, smirking. "I think I have a cut from one of your nails," I added, gesturing toward my face.
"I really, really like my sleep."
"I am starting to see that," I agreed, passing her a coffee, watching as she went into her fridge to get Cinnamon Toast Crunch flavored coffee creamer, pouring an absurd amount of it into her cup. "You were dreaming of bagels."
"I... what?" she asked, pausing in taking a sip as she looked at me.
"At some point this morning, your body whipped to a new position while you yelled out 'bagels!'"
"I get hangry in the morning."
"Explains your fit at your alarm clock. Did you break some rich guy's heart?" I asked.
"A couple," she told me.
"That'a girl. How fast can you get ready for your day?"
"Depends on the motivation."
"Egg and cheese bagels at that place down the street?"
"Eight minutes," she declared, already turning and speed walking down the hallway.
She'd taken a shower the night before, but I heard the water running. A whore's bath, most likely.
Auggie was not huge on the daily makeup. And, I guess, when you worked in an ass-breaking job that entailed hauling people around and sponge baths, you didn't really want your makeup running all over the place.
So when she emerged seven and a half minutes later—yes, I counted, out of pure curiosity since I knew from experience that when my sisters said ten minutes, they meant half an hour—she was fresh-faced, dressed in pressed blue scrubs, her non-skid shoes on her feet, and an empty coffee cup in her hand.
"You get two minutes in that bathroom, or I'm leaving without you," she told me, moving to rinse out her cup. "There are spare toothbrushes in the medicine cabinet."
I rushed through my morning routine, meeting an impatient Auggie already standing in the doorway, tapping her foot.
"I texted Huck saying I was taking an Uber into work. And that he better have my car done by the time I am done with work today. You're welcome," she added as we moved into the hall.
"For?"
"Covering your ass since you are afraid they'll find out you slept with me."
I didn't say anything because she wasn't exactly wrong.
I understood that she knew her brother better than I did, that they had a different relationship than I had with my sisters. She was probably right. Huck was likely fine with her getting involved with men he knew.
But that didn't mean I felt comfortable with it. At least not in this situation. In my opinion, you didn't tell a man you respected that you were casually fucking their sister.
Dating was different.
But neither of us was the dating sort.
"Don't judge me," she demanded a couple minutes later as we stood outside the bagel place. "It's pretty," she added, unwrapping the rainbow bagel she had seen and squealed over, declaring that they never had them because the kids that came through always bought them out.
"It sure is," I agreed, but I wasn't entirely sure if I was talking about the bagel. Or the woman taking a giant bite out of it.
If I meant the latter, yeah, I was in some big fucking trouble, wasn't I?
After that, I dropped her off at work, took a few minutes to convince myself that no one was going to suspect a thing, and made my way back to The Yard.
I showered before going back down to the garage, finding everyone already at work.
Huck was finishing up his sister's car. McCoy was working on the car for the mission to take out Melor.
The other guys were working for paying clients.
"Reign called," Huck told me, sparing me a glance. "Said to call him back when you had a minute."
"I'll call him now," I said, going off into the office to charge up my phone, half-expecting someone to come into the room and accuse me.
It didn't happen, though.
And, in fact, no one made a comment at all about me being out.
And why would they?
They were a group of guys who often went home with women. There was no need to discuss it.
"Huck said they're making their move today if they can catch him alone."
"Yeah," I agreed, even though I hadn't heard that we were ready for that to happen so soon.
"You think they're ready?"
"Honestly, yeah, I do. They came up with the plan all on their own. They made the decision to replicate the car. They handled all the details. They are putting a lot into this. So long as they can catch him alone, I think they can handle this."
"Good. Then let them. I don't want you anywhere near it, giving them help. They need to stand on their own feet, or they can't be a part of this."
"Got it."
"Anything else to report?"
"No. What about back home?"
"Things have been nice and quiet. No girls walking around bitching about glued-down toilet seat covers or lipstick laced with hot pepper."