by Lexi Blake
“No, you didn’t.”
She sighed like she hadn’t expected the response. “Huh. I guess I didn’t realize how much I missed him until recently. His name is Hutch. We went to high school together.” She was actually a couple of years younger than him, but he had a baby face. And according to MaeBe, he also had a fake birth certificate that showed the proper age. “We broke up when I went to college. He came up here for a job interview, but he’s going to stay with me. We’re going to try to make it work.”
“Who was the big military-looking guy?” Pete knew his guys.
“His brother who recently got out of the Navy,” Noelle replied. “He made a big impression on the boss. She’s pretty aggressive. His girlfriend was standing right there and Jessica pretty much hit on him.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. That woman goes after what she wants.” Pete stood again with a sigh. “Well, I’m going to check on some tests I’ve got running. I tweaked some things on the MRI and I’m happy with how fast we’re hitting the right temps.”
She glanced at the clock and hadn’t realized how late it had gotten. She still hadn’t asked some of the questions she was curious about. She’d tentatively broached the subject of Madison’s lab with Jessica, who had deflected and turned the subject back to Noelle’s fake love life. But Pete might know some things. “Did you work on the biotech lab last week?”
“Do you mean ground zero?” Pete asked with a shake of his head. “Yeah, after the police were done and the biohazard unit left. You should be glad you weren’t here last week. It was bizarre. At first we had DPD all over the place, and then they were gone and men in biohazard suits were cleaning stuff up.”
“Did you read any of the reports?”
Pete chuckled like she’d asked a naïve question. “Honey, no one has. Jessica locked everything down as quickly as possible. I’ve heard the police report is calling it an accident. Supposedly OSHA investigated, but I don’t know anyone who talked to them. They’re blaming it all on Madison. She was up in the lab after hours, and the rumors are she was taking some pretty stiff pharmaceuticals. Not the legal kind.”
She had a hard time believing health nut Madison had a drug habit. She didn’t even touch alcohol. “Do you know if they did an autopsy?”
“I would assume so.” Pete stopped and his gaze became wary. “Why? I didn’t think you two were friends. She was always such a bitch to you.”
Noelle glanced around to make sure no one was listening. It looked like most of her team was cleaning up and finishing their daily reports in advance of quitting time. She leaned over and dropped her voice. “Don’t you think it’s weird?”
“That a young, intelligent woman blew herself up in a lab?” Pete asked. “Yeah, I do, but she was working with some pretty unstable chemicals, from what I heard. She had ammonium perchlorate in her lab. If she was playing with that while she was high, we’re lucky she didn’t blow the whole floor up.”
That was another mystery. “She was working on a biochem experiment. Why would she have a chemical used as a rocket propellant in her lab? Have we seen her inventories?”
Each lab kept a careful inventory that was tied to the budget system since each lab had a different budget. Madison’s would have been large. Noelle’s wasn’t. Madison had run a lab with ten techs and a medical doctor on staff. Noelle had three techs and Pete. She had to do her own paperwork, for the most part, and there was a ton of paperwork.
They had reports for everything. Shouldn’t there be one for the accident?
“The word is Jessica locked everything down pretty fast,” Pete explained. “Legal was definitely all over the place last week. I know all of Madison’s team spent time with them. Besides a couple of the engineers, the building was empty of regular employees with the exception of legal and Madison’s team.”
“Who cleaned up the lab?”
“She brought in another firm. I was only allowed in to test the remaining equipment and to walk through with a structural engineer to make sure the building is okay and the fire didn’t damage the safety equipment.” A shudder went through him. “I’ll be honest. It was creepy. There was something off about those cleaners. You know most teams that work biohazard are usually jokey. I mean it’s all dark stuff, but they usually talk a lot. These guys said nothing. I mean nothing. They were perfectly silent as they worked. At least they were any time someone from our company entered the room.”
She wanted to know the name of that company. Maybe Hutch was right and she did need to be able to bring him in the building. She hated to admit he was right, but she’d had an awful feeling all day every time she passed Madison’s lab. The area was still locked down. “I know she wasn’t a nice person, but I still have questions.”
Pete sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. “Honey, I’m going to give you some advice. Don’t ask those questions. Forget them and do your work. The woman upstairs doesn’t like to be challenged, and this incident is something she wants us all to forget. I am almost positive it’s because she knows Madison’s parents are going to sue. That’s probably why legal worked so fast to get everyone on the same page. She also wants to keep the press off the story. Right now it was reported as a tragic accident and they’ve moved on. If a reporter looks more closely and suddenly we’ve got stories of drug culture at Genedyne, the investors are going to have questions. She’ll pay off Madison’s parents and move on.”
Or she would drag Madison and her family through lawsuit hell. That was the more likely outcome. She was getting all her ducks in a row and then she would shoot them all in neat order, declare victory, and life would move on at Genedyne.
“And if you get in the way of her plans,” Pete continued, “I worry for you. You’re doing a fantastic job with this project. I’ve worked a lot of these. I think in two years you will have everything you need to prove your thesis and your procedures. You’ll write up your research and you’ll be a rock star in this world. You’ll be able to write your own check wherever you want. Sit tight. Focus on your work and you’ll be out of here in the blink of an eye. Hopefully you’ll take your friend Pete with you.”
It was probably good advice, and she would have to think about it. “Thanks. I’ll get this stuff done and go work out before Hutch picks me up.”
There was a nice gym on the seventh floor, and at this time of day it was quiet. Almost everyone worked out in the mornings. By five o’clock she was left with one or two people sharing the space.
“I expect you to introduce me to your boyfriend.” Pete started to back away. “Maybe you two can come out and have dinner with Jimmy and the kids.”
Hutch was good with kids. “Sure. Let me know when.”
He nodded and she decided to finish up her day. She closed down her laptop and grabbed her bag, heading up to the seventh floor. She felt like she was on autopilot as she changed into her gym clothes, locked up her stuff, and hit the treadmill. The news was playing on the screen overhead, but she wasn’t listening. Her mind was on what Pete had told her.
She was still thinking about it when she finished up and walked back into the locker room. She’d lost track of time and was going to have to skip the shower she would usually take. It wouldn’t normally matter. She could simply take a later train to get to her place, but she thought Hutch might worry.
Hutch, who would sleep in her apartment tonight. Who would wake up in her apartment tomorrow. Who would figure out she was going to be a trainee at the club he went to. Would that be weird? He wouldn’t have anything to do with her training class. She wouldn’t have to see him in the club until she’d finished, and that was six weeks away.
By then maybe she’d find out she’d been freaky paranoid about this whole thing and life would go back to normal. It was entirely possible that her computer problems were caused by some weird virus while watching dog rescue videos.
That was when she realized her locker door was slightly ajar.
A chill went through her because she knew she
’d locked it. She’d tested it before she’d walked away.
Someone had been in her locker. Someone had gotten through the combination lock and opened it. They’d probably tried to be quiet, and that was why they hadn’t quite closed it again.
She went to it, opening the locker door and checking the bag she’d placed in there. Her laptop was still in its case.
A little sound made her stop, fear shooting through her because she’d thought she was alone. “Hello?”
She listened, the sound of the air conditioner blowing making an eerie soundtrack. But something told her she wasn’t alone. Someone was with her. It might be strictly fear at work, but she would have sworn she could feel someone staring at her.
She didn’t have her phone. She never brought it with her to the gym because she wore a smartwatch and had wireless earbuds. The phone would have been one more thing to carry when she was already attached to her cane.
Her hand tightened around it. Her leg ached a bit, but it always did after a workout. She’d stretched, but it wouldn’t be until she’d gotten in the shower and let the heat sink in that her muscles would truly relax.
She was being silly. All that talk with Pete had set her on edge and she was paranoid. She reached for her phone. Hutch had put his number in. She would text him and tell him she was running late.
Maybe he would spank her.
Or she would turn over her laptop again to see if anyone else had been on it. Maybe something had happened with the security system on her locker. Like everything at Genedyne, it was on the cutting edge of technology, and sometimes it needed work. Were any of the other lockers open? When she’d signed up for her gym privileges, she’d been assigned a locker.
There was one slightly open. The one directly behind hers. The one Madison used to have.
She could tell herself she worked out in the evening because it was easier, but Madison was the real reason. Madison had constantly asked about her scars and if they bothered Noelle. Because they would certainly bother her. Madison had once left a tube of scar cream on the bench in front of her locker with a note that promised it was for Noelle, but it was also for everyone in the locker room who had to look at her.
She really hated that woman. She moved toward the locker, expecting it to be empty. Surely they would have cleaned it out. It was empty, but Noelle inspected it anyway.
There was nothing left, as she’d suspected.
A shadow moved out of the corner of her eye, a fear she couldn’t quite process. Instinct made her bring the cane up like a bat.
“Who’s there?” If no one said a word, she would know for sure. She could understand not hearing her the first time, but this question was asked in a loud, firm voice.
If no one replied, she would know she had to fight because there was no way she’d imagined that big shadow.
She heard the sound of a door slamming shut. Had someone left the locker room? She moved to the end of the lockers, checking the door to make sure whoever it was had run away. Of course she should also consider the fact that whoever it had been had simply walked away, not wanting to deal with her.
Or someone had made the sound as a fake out to get behind her. An arm came around her throat and she suddenly couldn’t breathe.
She tried to kick back, tried to get her cane back far enough that she could hit him with it. Whoever was behind her kicked it away, and she felt her knee buckle. Her muscles, the ones she worked so hard to keep strong, failed her.
The arm tightened and her head was light. Panic threatened but she couldn’t do anything about it.
The world went dark and she was sure she was done.
* * * *
Hutch glanced down at his watch again. It was a smartwatch that connected to just about everything, a true tech-junkie’s watch, but right now all he needed from it was the time.
Noelle was late. A full ten minutes late.
He’d texted her when he’d reached the building and pulled into a parking space. He’d kind of thought she would be waiting in the roundabout, not wanting to give him another reason to get his hands on her.
That would be a smart move on her part. He would take any excuse she gave him because he’d thought about that kiss all freaking day.
It was stupid. It had been a kiss. It hadn’t even been real since he’d done it to establish his place in her life for the op. Yeah, he was going to keep telling himself that.
She’d been ridiculously soft in his arms, and he would bet a lot that somewhere in the middle of that kiss, she’d forgotten why they’d been kissing. She’d forgotten they had an audience and she’d let go. He’d felt the second she’d truly given herself over to the moment, and she’d responded to him in a way no woman ever had before—openly and with a pure need that called to his own.
His whole body had been on edge since that kiss, but not in a bad way. He’d enjoyed the ache he’d had all day. It meant he wanted something. Her. He wanted Noelle.
And he’d decided to have her.
He could play it vanilla. He didn’t need to tie her up and clamp those pretty tits. He didn’t need to see her laid out over his lap, feel her squirm while waiting for his hand to land on that spectacular ass of hers.
Nope. He could do it.
But she had to come down for him to start his very vanilla seduction. He’d already prepped because he had everything ready for dinner. After thoroughly checking her place for any listening devices, he’d marinaded some chicken breasts and put together a salad. While MaeBe had taught Kyle how to properly shut off some of the functions on Noelle’s smart TV and her smart speaker systems, he’d gotten a couple of potatoes ready to bake.
He’d thought about telling Kyle he was on his own. It would be nicer to send Kyle out to find his own dinner while he fed Noelle and got time alone with her. There was a fast-food place within walking distance. But he had to play the nice guy here. And Noelle hadn’t been interested in hunky Kyle. She’d been interested in him.
“Did you call her?” Kyle strode up. He’d been much happier in Noelle’s sedan, but much grumpier the minute MaeBe had left to go home. “She’s late.”
He managed to not give Kyle a childish “duh.” He actually wasn’t a bad dude, and he had better taste in women than Hutch would have given him credit for. Kyle seemed fascinated with MaeBe. It was a good thing because he wasn’t going to let the guy get close to Noelle.
Damn. He was getting possessive fast. That didn’t happen. He was laid back. He was live and let live. He wasn’t the guy who thought someone belonged to him.
But maybe he hadn’t met the woman who belonged to him up until today.
She was also the woman who was making him nervous because she wasn’t replying to his texts. “I’m going to call.”
“Have you thought about the fact that she might not have her phone?” Kyle asked.
“She’s got her watch. She can reply with her watch.” She’d told him she worked out after she finished up in her lab. She could be in the shower.
He didn’t like it. She would have texted him if she was going to be late. She was a careful woman, and a woman who tried not to cause trouble for others. He’d read back through her file again, and simply looking around her apartment told him that. She had a calendar on her bar where she reminded herself to call her family and friends on certain days. Her mail had three charitable donations waiting to be sent out. She wasn’t a woman who kept others waiting.
“I’m going in.” He started for the front of the building because her phone was going straight to voice mail.
They were going to have such a talk about following his very reasonable requests. She was in potential danger. She should keep her phone or watch on at all times. She should answer his every call because he was the man watching out for her.
“Are you sure she’s in there? She might have gone to happy hour.” Kyle followed behind him.
Except he was supposed to be the man working the technical aspects of her case, and Kyle was the b
odyguard. He should be back at her apartment studying up on Genedyne and trying to figure out who wanted onto Noelle’s system. He hadn’t been able to send Kyle out alone. “I’ve been tracking her phone. You should do that, too, since you’re the bodyguard.”
“When did you do that? Doesn’t she have to give you permission?”
Not when he could easily get into her phone and give himself permission, but he’d asked. He pulled his phone out, making sure she was where he thought she should be. “She did. It’s part of the job. She’s in the building, but I can’t tell what floor she’s on. Her phone is active and so is her watch. She should be answering.”
When did Genedyne lock their doors? The office hours were done, but he would bet a lot of employees stayed late. He might need to take another tactic. “Follow my lead.”
There was a security guard at the desk. He wore a uniform and seemed to be checking the security cameras. Hutch hustled up to the desk. “Excuse me, sir, but my girlfriend is having a medical episode. She works at Genedyne. She was supposed to meet me downstairs over thirty minutes ago and she’s not responding to calls or texts.”
The guard was an older man who sighed as though this wasn’t the first time he’d had to deal with a situation like this. “Are you on the guest list?”
“Greg Hutchins.” She’d been given instructions to get him on the visitor list. It wouldn’t give him free entrance, but it would make it easier to find her. He intended to make it a clear choice for the man in front of him. “My girlfriend is Noelle LaVigne. She’s…”
“Are you talking about the young woman who uses the cane?” The guard was on his feet now.
In this case, he would let the man in front of him think whatever he wanted to think. He wasn’t going to point out how strong she was. He would use that cane and what it meant to so many people to remove the barrier between them right now. “I’m worried she’s fallen or something happened. She could be in trouble. She’s had some heart palpitations lately. Please let me get up there to look for her.”
