Chapter Text
Sophie walked into Jada Jet’s office and saw that she had a visitor. She nodded to her then turned to her boss, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice for having her lunch break cut short for the third time this week. It was only Wednesday.
“Ma’am? I was paged?”
“Oh yes!” Jada said. She turned to her daughter. “Ryan, this is the head of my private security, Agent Sophie Moore.” Then back to her employee. “Moore, meet my daughter.”
Sophie walked further into the room with a confused smile. She held out her hand for Ryan to shake, which she did. “It’s a pleasure.”
Ryan smiled back, equally confused. “Likewise.”
Jada was watching them with a sly smile. “Oh shoot!” she said dramatically, going as far as snapping her fingers. “I forgot.. something in my car.”
Sophie nodded. “Shall I come back later then, ma’am?”
“Oh no,” she quickly waved her off. “I’ll be quick. You stay here.” She turned to her daughter. “You stay put too. I will escort you out when I get back.”
Jada quickly rushed out of the room, not bothering to hear a response from either of the women she left behind.
The room was silent for almost a full minute before Ryan broke the silence. “Well she’s obviously trying to set us up.” She got up and stood next to the other woman. “Not very subtle, is she?”
“Not at all,” Sophie agreed. Then she pulled Ryan into an unexpected passionate kiss. “Are you going to tell her we’re already dating or are we going to let her figure it out?” she murmured softly against her lips.
Ryan kissed her again. “I know you just said words, but I haven’t kissed you since yesterday and it’s fucking with my comprehension skills at the moment.”
Sophie laughed and pulled away, causing her girlfriend to pout. “Am I distracting you, Miss Wilder?”
“Always,” she smiled sweetly.
Sophie laughed softly. “I asked if we were going to tell your mom we’re dating…?”
Ryan gave her a look. “Do you want to? You really think that’s a good idea?”
“I’m not saying right now. Besides, if she finds out before Luke does, he might literally murder me.”
Ryan winced. “Can we table this conversation for later? We don’t have a lot of time and I want to make out with my girlfriend before she’s whisked away.”
Before Sophie could reply, her radio went off. Ryan groaned and shot a glare at the radio, hoping that if she tried hard enough it would spontaneously combust. “Moore, you’re good with computers, right? We need you on ground.”
Ryan looked up at her, giving her best puppy dog eyes. Sophie could never resist and she knew it. She had her girl whipped, but it was okay because she was equally down bad. Without breaking eye contact, Sophie lifted her radio and press the button to reply. “10-4. On my way down.”
As soon as she let go of the button, Ryan smacked her teeth then pouted. “You work security, not IT. Tell them to fuck off and spend a little more time with your girlfriend.”
Sophie smiled guiltily. “I can come over later?”
“I’m listening,” Ryan said but she was still pouting.
Sophie lowered her voice. “Give you head then cook for you?”
Ryan’s eyebrows shot up. “In that order?”
“In that order,” Sophie confirmed. “We can even wear sweatpants for easy access. Plus, I know it turns you on when I wear those grey joggers for some reason.”
Ryan couldn’t resist kissing her once more, softer. Sophie had a point. Something about seeing her woman all relaxed did things to her. It showed her that Sophie was comfortable enough to chill with her. “Well how could I resist that?”
“You’re not meant to,” Sophie laughed. They held each other for a little while longer until Sophie kissed her once more and stepped back, the sudden lack of contact causing the other woman to start pouting again. “No pouting,” she said pointing at Ryan’s face. “I have to get back to work.”
“At least kiss me goodbye like you mean it!”
“Absolutely not,” Sophie shook her head. “You’re a dangerous woman. I know for a fact that if I kiss you, you’ll find a way to stall me another twenty minutes.”
Ryan smirked. “I think you underestimate me, babe. I could stall you for at least half an hour.” She tilted her head towards the large analog clock on the wall. “It’s already been about ten since that little radio call of yours.” She laughed as her girlfriends eyes widened.
As if on cue, the same person before radioed in asking for an update in her ETA.
“You’re already late. Want to find a supply closet to have a quickie in?”
When Sophie’s eyes widened, Ryan rolled hers. She just knew that her girlfriend was about to give her a lecture on making love in inappropriate places. (Again.)
“Or the backseat of one of our cars. You know I’m not picky!”
“A menace is what you are,” Sophie said over her shoulder as she opened the door and walked out. She poked her back in. “Sweatpants.” Then she was gone.
Not even a full minute later, Jada Jet walked back in. Ryan rolled her eyes.
“Could you at least make an attempt at subtly? You could have at least waited a few minutes before coming back in.”
Jada frowned. “Why would I do that? I’m fairly certain you both already caught on to what I was doing the second I left.”
“Well, at least you’re aware that you ain’t slick.”
“A good businesswoman knows her strengths, my dear. I have many, but actress is not one of them.” She waved her hand. “But that doesn’t matter right now. Let’s discuss the most important thing here.”
Ryan didn’t like the glint in her eye. It always lead to trouble for whomever it was directed towards “And what is that?” she asked suspiciously.
Jada grinned. “What did you and Agent Moore talk about? Why are you a menace, and what is ‘sweatpants’ code for?”
“Why are you like this?” Ryan asked with a tone filled with exasperation.
“You said you want a mom who gets along with your girlfriend and teams up on you. I’m simply trying to fulfill that role. Your Mama Cora got to do it with your other girlfriends. It would be an honor to uphold the tradition.”
“Oh whatever,” Ryan said with a laugh. She knew that even though Jada was extra and playful about it, she truly meant it. “You know Sophie and I already know each other, right?”
“From being lesbians?” Jada asked shamelessly. “Because she is, you know. A lesbian. Just like you.”
“No,” Ryan deadpanned. “That is not how we know each other.”
“Even so, the fact that you two automatically pretended that you were just meeting makes me suspicious.” Jada grinned mischievously. “Are you two hiding something? A friends with benefits situation? A full blown relationship perhaps?”
Ryan rolled her eyes even harder somehow. She even managed to incorporate her neck in that one. It also gave her a chance to figure out how to downplay the relationship without outright lying. “I met her through Luke. She’s his best friend.” She turned back to look at her mom and studied her expressions. “But I’m sure you already knew that.”
“So you already have access to her number is what I’m hearing,” Jada replied, basically ignoring everything Ryan had just said. “You should text her. Ask her to ‘come through’ as you kids say.”
Ryan groaned loudly and grabbed her bag. There was no point in trying to have a conversation with her when she got like this. It was like talking to a brick wall. Perhaps that was one of the reasons Jada Jet made it to where she was in life. “I’m leaving.”
“Shall I have Agent Moore escort you out?!”
Ryan closed the door behind herself with another loud sigh. Having a secret relationship was fun at first, but with each passing day, it only got more annoying. Maybe it was time for her and Sophie to finally sit down and discuss telling people. And not just in passing or a “let’s talk about this later” kind of thing. A real discussion.
Later that night, after Sophie completed part one of her two part plan, she rested her head on her still panting girlfriend’s leg as she waited for her to come back down to earth.
“You okay up there, babe?” she asked a little worriedly.
“Yeah,” Ryan quietly replied after she caught her breath. She patted the spot next to her, signaling for her girlfriend to join her. When she did, Ryan automatically curled up to her side.
“You sure? You’re less talkative than normal.”
Ryan laughed softy. “You saying I talk too much, Moore?”
“You said it, not me,” Sophie teased. She pressed a kiss to Ryan’s forehead with a smile when she scoffed at her. “But seriously. What’s going on up here?” The question was punctuated with a soft tap to her temple.
Ryan sighed. “It’s a blessing and a curse having a girlfriend who actually pays attention. A true double edged sword. We have that unspoken communication shit I read about in romance novels, but, also, I can’t get shit past you.”
“Back up a second… You read romance novels?”
Ryan slapped her abs lightly. “Not the point.”
“Right, sorry. Uh, I’ll try to pay less attention to your needs?”
“Shut up, smart ass,” Ryan laughed. “That wasn’t a complaint. Just an observation.”
“Good because that definitely wasn’t going to happen.” Sophie was caring and observant by nature, especially when it came to those she cared about. She probably couldn’t turn it down even if she wanted to.
“I know.” Ryan leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. One turned to two, and pretty soon they were in a full on make out session until Sophie slowed it down.
“Don’t think you can distract me with kisses.”
Ryan took that as a challenge and straddled her girlfriend. “I absolutely can.”
“You usually can,” Sophie corrected, maneuvering herself and Ryan so that she was sitting up with Ryan still in her lap. Ryan wrapped her arms around her neck while Sophie’s wrapped around her waist. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. But I know something’s up with you.”
Ryan softened. Just as she was about to actually open up, she heard something and turned her head towards her bedroom door. “Did you hear that?”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “Do you honestly believe that I’d fall for such a juvenile—oh shit, what was that?” she quietly hissed her last question, gently tossing Ryan to the middle of the bed and getting off of it completely.
Ryan quickly rolled off the bed and grabbed a pair of sweatpants out of the drawer while Sophie went to check out the noise. As she was making herself decent, she was suddenly very thankful that Sophie was too impatient to take her panties off and instead just pushed them to the side.
“I think someone’s trying to break in,” Sophie said in a hushed voice when she walked back into her girlfriend’s room. “The doorknob is rattling.”
“Well they chose the wrong apartment because—”
“Ryan! Open the door, I can’t find my key!”
Both Sophie and Ryan froze at the sound of Luke’s voice and looked at each other like idiots with comically wide eyes.
“Well I guess I stand corrected. He definitely chose the right apartment.”
“Seriously?” Sophie looked at Ryan in disbelief. “What is he even doing here anyway? I thought you said no interruptions!”
“I don’t know! And it was,” Ryan defended herself. “Mary is at work, and she’s the one I checked with since she’s my actual roommate. I didn’t expect him to just show up!”
Sophie closed her eyes and exhaled. “I’m sorry,” she said, opening her eyes and placing her hands on Ryan’s shoulders, rubbing soothing circles on them. “It’s not your fault.” She shot a wry grin. “Besides, I don’t want my final moments before Luke kills me to be arguing with you.”
Ryan sighed and nodded as the fight left her and briefly looked away. In doing so, her eyes landed on something just behind Sophie. Maybe…
“I found it!” Luke shouted. It only took a few seconds before he was actually in the living room. “Ryan! I know you’re in here!”
“Hold on, damn! I just got out the shower!” she shouted back. “Give me ten minutes!”
Ryan looked back at her girlfriend with a serious expression. “You have to go out the window,” she whispered urgently, happy that the tv was already on and, hopefully, concealing their voices.
Sophie stared right back at her with bemused incredulity. “Seriously?”
“Deadly.”
“Funny word choice because, in case you’ve forgotten, we’re on the fourth floor,” Sophie hissed quietly as she heard Luke’s footsteps getting closer. This secret wasn’t worth her life. She’d rather take her chances with Luke. She was pretty sure she could take him, and her chances were far better with him than freefalling from fifty feet up.
“No, you’re right,” Ryan dismissed with a frown. “You’re probably not athletic enough to scale it without falling.”
And damn it because Sophie knew exactly what was happening but it worked even so. She narrowed her eyes. “Is that a challenge?”
Ryan’s eyes snapped up at her girlfriend’s tone and winced when she realized that it did indeed sound like a challenge, at least in Sophie’s language which she was fluent in. “No, baby,” she soothed, immediately trying for damage control. She reached for Sophie’s cheek but was dodged.
“Hand me my shoes, please.” This was the most determined Ryan had ever seen her and she knew there was no going back. But she had to at least try to stop her very prideful girlfriend from being her own demise.
“Baby, I didn’t mean it like that. Please. We can just make up an excuse for why you’re here.”
Sophie scoffed. “Wow. You really don’t think I can do it, do you?”
“Sophie…”
“I think my shoes are by the door.” She looked down at her socked feet and nodded once to herself before reaching down and taking off her socks.
Ryan watched her stuff her socks in the pockets of her sweatpants baffled. “What are you doing?!”
“I can probably grip the brick walls better with my toes than my socks.”
Ryan grabbed her arm when she tried to make her way to the window. “Sophie,” she warned. “No.”
Sophie gently removed Ryan’s hand from her. “I got this,” she said determinedly.
“And if you don’t?”
“Then I’ll die happy because my last moments were with you,” she grinned.
Ryan’s eyes watered. “Don’t even joke about that,” she said in a low voice. She was actually terrified, but fuck her feelings she supposed because her dumbass girlfriend just had to prove a point. Or literally die trying.
Sophie softened. “Ry…”
“You know that my biggest fear is losing the people that I…” she trailed off, jaw clenching. “The people that I care about. And you’re willingly doing something dumb that could kill you. For absolutely no good reason.”
“Ryan, there’s a fire escape,” she gently reminded her. And herself if she was being honest. “I’ll be fine.”
“It’s still about a story drop, Sophie,” she hissed. “The ladder doesn’t reach the bottom of this ghetto ass building and you know that.”
“The most I’ll do is break a leg, babe,” she soothed. “I’ll text you when I make it home. If you’re available, I’ll FaceTime you and you can inspect me for yourself.”
Rya sighed then nodded. What else could she do? Hide Sophie in her room the rest of the night? She didn’t know how long Luke would be here. And though she wanted to come clean about their relationship, this wasn’t the way to do it. “Fine. But you FaceTime me anyway. I don’t give a damn if Luke thinks it’s weird. I want a call, not a text.”
“Okay.” Sophie kissed her on the cheek then walked with her to the window. She exited to the fire escape, leaned in to kiss her girlfriend once more, long and slow, then disappeared. Ryan watched her go until Luke called for her again.
“Be right out!”
When she opened the door, Luke had his ass parked on her couch, and she tried her best not to show how annoyed she was. Because Sophie’s ass was supposed to be right there, not his.
“Finally! Why do girls always take so long in the shower?”
“It’s called moisturizing. I know your crusty ass wouldn’t understand,” Ryan retorted.
He scoffed in offense. “My skin is as smooth as a baby’s bottom. You’re just jealous.”
“What are you doing here?” Ryan bit out, throwing her hands on top of her head.
Luke frowned at the irritation in her voice. “You okay?”
“I was fine about ten minutes ago, you know, before you barged in my apartment just to disturb me for no good reason.”
“Sorry.” Luke stood up cautiously. “I just wanted to hang out. I’ll call next time instead of just showing up.” His voice sounded confused and a little hurt because they always had the kind of relationship where things like that wasn’t necessary. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”
He calmly made his way to the door, and Ryan instantly felt guilty. “Wait.”
Luke stopped with his hand on the doorknob and looked over his shoulder at her. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry,” she groaned, plopping face first on her couch. “Today was just annoying. You know I don’t mind you coming over whenever. I gave you a key for a reason.”
He shrugged and gave her a genuine smile. “It’s okay. We all need time to ourselves sometimes.” And Ryan felt even guiltier because here he was still being his usual sweet self even after she snapped at him for reasons unknown to him.
“And I’m sure your ass isn’t crusty. Probably.”
“I can assure you that it isn’t.”
Ryan lifted her head and peered over at him. “Want to ‘ironically’ binge watch The Bachelor with me?”
Luke grinned. “You know all of my weaknesses.”
A couple hours later when Sophie requested to FaceTime, Ryan excused herself to the bathroom and answered it. She thoroughly checked to see if Sophie was unscathed as promised by requiring her to strip and show every inch of her skin until she was satisfied.
And when she came out of the bathroom forty-five minutes later, Luke barely even questioned it.
The next morning Jada Jet strolled into Sophie’s office without knocking. Sophie stood up to greet her. “Good Morning, Ma’am.” She frowned and reached for her radio. “I’m sorry, did you need me for something?”
“No. Sit back down.”
Sophie sat back down.
Jada eyed her employee as she sat there staring right back at her, and she couldn’t help the small uptick of her lips. One thing she love about Agent Sophie Moore was how bold she was. A lot of her other employees acted afraid of her but not this one. Sophie was never someone to back down. And that was a personality trait she could respect.
She was just trying to see if Ryan wanted to respect something else. A lot more than respect.
“What did you think of my daughter yesterday?” she asked after her dramatically long silence.
“Ryan? Uh, she’s fine, I guess. Why?”
Jada ignored her question. “She is fine, isn’t she?” She smirked, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “She gets her looks from her mother.”
“You cannot seriously be this corny,” Sophie rolled her eyes. So apparently this was a social visit rather than a business one. This was Jada as opposed to Miss Jet. “I’m about to quit.”
Jada laughed and took a seat on Sophie’s couch. “I came to give you the rest of the week off.”
“Huh?”
“It’s already halfway through Thursday. Just take the rest of today, take tomorrow, and come back fresh on Monday. You’ve been working a lot.”
Sophie looked worried. “Have I done something wrong, Ma’am?”
Jada looked at her in disbelief. “Only you would see an impromptu paid vacation as a punishment. A true workaholic.”
“Oh,” Sophie sighed, visibly relieved. “Well, ‘spirits know spirits’ right? Isn’t that why you hired me?”
“Maybe you should take one of those days to take my fine daughter on a date?”
“There it is,” Sophie muttered. “Why are you being so weird? And what was with you trying to play matchmaker yesterday?”
“What was with the two of you pretending you never met?”
Sophie sighed as she got ready to lie her ass off. Her roommate, Alice, also known as the best liar she knew, told her that the best method was to give a little of the truth and work off of that. It would be easier to remember that way. “We know each other vaguely,” she lied. “We never really met, except like once, years ago. Now we just kind of run… adjacent to each other, having the same friends and all.”
Jada hummed. “Well Ryan is my daughter. And you’re like a daughter to me too.” Sophie couldn’t help but smile, and Jada smiled back. She didn’t usually talk about sentimental things like this, but she actually wanted Sophie to know that she truly valued and appreciated her. Loved her, even. “I just want both of you to be happy. I think you two could make each other happy.”
“Thank you,” Sophie said genuinely.
Jada wasn’t done though. “Besides,” her smile looked dangerous. Sophie was kind of afraid of her next words. “I’ve seen the way you look at her when you think no one is looking.”
Sophie groaned and put her head on the desk. “Please tell me nobody else has.”
“So you admit it?”
“Yes, okay?” she said, sounding defeated. “Of course I’ve noticed her. She beautiful and independent and so incredibly strong. When she walks into a room, she immediately grabs every single ounce of my attention. It’s just something about her…”
“Maybe you should do something about that then,” Jada suggested.
“No. Luke will certainly kill me.”
Jada frowned. “What’s he got to do with anything?”
“He sort of… warned me off from her.”
Now Jada was even more confused. “From Ryan? Why?”
“Yeah,” Sophie looked up kind of embarrassed. “I had this… reputation.”
Jada waved her hand. “I know all about that. The employees around here are such gossips.” She looked off into the distance. “Especially Perez. That man loves a drama good story.” She shook her head. “But why is what you do or used to do in your spare time relevant?”
“Because he doesn’t want me, I don’t know, ‘taking advantage of her’ or something.”
Jada became offended on Sophie’s behalf. “You would never do that!”
“I know,” Sophie said ruefully. “But I get where he’s coming from. If he had a habit of sleeping with a ton of different women and never calling them back, I wouldn’t want him around my sister either. So I agreed to it.”
“Why?”
“I never intended to be this… moved by her. At the time, it was a nonissue. A random promise to make my friend feel better.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Back when we reconnected. Right after I got honorably discharged.”
Jada’s eyes bugged out of her head. “That long ago?! Sophie! That was years ago. Surely, he knows you well enough by now to know that you’re a genuine person.”
“It doesn’t matter. I can’t lose him. He’s my best friend.”
“Then he should want to see you happy.”
“He does want to see me happy,” Sophie argued. Then more quietly, “Just not with the woman he sees as his little sister.”
Jada scowled. “I suppose I need to have a talk with this young man about minding his own business.” She glared at Sophie when she opened her mouth. “Yes, I realize how ironic that sounds considering our previous conversation, but at least I’m helping.”
“Please don’t do that. None of this needs to get back to him.” She stared at her boss until she begrudgingly agreed. “Good. Also, it could be argued that he’s helping Ryan.”
“Helping Ryan would be letting her, a grown ass woman, decide what she wants. Who she wants, more specifically.”
“How can you even be sure she’d want to date me anyway?” Sophie of course knew that she did. She was just curious to what Jada peeped.
Jada smiled softly as she stood up to leave. “Because I see the way she looks at you when she thinks no one is looking too.”
What Jada didn’t say was she wasn’t dumb. Of course she knew that they were already, well she wasn’t quite sure, but they were definitely something. All she wanted was for them to give up the stories and live their truth, out and proud together. It may take some time, but Jada was confident she could get what she wanted. She always did. Plus, she was prepared to play the long game.
But not too long, because those dumbasses were stressing her out with their obvious pining. Life was too short for that shit.
(And she honestly had nothing better to do at the moment. When your successful multimillion dollar company was running well and you learn how to delegate, you apparently had less work.)
Jada paused at the door to say one more thing. “And I meant it, Sophie. Take the rest of the week. I’ll see you on Monday.”
Sophie was left in her office staring at the door Jada just left out of. Maybe it was time to have a talk with Luke, come clean about everything. She had honestly been wanting to for a while, ever since she realized that what she felt for Ryan was more than just a casual relationship. When she realized that she was in love with her.
She smiled at the thought. She was kind of waiting for the right moment to say it, but it still felt good to think it. She had no idea if Ryan loved her too. Sure, she definitely had feelings for her, very strong ones at that, but had it developed into love yet? Sophie supposed she would just have to find out when she told her. Soon.
But after she told Luke.
Her smile dropped as she frowned. Now that was a conversation she was not looking forward to. At all.
Sophie had taken Jada’s advice (polite demand) and packed her things and went home. She had just sat on her couch when she got a text from Ryan. She was just think about her. Maybe she could bring Ryan lunch today and tomorrow? It was crazy how the simple fact that Ryan texted her immediately bought a smile to her face and a warm feeling in her heart.
It was what the message said, however, that made her stomach drop.
[10:09 AM] Ryan: We need to talk.
[10:09 AM] Ryan: Preferably in person.