Page 107 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
“No way. You’re sitting in the front,” Gideon stated. He opened the back of the Bronco and started throwing their luggage in.
“We’re going to my house,” Ryker informed them. “I have lunch set up. I want to hear everything.”
“In that case, swing by my condo, I want to grab my other laptop too,” Gideon told Kostya.
Kostya gave Lark a quick kiss, then shut her door and got into the driver’s seat. It was good to be finally driving his vehicle. By the time he made it in front of Gideon’s place, he felt settled. The smell of the ocean surrounded him along with the subtle scent of Lark beside him. Life was fucking perfect.
“Be back in a second,” Gideon said as he hefted his duffel out of the back and hot-footed it up the walk to his place.
“Are you going to fill me in?” Ryker asked as he leaned forward.
“Let’s wait until we get to your place,” Lark said. “Today is Amy’s day off; she’s been texting me for updates, so I want to call her up and put her on speaker.”
Kostya laughed at Ryker’s sour expression.
“She’s already played her part, why does she need to be involved?”
Lark looked at him curiously. “I would have thought you would have liked that idea.”
Ryker was slow in responding. “She hasn’t returned any of my calls, so yeah, normally it would be nice to hear her voice again. I just don’t want her wrapped up in anything dangerous, and something tells me that this is.”
“At least your close in age,” Kostya smiled at Ryker.
“Huh?”
“Don’t mind him,” Lark said as Gideon climbed into the car.
“Let’s get going, I have some ideas.” He tapped the back of Kostya’s car seat, and he started up his Bronco.
It took them forty minutes to get to Gideon’s, have him gather what he needed, then get back to Kostya’s bronco. Then it was twenty minutes to Ryker’s place, a small rambler.
“I’ve got steaks,” he said as soon as they got into the house. “The baked potatoes and corn are wrapped and they’re going onto the grill too. In the meantime, fill me in.” He opened his fridge, and handed out beers, then headed out to his back patio.
Kostya watched Lark easily fit into the situation. He’d seen her do that in every situation they’d been in and he loved that about her. No matter what, Lark could blend in.
“So?” Ryker asked as he lit the coals.
“Hold on, let me call Amy,” Lark said as she gave Ryker a sly grin. She pulled her phone out of her purse, put it on speaker, then set it down on the picnic table.
“Yo,” Amy answered. “You didn’t start without me, did you?”
“Yes,” Ryker answered. “It’s all figured out, you can hang up now.”
“Blow me,” Amy said.
Gideon, Lark, and Kostya laughed.
“No, we’re just starting to go over things. Some of them are up in the air,” Lark answered.
“Well, now you have me,” Amy said with satisfaction.
Kostya sat back as Lark started talking. First, she filled in Ryker and Amy about what they had found out from Candy.
“What about work? Hasn’t Sanofi done a welfare check on him? It’s been what, four weeks since he’s shown up to work,” Amy said.
“That’s definitely strange,” Ryker agreed.
“Aren’t you putting the steaks on a little early? You just put the potatoes on the grill.”
