“Stop it.”
Gunner’s voice was growly and threatening as it often was, making Jules’ head jerk up to find him standing at the front of her desk, hands curled into fists, fists resting on the surface. Everything about him said Be intimidated.
Maybe a small part of her was.
It was hard, at times, not to be.
Not just with Gunner, but with almost everyone in the office. They were all just from such different worlds, acted in ways that sometimes didn’t make sense to her, used language that made her feel like some eighty-year-old trying to translate the slang of their great-grandchildren. And each one of them had skills, had dark, murky pasts, had the ability to make actual people completely disappear, make crime scenes impossible to pin on someone, make scary men with guns agree to deals they didn’t want.
They were a scary bunch.
They were a constant reminder of her very normal upbringing, of her lack of street smarts, of her naivety about some of the uglier parts of life.
She was a fast learner, luckily, and had picked up so much so quickly.
She found out that while Quin sometimes got snippy, he was never ill-intentioned. Just demanding. Just someone with high expectations.
Lincoln was a sweetheart who genuinely loved women. All women.
Smith was quiet in a severe way, but never so much as raised his voice at her. Not even when she tripped up a few times in the first weeks after she’d started in the office.
Finn was also quiet and compulsive, but shy, even if he sometimes gave her the creeps given that he was usually called in to make bodies disappear.
She hadn’t met Ranger yet, but accounts of him seemed to suggest he was more standoffish than aggressive.
Miller had been quick to help her around the office, never with a mean word.
And Kai, well, Kai was just a sweetheart.
But Gunner, Gunner still managed to intimidate her. She tried her best to hide it, never to shock back if he growled, never cringe when he went off on some curse-filled rant.
Maybe a part of it had to do with how he looked. He was tall and burly, covered in tattoos. He carried himself like he would beat the hell out of you if you so much as stepped in his path.
But he was the one who still made her have to work not to show her fear.
And leaning over her desk like he was, glowering down at her like he was, growling at her like he was, she couldn’t seem to stop the way her stomach knotted, the way her shoulders squared, preparing for whatever was to follow.
“Stop what? I’m color coding files,” she told him, waving the multi-colored stickers in front of him.
“You know what,” he insisted, brow raising like he found her exasperating.
And, to be fair, he probably did. Seeing as he always raised his brow at her like that. Something about her had simply rubbed him the wrong way since the first day she started. Or maybe he just didn’t like anyone. Which was a definite possibility. He didn’t exactly have a ton of friends.
She tried not to take it personally.
Her job was to keep his files straight, bring him coffee, not be his buddy.
She did her part.
She figured she would adjust to his abrupt way of dealing with her eventually.
“Clearly, I don’t,” she said, shrugging.
“What was going on with you and Kai?”
“Me and Kai? Nothing.”
“Bullshit.” The word cracked across the empty space, enough that she couldn’t stop her head from jerking back slightly like she’d been hit.
“I’m sorry?”
“I walk out, and he is helping you file. After bringing you salad for dinner. After clearing off your desk while you were talking to Quin.”
“He’s a nice guy,” Jules insisted.
“He is,” he agreed, nodding. “And you need to stop fucking with him.”
Her brows drew together at that. “Fucking with him?” she repeated, hoping the curse didn’t come off as unnatural as it felt to her. Gunner was the type to respond to harsh language since he used it so freely himself. And while she wasn’t a fan of cursing like some dock worker, she understood that, with him, she needed to do it to have impact.
“Yes, fucking with him. Don’t play dumb, duchess. We both know you aren’t.”
Well, that was the closest thing to a compliment he had given her. And while it was only a scrap, her pride stole it to feast on.
As pathetic as that maybe was.
“I’m not playing dumb, Gunner. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“For reasons completely fucking beyond me, that kid has a thing for you. And I’ll be damned if I stand by, and watch you lead him around by his dick because you like having him do shit for you. Get a fucking boyfriend. Leave Kai alone.”
Her mouth opened and closed, a fish seeking oxygen.