“What?” Rocco laughed. “That you’re an old man? It’s true.”
“Fuck you, asshole.”
“Aww, I’ll miss you too.”
“Whatever,” Derek grumbled, straightening his shirt and dusting himself off, like he had just been in a fight. “You want to go play with the babies, have at it. We’ll take Alec. He’s a mean motherfucker and a perfect asset for our team.”
I smirked, laughing at their banter. I knew they weren’t really pissed at each other, but this was what people did around here to get their frustrations out.
“And I’ll get to work with Florrie every day.” Rocco shot me a grin, taunting me, even though I knew he was in love with Brooke. But when his eyes slid to Florrie and he checked her out, I fucking lost my shit. I stood suddenly, shoving my chair back as I leapt across the table and grabbed him by the shirt, throwing one, then two punches directly at his face. “Say that again, motherfucker.”
Rocco let loose a bloody grin toward Derek and Hunter. “Still think I should stay with you?”
Derek sighed, waving him off. “Fine, you made your point.”
“And what was that exactly?” I questioned, still ready to kick Rocco’s ass if he even thought of looking at Florrie again.
“Would you mind taking your hands off me? You’re wrinkling my shirt.”
I shoved him back, chuckling to myself when I saw the blood splatter on the collar of his shirt. Wrinkles were the least of his problems.
“I think we can all see that the change is necessary after loverboy just attacked me for saying that I would get to work with Florrie,” Rocco continued. “I have to agree with Alec, this change has to happen, and the sooner the better.”
“That was a test?” I asked incredulously.
“Well, I wasn’t about to switch teams just because you said you needed to,” Rocco scoffed. “I happen to like my team, but it’s pretty clear that you don’t have control over your shit when it comes to Florrie.”
“It’s not a surprise though,” Hunter sighed. “We all knew that he was a possessive asshole. I guess we should have seen this coming.”
“Well, I guess that solves our problem. Both teams will take two weeks off to train. If Knight says you’re ready before then, you can go out in the field early. That’s it for today,” Cap said, standing and walking out of the room.
“Well, fuck,” Craig sighed. “I guess the good news is that I won’t have to go to any more sessions with Dr. Sunshine.”
“So, now that I’m a part of the team, does this mean that I finally get to know what happened with the three of you after your visit with Dr. Sunshine?” Rocco asked.
“No!” we all shouted at the same time.
CHAPTER FIFTEENReid
I could hear them talking in the other room. I heard the sound of Florrie’s voice. That was the social worker on the other line. They had set a court date for my new custody trial. When Alec and Florrie first told me about it, it felt totally unreal. But I’d had a few weeks to deal with it, and now the time had come. I knew from the moment I got here that my time was limited. It was all too good to be true. Florrie and Alec were great, and I did my best not to get too attached to them over the past eight months. I think I always knew that I wouldn’t get to stay with them. Nothing about my life actually worked out the way I wanted. But it had been good here. I had a few friends and I actually felt like people liked me, so that was nice. Now I just had to figure out how to say goodbye.
I didn’t want to hear the sadness in Florrie’s voice or see the pity on Alec’s face when they told me that I was leaving. I had enough of that when I came here, and it wasn’t how I wanted to leave. I headed for the door of the suite and walked out. I didn’t know where to go, but I knew that I didn’t want to see anyone. I had wandered down to the training center that the adults used, and I watched as Knight sparred with Cap. I didn’t see Cap in the ring often. He always seemed to be working in his office. It was kind of cool to see him in action now.
“Whatcha doing?” Caitlin asked as she walked up to me.
I shrugged. “Nothing.”
“You look sad.”
I sighed, not really wanting to talk to Caitlin, especially since I was beginning to really like her. Ever since that first time that Caitlin and I kissed, we’d been sneaking off to ‘practice’ some more. Caitlin was pretty cool. She was really good with a gun and she seemed to really like grenades. Everyone said that she got that from her mother. But the thing that impressed me the most were her skills with a knife. Not that it was really a shock. Her dad was Sebastian and I knew he worked with her a lot after hours. Plus, she didn’t act anything like a ten year old. She almost seemed like she was my age, and in a lot of ways, I thought maybe she was a little more experienced than I was. I had been pretty sheltered from a lot of stuff at the senator’s house, but I had also seen way more than any kid my age should.
“You could kiss me if you want to feel better,” she suggested.
“Why would that make me feel better?”
“I don’t know. I always see the adults kissing. It seems to make them happy.”
“You’re too young for me,” I reminded her, though I think it was really more for me.
“I wasn’t every other time we’ve kissed,” she challenged.
“Well, now you are.” It didn’t make any sense, but I hoped she would leave me alone.
“I call bullshit.”
I turned sharply to her and glared. “You shouldn’t say stuff
