“What’s going to happen now?” Reid asked.
“Well, the social worker is waiting for you in the main building. They’ll take you to the Fullers and you’ll head home with them after you’ve gathered all your stuff together.”
“So, I’ll get to see Florrie and Alec again before I go?”
I glanced at Sean. I wasn’t so sure that was a good idea, but I wasn’t going to stop him from seeing the two people that had essentially saved his life.
“Yeah, you’ll get to see them again. I’m guessing that the Fullers will need a few days to make arrangements to get back home, so you’ve still got some time to say goodbye.”
He nodded, but he didn’t look too happy about it. I didn’t know what was going through this kid’s head right now. He was probably worried about how all this would play out when he got to Utah, and that was something I didn’t want him to be concerned with.
“Reid, I have some friends that work out in California. Now, they’re not exactly close to you, but if you need anything, if you don’t feel safe, you call them and they’ll pick you up as soon as they can.” I pulled out the phone that I had snatched from the office and handed it over. “I’ve got a new phone for you. It’s loaded up with anything you could need. I have every one of our numbers stored in there, along with OPS’s number.” I pulled out the OPS card and handed it over. “Keep that on you at all times. If something happens to your phone, you’ll still have their number.”
“Thanks.”
“Alright, kid. Go with Sean.”
But he didn’t move. He just stood there staring at the ground for a minute. “Do Florrie and Alec hate me?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because I caused a lot of problems. They’re fighting because of me.”
“They’re fighting over you because they want to do what’s best for you. I think you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to them, but they have very different ideas about what should have happened. But that’s for them to worry about. None of this is your fault.”
He nodded and headed out with Sean, back through the forest instead of through the building. There was no way Reid was going near that chaos again. I opened the door to the garage, ready to deal with the chaos that was brewing now that the kid was out of the line of fire. The tension was still high in the room and Alec was lying on the floor with Rocco kneeling over him.
“What the fuck happened?”
“Florrie decided she didn’t like what Alec had to say. She cold cocked him with her gun.”
I sighed and ran my hand over my face. “Take him to medical and check him out. Hunter, help get him over there.”
“No fucking way.”
“Excuse me?” I snapped.
“He let his kid get taken away. Sorry, but there is no way in hell that I’m helping him.”
“Let’s get one thing clear right now,” I said to all of them. “Despite what you may feel about what happened with Reid, we are still a family and we still help each other. Your teammate is injured. Get the fuck over there and help Rocco.”
Hunter clenched his jaw in anger, but stalked over to Alec and helped Rocco get him up, even if he wasn’t very gentle about it.
“I expect all of you to meet me in the conference room as soon as Alec’s awake. And no fucking guns. Rocco, call me when he wakes up. Where’s Florrie?”
“Her suite,” Knight answered.
I stalked past all of them toward Florrie’s old suite and knocked. I didn’t wait for her to answer. I just walked right in. She was pulling some stuff out of the closet, stuff that she must not have gotten moved over to the new house.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Leaving.”
“And why the fuck would you do that?”
She scoffed, not even sparing me a glance. “Do you really think I’d stay around here, where people don’t have my back?”
“Is that what you think? Because the whole company is divided right now because of this. You have half the guys on your side, holding guns on the other half to try and figure this out.”
“Yeah, well, you still let my kid get taken.”
“Florrie, I’m not going to keep going in circles with you on this. I did what I had to for the company. I gave Reid a phone and he has all our numbers. I got in contact with OPS and asked that they look out for him. They’re sending a team to keep an eye on the house and watch over Reid to make sure he’s okay.”
“Like that’s enough,” she scoffed.
“I know you don’t see it now, but you would have regretted running.”
“You know what I see?” She turned to me, her whole body thrumming with anger. “I see a company that bends the rules for some and not for others. I wasn’t asking for anyone to come with me. I just wanted to slip away.”
“And leave Alec behind?”
“He chose to stay.”
“No, he chose to fight for you and Reid. You just don’t like the way he’s fighting.”
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. I’m leaving.”
“Before you leave, we have a team meeting. As soon as Alec wakes up, that is.”
She didn’t even look sorry about it. I wasn’t sure where everyone went from here. How the hell did I send teams out when they didn’t trust each other? I walked out of her room and headed for my office. I had to come up with some alternate solutions or this company was going to fall apart.
✯✯✯✯✯
I was staring down at the list of teams, trying to figure out how to make this work for everyone. Did I split them up? Did I trust them to go out and work with men that they just held guns on a little less than an hour ago? My head was pounding and my gut was churning.
