Worse for Love- Book #3 in the WF Series

Chapter 21: Movie

❀ Ivy's POV ❀

"You think you brought enough?" Agent Rivers asks when he sees Kai carrying his bags, along with rolling my huge one.

"Has anyone ever told you that you look like one of those drawings you get at the amusement park?" I tilt my head at him.

Theo and Luke pat Agent Rivers on the shoulder while boarding to tell him to give up.

Kai and I go take our seats in his closed-off area.

He's been very quiet. Too quiet. I'm sure it's because of me going on this case. I'm a little nervous too, but I of course don't let it show. One thing Kai stuck in my brain was to always be confident or else I'll get myself killed. A little extreme, but he's not wrong in this scenario.

I see he's sitting on his laptop so I decide to take a seat beside him. I don't want his nervousness rubbing off on me. I need conversation.

"You guys don't have work outings?" I speak, making him turn away from his laptop in confusion.

"What?"

"Agent Kennedy and Luke were so weirded out by me calling you a pain in the ass. They're afraid that you'll kill them if they crack a joke with you."

"I'm their boss." He shrugs. "I never stopped them from saying anything. It's their decision."

"She also told me that you never smile which is odd because I think that's all you're capable of doing," I respond as he's literally smiling after I've finished.

"There are rules in the department. I wish there weren't because I actually enjoy hanging out with the football team and being able to make fun of each other. Here, if anyone were to find out that one of my agents disrespected me in any way, I would have to fire them and that's the last thing I want. I need to be serious or else it'll look bad on all of us as a whole."

"How would they find out?" I scrunch my eyebrows.

"It can start with one joke, but my boss likes to stop by unannounced. If she overhears anything unprofessional, I'm the one held accountable and I'm also the one who has to fire them. I admit that every time they've tried to speak to me, I haven't been very responsive, but it's only because I care about their careers."

...damn. How can one be such a good person? It's baffling.

"It's gotta be lonely though. I need someone to joke around with or else I'd lose my shit, and according to everyone, all you do is work."

"That's why I have work and then an actual friend group."

"So Sanchez is your daily dose of joking around?"

He laughs. "Basically. Not that I'm lying about the things I say about him."

We sit in silence for a few minutes as he returns to his laptop and files. I watch how hard he works on analyzing every single detail and then goes back multiple times to be sure he read and understood everything correctly.

I know it's very different compared to me, but I get the way he makes everything perfect with his work. I mean, making clothing requires a great amount of focus. You have to triple-check everything, and then triple-check the triple-check since one mistake and your design can fall apart.

"Your leg is bouncing?" He doesn't even look away from his papers to say that.

I look down and realize it is without my control.

"It's a habit," I lie, knowing damn well it has to do with the case.

"It's a symptom of being nervous or anxious." He shuts his laptop, setting his files on top.