Page 15 of Altered By Lead (Undercover Sinners 2)
"I'll ask you the question again. Do. you. have. a. problem controlling yourself?"
"No." I snap the word off the end of my tongue, wishing I could shove him back, and knowing it wouldn't do any good. "Do you?"
Hawke's brows knit together, and his mouth curves into a severe frown. He's a gorgeous man, with that aquiline nose, that square jaw, those lips that I can't take my eyes off of, even when he's scowling at me.
"Sex addiction is a problem. Ask Arsen: it got him sent to rehab more than once."
"Ahh, come now, boss," Arsen scoffs, pushing off the wall and stalking over to stand near us. "Don't tell me you're going to punish the new recruit for having a healthy sex drive?" He licks his lower lip and glances between me and Hawke. "And please, for the love of all things sinful and unholy, don't tell me you hired on the smallest, most pathetic, most spoiled princess in all the world with no ulterior motives? I thought the whole point of having a woman on our team was so that we could have someone around to fuck when we're on these bullshit undercover missions?"
My turn to feel my jaw clench, my hands fisting by my sides. I'm used to being treated like crap, tossed aside. Women aren't exactly treated well in my father's line of work. But I guess even here I'm going to be treated as disposable pussy.
"Fuck you both," I snarl, starting to move away and pausing only when Hawke's strong fingers curl around my upper arm.
"Where do you think you're going?" he growls out at me, gray eyes flashing.
"To work out," I snap back. To prove myself. That thought stays quietly hidden in the dark recesses of my brain as Arsen smirks and moves away, happy at having gotten his jollies off on treating me like shit and simultaneously pissing Hawke off in the same breath. Good for him.
"Mission debrief," Hawke snaps, raking the fingers of his other hand over his short, military style cut hair. It's like ... I'm one of the few things that can snap his ironclad control. What, exactly, that means I'm not sure. "Sit your ass down."
He releases me and spins, fully expecting me to heed his order, and then returns to the table in the center of the room.
"As I was saying ..." Hawke growls, and I mentally add in before I was so rudely interrupted. He really is an asshole porcupine, isn't he? "We don't have a lot of time." His eyes lift up and scan the room, pausing on Colt first then me again. "And for those of you who are unaware, an exam in our world generally consists of a real world assignment—albeit something lesser than collecting the head of an infamous mob boss."
"Oooh, who are we killing this time?" Arsen asks, perking up considerably at the thought of bloodshed. Weston reaches up to grab my arm and then yanks me into the warm confines of his lap. I'd say the move was possessive, but ... surely not?
"Shady Cove Motorcycle Club," Mace grunts, and Colt raises a brow, his green eyes bright, a sheen of sweat on his brow as he leans against the wall and pretends like this small act isn't exhausting him.
Sigh. Men.
"Who the hell would pay us to go after a motorcycle club?" Colt wonders aloud with a scoff, reaching up to swipe his palm over his newly shorn blond hair. "Especially one I've never even heard of."
"Money is money," Hawke snaps, flipping an iPad around so we can all see the screen. There's a map pulled up with both our location marked as well as a few points of interest. "And this is big money for a small job, the perfect way to bring Colt back into the fold, and test Natalia."
"What's the job, exactly?" Weston asks, curling one of his big, tanned arms around my waist. A shiver takes over me, but I refuse to acknowledge it. I swear, Hawke is watching me, waiting to see more of my 'sex addiction' habits. I refuse to give him the satisfaction. Besides, there's nothing wrong with a woman who has a healthy libido.
"Take out the officers, dismantle the organization, and dismantle any operating meth labs." Hawke's mouth tightens. "Our client is a very rich—very rich—widow whose son OD'd on some bad product. She wants revenge, and she's willing to pay for it."
"So when do we move in?" Arsen asks, licking his lips and making Mace growl in response.
"When Hawke damn well says we do," he snarls back, giving his crazy teammate a deadly look.
"For now, we'll continue our training with Natalia," Hawke continues without skipping a beat. "Arsen, you'll perform some surveillance, and Weston can assist Colt in getting his ass back up to snuff. Any questions?"
