Read The End of Games for Free Online Page B

instantly.
    “Hi, I'm Jon Stapleford. We just moved here."
    I climbed down off of the playhouse, dusting myself off and trying to get blood flowing back into my legs, "I'm Evelyn Rolland. This is my brother…"
    Coop cut me off, "Her brother's friend. How are you?" That wasn’t the story. He was supposed to be my brother.
    She ignored me completely and giggled like a forty-year-old schoolgirl, "I'm the librarian across the road, Ms. Daniels, but you can call me Sheila." She gave me a knowing look, "The high school kids skip out and come here and do things in the playhouse. The little kids see them… it's not good."
    I cringed, "Yeah, we were spying on my daughter. She is just on the monkey bars with the blonde."
    She glanced over, smiling, "Jules. Of course, sweet girl. Such a great athlete too. The gym teacher was telling everyone how amazing she is."
    I beamed, thinking about the major lack of things to do here, "Yes. She is big on sports, always has been. She and her brother."
    Sheila stared at Coop for a couple seconds longer and only backed away slowly when the bell rang, "Well, it was nice meeting y'all. Have a great day!"
    I gave Coop a look, "Brother's friend?"
    He grinned, "When you finally decide to let me have you, Evie, I don’t want anyone in this small town to think we're brother and sister." He chuckled at my flushed face, "Besides, I already have unhealthy thoughts about you. I don’t need to add weird fetishes to the list of bad thoughts I have." He winked and stalked off, leaving me stunned and speechless.
    Shit. What did that even mean? He thought unhealthy thoughts about me? He was worse than a teenaged girl with his ups and downs. I was getting whiplash.
    I left and stopped at the local coffee shop before I drove over to Jack and Luce's to see the store. I brought in the tray of coffees in that I'd gotten for us and sat them on the counter. The store was small but very cool and high tech. Luce beamed, "Hey! How's it going?"
    I cocked an eyebrow, "Since the last time you were spying on me?"
    She grabbed a coffee, "We're neighbors now. That is the polite way to greet someone."
    I laughed, "I'm on my tenth cup of coffee today and doing great, Marcy. How are you?"
    She wrinkled her nose, "Fucking hate the name Marcy."
    I snorted. Jack walked in with a smile, as always, "At least your name isn't Vince. I sound like an idiot who wouldn’t know the first thing about computers." He took his coffee from the tray. It was the extra large. No one else drank that much coffee, not even me. That was saying something.
    I passed Luce hers, "Have you seen Coop?"
    She winked, "Whew! Those Wranglers never suited a human being more."
    I scoffed, "That buckle is obscene."
    Jack nodded at the back of the store, "He's in the back. He just got here. He can hear us."
    I nodded, "Great." When he walked around the corner my face lit up. I shook my head, fighting my smile and nodded, "What's the orders from all the varying people in our lives?"
    Jack smiled, "Well, the group, that shall not be named, is curious about the house fire. They are not excited about that. They think we need to cover tracks and stay here on the down low for a while. They think that whoever is trying to kill us will get more desperate and accidentally reveal themselves. They obviously think it's someone in CI or the CIA. They think that whoever James was working for put the hit out and it will get sloppier and sloppier as they cannot find us. Even the organization cannot find us."
    Coop nodded, "Exactly what the commander is saying. He thinks we have a mole who was working with your ex. He and I agree that he was not smart enough to pull any of that off."
    I gave Luce a look. She nodded, blushing slightly. "Dude, James was a moron."
    "I know, but if he was the puppet, who could be pulling the strings? CI is a tight-knit group. They aren’t exactly trusting. Look at us, our assignments have all been need to know and only piece meal. They never give any