Dark Abyss by Kaitlyn O'Connor (classic novels for teens .txt) 📕

* * * *

Ian discovered he was still smiling to himself when he reached the living room.

The three pairs of laser eyes he met brought him up short, though. Wiping the expression from his face, he continued to the couch that had been his goal and sprawled on it, casually crossing his legs when he realized his cock was still tenting his robe.

No one said anything or even seemed to realize they were all poised tensely on the couches, listening to Anna in the kitchen.

Ian felt his face heat when she started humming to herself. As pleased as he was that she seemed happy, the moment she started humming, he came under fire again and nobody seemed to share his amusement. He cleared his throat. “So … who’s on watch today? And who’s scheduled to go in?”

Simon narrowed his eyes at him. “You were scheduled to be on witness watch,” he said tightly, “but I think I’ll switch with you today.”

Ian felt his face tighten with a mixture of anger and guilt. As tempted as he was to argue with Simon, however, he decided it would be more discreet to simply accept the inevitable. It wasn’t likely Simon would change his mind anyway. That being the case, he shrugged with as much unconcern as he could muster. “No problem. I guess I’ll be off then.”

Joshua joined him as he left the house. Ian glanced at him a couple of times as they swam side by side, but it seemed pretty clear if the way he was grinding his teeth was any indication, that neither he nor Anna had been nearly as discreet as he’d hoped.

On the one hand, he was inclined not to give a fuck, to think it had been worth it if the world blew up around him. On the other—well, there was a very real possibility that it could. It would’ve been a lot easier to be flippant about it if that wasn’t the case.

He began very quickly to feel a mixture of remorse and resentment. He was aware that he wasn’t nearly as sorry that he’d made love to their one and only witness as he knew he should be, but there was no getting around the fact that guilt put a damper on his mood. And that gave rise to resentment.

Unfortunately, there was no one to aim it at but himself. It was bad enough that he’d lost control, however understandable it was considering the circumstances, but what he’d done afterwards was almost worse. He’d made promises he didn’t dare keep, not in the foreseeable future.

That was exactly why Simon had ordered them to keep things professional—emotional entanglement that Cavendish’s lawyers could use against them. If it was obvious they’d become emotionally involved, the defense could claim it had been used to manipulate the witness.

“Shit!” he muttered, disgusted. It was going to be hell trying to keep his hands off of her now. He’d just thought it was hellish before!

“I don’t know what you’re so damned pissed off about,” Joshua muttered through his communicator. “Simon wouldn’t have bumped you if it hadn’t been as plain as day what you’d been up to with Anna.”

Ian slid Joshua a narrow-eyed glare, but he had no intention of being sucked in by the comment and asking just how it had been as plain as day. He didn’t have any intention, in fact, of discussing it with Joshua at all. It was his business—between him and Anna, and they could go fuck themselves. “Where are we on the extraction project?” he asked, as much because he wanted to know as to distract Joshua.

“Still trying to get things set up,” Joshua responded tightly. “Getting in isn’t a problem. Getting in and out again is a different situation entirely, especially into the evidence room. Fortunately, there was so much of it they moved it to a warehouse to sort. It’s possible it hasn’t made it to the evidence room even if it survived the blast.”

He was silent for several moments. “The security isn’t as tight at the warehouse, but that presents another problem. We’d have to get in and take the time to search through all the rubble ourselves and even knowing what we’re looking for could take more time than we could manage.

“I think we’re going to have to wait and let them search it and then go through the trash to see if it was overlooked and thrown out and go from there.”

“They aren’t going to just throw it out,” Ian said dryly.

Joshua sent him a look of irritation. “You know what I mean—downgrade the importance. Once they bag and store it, they won’t be watching it as closely. We’d have more opportunity, and more time with it.

“I think the chances are slim that they’d overlook it, though.”

“So we still need to figure on getting into the evidence room.”

“That can be arranged,” Joshua said, “but it would have to be a quick in and out, which means we’d have to know beforehand where to look for it.”

Ian nodded. “I hope Caleb had better luck with the other project.”

“Yes and no,” Joshua responded as they finally reached their destination and emerged from the pool.

“Meaning this isn’t going to be easy either, I gather,” Ian drawled as he climbed out and moved to the dryer.

When Joshua had finished drying and pulled a robe on, he continued the subject as they headed into the center. “The good news is that he located a modular addition that would give us half again what we have now—room for a garden and lab for Anna plus enough space for two or three more bedrooms and it