~~~Darius~~~

Darius glowered when he entered his boss’s office. Lance was practically sitting in her lap. So this was really happening. The boss was going to let this woman come and work in the company. No questions asked. Probably going to have her fill that assistant vacancy, and keep her as close to him as possible. There was no mystery over why she was getting the red carpet rolled out for her. Darius saw that gleam in Lance’s eye. It reminded him of the gleam in his ex husband’s eye the night they met. Pure desire.

Doing his best to keep his thoughts respectful, he stood in front of the sofa. His background and training required that he wait to be asked to have a seat. She had the audacity to look at him as though he was the intruder. As though he was the one who didn’t belong. He looked right back at her, unflinching. So it was going to be a pissing match? He resisted the urge to chuckle at the thought. He’d win that one, no contest.

“Have a seat, Darius. Elvia, please stay as well. I have a proposal for the two of you,” Lance gestured to the chairs in front of the couch, making no effort to put any sort of professional distance between the woman and himself.

Elvia produced a cup of coffee from mid-air and settled into the chair directly in front of the boss. It forced Darius to sit in front of the vixen that had the boss so deeply ensnared. This Jasmine. As much as he loved Elvia, she was going to get on his last nerve if she insisted on pushing him to be nice to people.

Security. That was his job. Enforcing secrecy, ensuring safety, technology management. All of it was limited in the realm of human interaction, and he liked it that way. His team was handpicked. He chose people that he trusted implicitly; people that he was comfortable with. Otherwise, they weren’t added to the team. Until now, Lance had been very generous in letting him pick his people. Despite disbelieving the threats that that freedom was coming to an end, he knew that if he didn’t act fast someone like her was going to end up on his team. Lance would do it just to spite him. He didn’t understand Darius’s reticence in picking a new bodyguard. The last one had been an unfortunate misunderstanding. The man couldn’t stomach the illegality of some of their operations, and ran for the hills. Signed NDAs helped Darius sleep at night. But he knew one day that man was going to talk. He sighed. Just one more fire to put out; one more thing he’d have to do to keep the blind boss happy.

“Let me guess, we have our new assistant chosen and hired without having to pass through the proper interview process?” Darius spat out. There was much more venom in his words than he’d intended, but he couldn’t convince himself to feel bad about it.

Lance frowned at him. “Actually, I wanted to present an alternative to the two of you.” Darius’s body went cold. This wasn’t good. Lance only used this voice when he REALLY needed to convince someone of something. “With Ms. McKission’s extensive background in law enforcement, I thought it might be a good idea to explore the option of her joining our team as security staff, with a focus in legal advising.”

“I’m sorry. Y-You want her to do what? We don’t even have a position in security open. Besides, you promised me I’d be able to pick my staff when you brought me aboard…” Darius paused, horrified, as realization struck him like a bolt of hot lightning. “Wait. You want her to join MY team?! As MY personal security guard?!” He stared at the man, certain that he’d lost his rational mind. “The person I’m supposed to be able to trust more than anything, and you just want to give that position away to this lying...without even consulting me?!” He scoffed at the two morons snuggled up together on the sofa in front of him. “And here I thought I was working for someone who actually thought with his mind, rather than what’s in his pants.”

“That will be enough, Darius,” Lance said quietly. His eyes hardened as he looked at the man he thought was his friend intently. Out of respect, and only respect for the man he’d spend the last 4 working with, he bit his tongue. But it was not easy. This woman had snaked her way into Lance’s trust, and Darius was sure that it would end in some kind of dumpster fire. No exaggeration. He expected there to be actual fire. This situation had all the makings of social napalm. Darius pinched the bridge of his nose. This couldn’t be happening.

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Elvia, saint of a woman, piped up, “Lovely as you are Jasmine, I can understand where Darius is coming from.” Both men looked at her, shocked. This was the last thing they’d expected to hear from her. She held up her hand to silence them before they said a word.

“Don’t get me wrong, I would love to learn to trust you, dear. But we all know the kind of operation we have going here. We all know the stakes. How are we supposed to know that you aren’t some kind of undercover cop or something?”

“Well, that’s been a big concern for me too. Despite what my man here thinks, I am doing my best to be objective. But if you allow her to tell you her story, I think it would help,” Lance said.

As Jasmine explained her desire to take down the Sweeny’s and the circumstances behind her termination as one of Salem’s finest, Darius could see Elvia start to relax. He wasn’t as convinced. It all sounded a little too easy, a little too coincidental. He examined her face, looking for deception. The planes of her face remained smooth. But when she started talking about why she was fired, her eyes tightened nearly imperceptibly. Was it deception? Was she simply angry at herself for what she did? What was that little look in her eyes? He found himself regretting not knowing her well enough to know the answer. He could see in everything that she did that every action, every word was quickly and carefully calculated. It worried him. There was something going on here. And as hunky as Lance was, Darius highly doubted she was simply putting on a show for the boss. There was something more.

“You have people who can corroborate your story, I’m sure?” Darius asked shortly. She looked at him carefully with those calculating eyes. But then the mask seemed to break a little. Was that a slip? A chink in her armor?

“Honestly, Darius, I wish I could bring you a newspaper clipping of the incident or the case file or something. But I don’t have anything. I’m sure you all heard about my brother’s trial. I mean, anyone would want revenge on the Sweeney's, right?” The passion in her voice, and his own memories of the sordid trial had him convinced on that part. But losing it on a suspect? That seemed far less plausible. Her control seemed nearly as well honed as his own. She was too tailored in every action. She wouldn’t lose it like that.

He scoffed, doing his best to distract from his careful observation of her every movement. Couldn’t let her see how much attention he was paying to every movement, every detail of her stories. He wished he’d brought a pad to take notes. “I think everyone understands your feelings toward the people who revealed your brother for the scum that he is.”

Her knuckles went white. But a deep breath, and she was back to her calm and collected manner. He’d have to try harder to get her to break this facade. “I wish that I could offer you a different narrative that you would believe.” She looked him square in the eyes, accusingly. “But I doubt you believe a word coming out of my mouth, so why should I even bother?” With a cold clarity creeping up his spine, he realized then that he would need to back off a little if he was going to figure out her secret. She was observing him too.

Elvia, ever the level headed peacekeeper, cut him off before he could deliver a snippy retort, “That’s not why we’re here, you two. I know that must be a very painful subject for you, Jasmine. I can guarantee that it will not influence our decision when it comes to your employment with us. Will it Darius?” She looked at him pointedly. "We don't want to run a company that judges people for their background, do we? Neither of us would be here if that was the case." There was one answer he could give, really. And he didn’t want to. It made him feel like a petulant child.

“I hire based on merit alone. Everyone knows that,” Darius said.

Jasmine exhaled, hard. He wasn’t sure why, but there was almost a look of relief on her face. Maybe he wasn’t wrong when he assumed that she’d “applied” for acceptable reasons.

“So. It’s decided then? Jasmine will join our team as Darius’s bodyguard?” Lance said, expectantly.

So many thoughts flooded around Darius’s head. His ears started ringing with all of that pent up anger. The room tilted sideways. He snapped.