Jessica's Fate

Chapter 129

~A~

Sam checked his watch, mumbling a curse under his breath. He'd meant to start a text chat with his family to check in.

What sort of team lead was he?

The kind that apparently forgot all about the job he had to do since they were mostly all returning to the same area in the next month or so and he needed to find out what they wanted to do as far as the Academy and assignments went.

His client was asleep in her half of the penthouse with her family. His best friend was off tonight since he'd agreed to be present as the security as he'd done before they ever arrived in Paris. And his girlfriend had reluctantly accepted an invitation from her closest friend at the patisserie for dinner, drinks and dancing for a birthday party.

So he was alone, he knew Cam was alone. Sam frowned slightly. Why had they mostly stuck to group text conversations for the past almost five years?

He rolled his eyes at his inner monologue and sent off a text message to the group chat.

~Be prepared for video call within next five minutes. This family meeting is being called to order. No questions needed. Miss your sorry faces and not in the mood to text.~

He let a brief smile flicker on his face as each and every last one of them sent a thumbs up or an emoji acknowledging that they wanted to have the video call. He set up the video chat room, went to grab a drink and settled in to actually see the faces, outside of Cam's, that he hadn't laid eyes on in the past almost three years.

Cam was the first one that joined the chat. "Hey there." His eyes narrowed at Sam through the video connection. "You really wanted to talk so quick that I couldn't make my way over to join you so we were in the same room?"

Sam pursed his lips. "I made a judgement call. I know you're alone tonight for a while longer. I swear, we'll make sure that it ends before Fifi gets home."

Cam nodded. "I mean, it's not so bad, she knows we're friends and we obviously have friends." He said.

"Of course." Sam tilted his head slightly. "I just... to be honest... I'm sure Serina's wrapping her shooting schedule in the next few weeks." He admitted.

"And you'll be moving on or leaving." Cam exhaled slowly. "Are you going to try long distance or just breaking up and moving on?" Sam frowned. "Hey, no judgement." Cam was quick to explain. "I just need to know what level of destroyed BFF I need to pick up the pieces for. Is it going to be duct tape repairs or super glue?"

"I get it. And you're right. I'll try to figure out... things. And prepare you as best I can." Sam finally said as the chimes sounded that let him know the rest of the team was logging in to the call. "Hey guys."

"Hey." Zack smiled. "You guys look great."

Josh laughed. "You do but clearly you didn't think of this for very long if you're not in the same place."

Sam shrugged. "It was a little spontaneous." He admitted.

"You? Never." Tony teased.

"Agreed. You're one of the most planned people I know. And I'm a teacher who writes lesson plans." Pete rolled his eyes.

"Now guys, c'mon. He's been busy and to be honest, it's a little later here so it's probably exhaustion kicking in." Cam grinned. They all laughed.

"Fine. Enjoy yourselves while you can. We need to discuss our future if we're all possibly going back to Charleston or not." Sam said, trying to circle the wagons in a way because he knew that they didn't have a ton of time to just chit chat during this call.