Rrinkers

Chapter 11

"I'll get the medium spice wings with fries and a coke."

"Same for me."

Lucas paid for the two meals and took a seat with Tyler at an empty table. Today was a good day. Tyler, who'd been craving wings, finally got his wish when he and Lucas got off work early for once and decided to go to their favorite wing joint in town: The Winged Wings, or as it was more colloquially referred to: The W Wings.

"It was so slow today; there was no point staying at the site," Tyler said, sipping on the cup of Sprite that he just filled.

"Well yeah, cause the main investigation is in progress."

"Can't wait to catch the son of a bitch."

"Me too," Lucas adamantly agreed.

"So...," Tyler started to say. "I've been meaning to ask you how it's going with Zoe. Do you see her often?"

When Tyler mentioned Zoe's name, Lucas' mind went back to all his past interactions with her. He remembered the time when she barged into the gym and demanded that he turn the music down, and then he remembered yesterday when they were stuck in the elevator together and all that had happened. He still had to make it right because he didn't like the way she was crying and looking so hurt, because of him. He didn't realize that he was zoned out until Tyler said, "Earth to Lucas!" And waved his hand in front of Lucas' face.

"Yeah...I see her here and there. She told me to turn my music down when I was training with Fabio and last night we got stuck in the elevator together. But other than that, I don't see her much." He lied. The truth is, he would see her every night...on his surveillance cameras outside the hotel. To be fair, he had those installed for security reasons but if it helped him make sure a lady got into the hotel safely, then he would use him for that. He told himself that he would watch Zoe through the cameras because it was his FBI instinct to protect others, but he was lying to himself.

Tyler smirked, "You got stuck in the elevator together? Tell me more."

Chuckling, Lucas said, "It's not like that."

"I think it is. I think you like her."

Me? Like a girl? Lucas thought. Yeah, right.

"If by like her, you mean I would do her, then yeah I would. But I don't do more than that."

He lied again. It took him two times of talking to her for him to realize that Zoe wasn't the type of girl to show up on his doorstep and seduce him in that way. And that fact alone, the fact that she was so different from what he was used to, did produce some sort of likeness for her. Not just that I would do her type of like but I like her for who she is type of like. But hell would have to freeze over before he admitted that. To himself or to anyone else.

"Don't deflect, man. If you like her, you like her, it's fine."

"But I don't."

Tyler chuckled and was about to say something when the worker called their order, and they spent the rest of the afternoon, enjoying their meals and making fun of each other, just like how they always did.

After they were done eating, they both went their separate ways. Lucas spent the rest of the afternoon doing work in his penthouse. He would get information from the agents that were stationed in Zoe's coffee shop and try to analyze all the data they got. So far, all they had found out from using the noise detectors was that Thanat has someone named George working for him. Lucas crossed his fingers and hoped that the agents could hack into the warehouse's security system and get access to all passcodes and data. It was easier said than done. Thanat had some of the best technology in place to protect him from things like this.