“He’s not without skills,” she says mulishly. “He’s trained hard for the past year.”
I cross my arms back over my chest. “Oh, now you want him to go.”
“No.” She rubs her temples in frustration. “I don’t want him to go, just like I don’t want Griff to ever put himself in danger. But it is part of the job, and I have to trust it will turn out okay. If I didn’t, I couldn’t work here.”
“I’m sorry. But I don’t trust you all to protect him. Too much can go wrong. He’s too important to me.”
“I get that,” she attempts to reassure me.
“How could you? You have no clue how we feel about each other and—”
“Yes, I do. I had a long talk with Dozer today about you. How things have changed. How he’s silly, madly in love with you. I know exactly what you mean to him and vice versa. So you should understand, he has to do this. He has to be the one to protect you because you’re his to protect.”
Tears well in my eyes. Her words are exactly what I needed to hear, but at the same time, I hate hearing them. “I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to him.”
“You’d never be at fault if—”
“I would,” I insist. “I’m the one who started a relationship with a madman. And when I discovered he’d murdered someone, I’m the one who went to the police. I should’ve left it alone. Broken up with him and gone on my way. Instead, I made a target of myself and my family, and now Dozer. This is all my fault.”
“No!” Bebe exclaims, grabbing me by the shoulders and surprising me with a little shake. “This is Ivan Borovsky’s fault. He’s the only one to blame in this. Now, I get you’re mad and worried, but you need to get past that. This is going to happen, with or without your consent.”
That raises my hackles. I really like Bebe. Respect the hell out of her, and she’s going to be dear to me because she’s dear to Dozer. But she doesn’t have the right to tell me to give up on talking Dozer out of this. I have the right to be involved.
“I need to talk to him,” I say calmly. “Will you please take me down?”
Bebe stares at me a long moment, perhaps calculating whether to protect Dozer from me. She makes a decision, though, and hits the elevator button. “I don’t need to take you down. Just knock on the door, and Dozer will let you in.”
“Thank you,” I say, the words coming out stiff and reserved. But then something washes through me… a breath or two where I know that if I want a life with Dozer, I take his entire life. Bebe is part of that life.
I step into her and hug her hard. She stiffens for a second and then gives me a halting hug back. “Don’t be too hard on him. He’s only doing this because he loves you.”
“Makes me wish he didn’t love me,” I grumble. “At least he’d be safe.”
“And you’d be without true love, which is not fair either.”
“Touché,” I reply and step into the elevator.
Bebe smiles once more and turns on her heel as the doors slide shut and I descend to the R&D division.
The facilities where Bebe and Dozer do their research and develop new technology looks like Shuri’s lab straight out of Black Panther. It’s one of Dozer’s favorite movies, and I assume he used it as inspiration since this area has been recently built and outfitted with all kinds of tech gadgetry.
Through the glass doors, I see Dozer at his elevated desk, sitting on a stool and tinkering with a small black box using a screwdriver and a soldering kit. My, how far he’s come since his days working at NASA, and yet, I know without a doubt he’d say his work here is far more important and fulfilling.
I rap on the glass with my knuckles and he jumps, looking back over his shoulder.
When he sees me, at first his smile breaks wide.
When he sees I’m not smiling back, his falters, melts, and then evaporates.
With a sigh—yes, he knows why I’m here based on my expression—he reaches over to his keyboard and with a few taps, the door unlocks with an audible snick.
I step inside and before the door closes behind me, I lay into him. “How could you even think about doing something so stupid?”
“Bebe ratted me out?” he guesses.
“No, actually.” Although technically, she filled in the details I didn’t know, so in a way, she did. But I got my girl’s back. “I overheard someone else talking about it.”
Dozer snarls in frustration and scrubs a hand against his jaw. “I was going to tell you, but not until we were absolutely sure we’d be able to try it.”