The Epilogues: Part I: Badge of Honor (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 6), Hailey Edwards [year 2 reading books TXT] 📗

me, prying me from Midas’s arms. They tossed me in the air and caught me.

Once. Twice. Three times…

Then I started dry-heaving, and they scattered, but the joke was on them. I had an empty stomach.

“Whoa.” Bishop took my arm to steady me. “You okay, kid?”

“Never been better.” I tackled him. “I’m your boss for real.”

“I’ve been waiting for this day.” He embraced me right back. “You’ll sign off on anything.”

“Jerk.” I shoved him, and Linus took his place. “Hey, I didn’t expect you to stick around.”

“And miss this?” A tiny smile graced his face. “Grier is with Neely, but she sends her congratulations.”

He stuck out his hand, but I flung myself at him, and his quiet laughter filled my ears.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I chanted with my arms in a chokehold around his neck. “So much.”

“You deserve happiness.” His breath was cool on my cheek, his hand awkward as it patted my back. “Your past is just that, Hadley, your past.”

“I got snot on your shirt.” I withdrew, wiping my eyes. “Sorry about that.”

“A badge of honor.”

A laugh got stuck in my throat. It was such a Linus thing to say.

“And, Hadley?” He paused. “Don’t give me too much credit. You did this. This was your win. Not mine.”

The complete opposite response from that of his mother, which reminded me.

“Your mom told me to pass on that you guys need to talk.” I dipped my chin. “One guess about what.”

A cold mask settled over his features before he could shake it free. “I see.”

“I’ll share the details later.” I scanned the crowd to explain my hesitation. “In private.”

“That would be best.” He gave me a parting shoulder squeeze. “Enjoy your party.”

Sure enough, while I was blubbering all over people, the gauntlet had transformed into a block party.

Bishop caught my eye then pointed to Midas and waved us over to join him and Hank.

“So much for taking the rest of the night off,” I joked as I took Midas’s hand. “Any idea what’s up?”

“None.” His pride hit me so hard I had to glance away from him. “Mom will be here to congratulate you in person soon, but she had an errand to run first.”

Narrowing my eyes on him, I asked, “An errand?”

Tisdale had left during the gauntlet, part two, to run an errand.

Mmm-hmm.

Yeah.

Sure.

Pushing that aside, I braced for what news Bishop had to share. “Kitten up a tree?”

“Kitten?” Bishop eyed me like I had finally lost my last marble. “What are you talking about?”

“I was hoping for a simple problem.” I rolled my hand. “Like a kitten stuck up a tree.”

The guys exchanged glances then ignored my imaginary kitten, tree and all.

“I would like to introduce you to someone.” Bishop punched Hank in the shoulder. “Meet…Milo.”

This was so much more confusing than my kitten and its tree. Maybe I really had lost my marble. “Milo?”

For the first time since I met him, Hank offered me a genuine smile that stretched from ear to ear. The transformation shook me. I gaped at him, waiting for them to give me more to go on, because this couldn’t be right.

Hank? Doorman Hank? He was Milo? My Milo? OPA Milo? Funny Milo? Warm Milo? Flirty Milo?

“No way.” I poked his cheek, but yep. He was really real and really Hank. “You hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.” He rolled his eyes, sounding more like himself. “I have to maintain my cover.”

“Did you know about this?” I spun toward Midas. “Um, no.” I cringed. “I can see you that you didn’t.”

Red was a good color on Midas, but anger mottled his cheeks until the splotches made him look like the loser in a tomato sauce fight.

“I cleared it with Tisdale.” Hank lowered his gaze a notch. “I would never endanger the pack.”

“We know that.” I squeezed his arm. “It’s a shock is all.”

“When Linus assembled his team, I wanted it to have a gwyllgi voice,” he said softly, “even if they didn’t know it.”

A more suspicious person might wonder if Linus hadn’t been setting me up to found the Atlanta Alliance. But the OPA members, aside from Bishop and Lisbeth, had been anonymous up to this point. Half still kept their identities secret.

For the sake of my sanity, I would chalk this up to great minds thinking alike.

Or I could blame coincidence, which would make Bishop pull out his hair.

Beside me, Midas took a deep breath, then he extended his arm. “Thank you for protecting her.”

“I was in it for the pack,” Hank confessed, shaking Midas’s hand, “but it’s definitely come in handy since you went and fell in love with the POA.” He slanted me an exasperated look. “An incredibly accident-prone POA.”

“You’re supposed to be on my side,” I grumbled. “Milo.”

“I’m loyal to you and your office above even the pack.” Hank winked. “Tisdale gave me permission to switch my primary allegiance about the time you two announced your mating. Technically, I’m a lone wolf, but I’m still a member of the pack.”

“You and I will talk,” Midas promised him. “Later.”

Midas and I would also have to talk later to set down rules for his treatment of my team member.

This day could not get any weirder.

Hank was Milo.

Milo was Hank.

I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

“I have to get back to it.” Hank indicated the Faraday. “See you later, boss.”

“Hey, Hank.”

As he turned, I threw caution to the wind and tackled him. “Thank you for trusting me with this.”

“Things keep getting hotter here.” He turned me loose, still grinning. “It was more important to me that you knew OPA support was always close than to preserve my anonymity.” He rolled a shoulder. “And I trust you. Not because you’re pack. You’ve proven yourself, and I don’t mean what went down tonight.”

“I appreciate your faith.”

Arranging his features into their usual grumpy scowl, he resumed his Hank persona.

A thought occurred to me, given his workload. “How do you hold down two full-time jobs?”

“Remy isn’t the only one who can be in two places at once.”

“Oh,