"Ladies. I'm Jule," he said in a gravelly growl as they neared.
"I've heard of you," Linda said, surprised. "Don't you rule the eastern hemisphere?"
"Something like that. Linda, Traci, Sofia, I presume."
He looked at the charm dangling from her necklace and held out his hand to her, palm up. She placed her hand atop his, assessing him. She saw glimpses of his shared history with Damian and Dustin and of a time before meeting them that was too dark for her to see clearly. His intense gaze remained on her.
"Pierre doing good by you?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah. He's got a great sense of style," Linda said with a laugh.
"He'll do," Sofia answered.
Jule's smiles were less reserved than those of the other men despite his unfriendly appearance. The skin around his eyes softened. She saw the thaw from the cactus daring anyone to touch him to the man she'd spoken to on the phone. He took in her features with passive curiosity.
"Hey, boss," Pierre said, holding out his hand.
"Good to see you, Froggie. Enjoying your new assignment?"
"Mon dieu, non! I can't believe you sent me here to babysit."
Sofia gave Pierre a harried look, and Jule chuckled.
"If he's complaining, he's happy," he told her. "He's the best in my sphere of command, though Han's shoes are hard to fill."
"Han had manners," she replied.
"And you're alive because of whom?" Pierre responded.
"Glad to see you're getting along," Jule said with a grin. "Dusty warned me you were a handful, Sofi."
"Me?" she asked, surprised.
"Oui," Pierre agreed.
The men around her were smoking crack. She rarely left the house and lived in the library. She wasn't sure what she could do to be more boring.
"Since we're here …" Traci said, eyes going to a Chinese buffet.
"Go ahead. We'll wait," Jule said. His gaze returned to Sofia, and she crossed her arms under his scrutiny.
"I think I'll go with her," Linda said, looking between the two.
Jule glanced at Pierre, who obeyed the silent command and moved away.
"How you holding up?" he asked.
"Better," Sofia answered.
"Reconciled things yet?"
"Working on it. Linda is putting me in contact with the support group she belongs to. I'm reading their blogs. Haven't worked up the nerve to post. I'm different, Jule, even among you all."
"That you are," he agreed. "Dusty says you stopped D from annihilating the planet. That's a good thing."
"I saw that you shared his history …" She stopped, not sure how comfortable he was with a stranger reading his mind.
"You're definitely not gonna stress me out, okay? Just say what you need to."