“I was just…” What was up, anyway? I had no response to that. Why did I even go to him? It wasn’t like we were friends. We had barely spoken a word to each other since Saturday, when he ran out of the apartment like it was on fire the second Christa showed up. I’d lived with Christa’s knowing glances and heavy hints about him since then, but I hadn’t breathed a word no matter how much I wanted to. What did I think he could do for me when he couldn’t even look me in the eye anymore?
“You don’t look too good. Here.” He pulled out a chair. I sank into it and muttered something sounding vaguely like “thank you.” I felt his eyes on me. He’d been watching me for over a week. How did he feel?
“What do you think about me?” I asked.
“Huh?”
“That didn’t come out right. I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore.”
“What’s the problem? Just go slow.”
I jerked my thumb toward the monitor showing the different camera feeds. “You should pay attention to that. I just needed a second to sit and get my head together. I’m sorry to bother you.”
“You’re not bothering me. I mean it. You can tell me what’s up. What did you mean when you asked what I think about you? Like, in what way?”
“In what way could I mean it?” Our eyes met for a second. “I mean, do I look like a criminal to you?”
His snort surprised me. “No,” he laughed. “You don’t look like a criminal.”
“Really?” There were no windows in the room, but it suddenly felt sunny in there. “That means a lot.”
“Who thinks you’re a criminal? Why are we even talking about this?”
I chewed my lip. “Did Ricardo ask you to watch me? Closer than the others?”
His expression shifted. “That’s an uncomfortable question.”
“One which you don’t have to answer, because you just did.” I felt sad and sick. “I can’t believe this is all turning around on me. Talk about the last thing I would ever think, you know? I never once considered it would turn out this way. I’m not the bad guy. I’m just stupid enough to pass out or whatever it was I did.”
“Has this ever happened to you before?”
“What, fainting?” He nodded. “Only a couple times. Once when I was cramming for finals and barely ate or drank for two days. At least I made it until after the exam was over. I passed out on the way back to the dorm. And there was another time when I was giving blood. I made the mistake of looking at the bag my blood was going into. Big mistake.”
“Oh, yeah. That’s a weird thing to see.”
I rolled my eyes at myself. “I’m sure that’s nothing compared to what you’ve seen.”
“It’s all relative.”
“You’re just being nice.” Shoot. I was flirting with him again, but how could I help it? I couldn’t forget what happened on Saturday no matter how much we promised each other not to let it go any further. I had to get real. “So you’re under orders to keep a close watch on me. Right?”
He shrugged. “I guess so.”
“Because it’s looking more like I had something to do with the robbery. Right?”
“Right.”
I looked over at the monitor. “What about them? Do any of them look guilty?”
He followed my gaze. “None more than anybody else.”
“You hesitated.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You did. Who seems guilty?”
“Nobody.”
“I feel like you’re not telling me the truth. Is there somebody?” I leaned in to watch more closely. “I could help you.”
“Help me?”
I shrugged. “If there’s anybody who looks a little guilty, I can watch, too. They trust me, right? So they won’t think it’s weird if I ask questions.”
He looked skeptical. “It’s not your job to do this.”
“All you can do is watch people. You can’t talk to them or anything. Small talk, but that’s it.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“It’s definitely true.” I held my folded hands in front of his face. “Please. This is my life. If I don’t do anything to help find out who did this, they’ll think it was me. I have a vested interest.”
“I hope you don’t think what happened between us gives you the right to ask me this.”
My heart sank. “I thought we weren’t going to talk about that. I’m a little insulted you even feel you have to bring it up.”
“I just want to be sure we’re on the same page.”
“We are,” I murmured. Why did we have to be on that page, though? Why that one? Why did we have to forget the way it felt when we kissed? Like there were fireworks exploding everywhere?
He blew out a long, heavy sigh. “I shouldn’t be okay with this.”
“Too bad.” I turned around to look at the monitor again. “So. Who looks good?”
“You’re gonna get me in a lot of trouble.”
“No, I’m not. Come on. Who are you looking at?”
He rolled his eyes and sighed again. “Okay. Him.” He pointed at the feed showing George’s office and the area just outside.
I gasped. “George?”
“You asked.”
“Oh, no.” I sat back with a frown. “What makes you think that?”
“He’s the branch manager. He knows more about the security system than anybody else. He’s the logical answer—after you, of course.” I shot him a sharp look. “It’s true.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, looking back at George. “I don’t know. That doesn’t feel right.”
“None of this feels right. It’s things like this that remind us how little we know the people around us.”
“I guess you’re right. Somebody did it, no matter who it was.” I wasn’t sure what hurt more, the thought that I was a possible suspect or the thought that George was the thief. Still, if there was anybody who could find out what was going on in his head, it was me. I had an excuse to get close to him. It was my job.
I stole a look at Marcus from the corner of my eye. “Do you have a problem with knowing people?”
“What?” He frowned.
“You said something about not knowing people. Is that a problem for you?”
“That’s pretty personal.”
“You asked if I ever fainted before, and I told you.”
“That’s not so personal.”
“Maybe it was personal for me.”
He laughed. “I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve watched a lot of people in their daily lives. You’d be surprised what they do when they get comfortable with a camera up their ass. Pardon my language.”
That touched me. I couldn’t help it. Just him asking me to pardon his language was the sweetest thing, even though I knew it was ridiculous to be impressed. What ever happened to men treating a woman with respect? I would bet he’d never lied to a girl and pretended he was single when he wasn’t. Not like Jack.
There was a knock at the door, and we both jumped and moved further apart. I looked at the monitor.
“Christa?” I whispered. Why was I whispering? Why did I feel guilty for sitting there, talking like a normal person? Even so, it was for the best that she showed up when she did. I was starting to feel all googly-eyed.
“Come in.” Christa walked in and if she thought there was anything strange about me sitting there with Marcus, she didn’t mention it. Probably because she was too busy looking concerned.
“We have a problem. I mean, not a problem, really. Having too many clients isn’t a problem, per se.”
“Too many clients? What’s that mean?” he asked.
“It means I’ve been reassigned.” She looked stricken. Much like how I felt.
“What? Why? I thought we had a good thing going.” Was it me? Was I the issue?
“We do, but we also have a new client as of this morning and all the other agents are on other cases. Pax didn’t want to turn it down, of course.”
“Oh, no, of
course not.” I looked back and forth at the two of them. “I hate to be blunt, but what does this mean for me?”
“It means you’ll have another agent staying with you.” Christa looked at Marcus. Marcus looked at Christa.
And I died a little inside.
“Me?” He pointed to himself. “I’ve never done that before. There’s no reason for me to do that. She’s fine. She’s safe.”
“She’s sitting right here,” I murmured.
“Sorry, but it’s true. You don’t need me with you, right?”
“I guess I don’t. You have a point. I’m not in any danger from anyone. Maybe we can talk to George about this and convince him to lay off a little. There are motion sensors outside the windows, outside the door. If anybody tries to get in, I’ll know.”
Christa shook her head. “I’m sorry, but this is already worked out. Pax has talked to George and they worked it all out together.”
“Oh, did they?” I brushed past her and walked straight to George’s office, then closed the door before either of them could catch up with me.
“This isn’t going to work. Why are you paying them to do this to me?”
He looked pained. I was pretty sure what little gray fringe was still left on his head before the robbery was even thinner. “Lauren, there’s nothing I can do. The bank wants me to prove we’re doing everything we can to protect our only witness.”
“And?”
“And what?” He wouldn’t meet my eyes, so I knew there was more.
“And the most natural suspect. Right?”
He groaned. “Why are you putting me in this position? You’re only making things more difficult for me.”
“Oh. Well. I wouldn’t want to make things more difficult for you. Especially since I’m the one who’s now going to have to live with yet another stranger.”
“It won’t be for very long.”
“How do you know?” I fought against the tears threatening just behind my eyes.
“It can’t be. That’s all. Eventually, they’ll find out who did this.” Only he still wouldn’t look at me. I finally understood that he was just as suspicious of me as Marcus was of him. Even he didn’t have any faith in me.
Chapter Thirteen – Marcus
“It won’t be so bad.”
She hadn’t said a word since we got in the car. I told myself it was none of my business—she was a client, and clients didn’t get a say in what we did. Maybe to an extent, but only when they were paying. Lauren wasn’t paying, George was. She didn’t have an opinion.
It made me feel like an ass, thinking that way. She was more than just a client. She was a person, a nice person who didn’t deserve the shit happening to her. She felt helpless. Her life was happening to her without her having a say in it.
“I’m trying to not take this personally,” I muttered when she ignored me again.
“Good.”
“Oh, you can talk.” I pulled up in front of her apartment building. She was out of the car before I even had it in park. It was like we had gone all the way back to the beginning and she hated me. Well, it didn’t matter. She was a client, and I was on a job.
Christa was already in to get her things together, which left just the two of us. I had almost hoped she would stop by to break the tension. No such luck. I dropped my bag by the door and stood there waiting for her to get over her tantrum.
She slammed a tea kettle down on the stove and flung the cabinet door open so hard, it bounced off the door next to it. I winced. She didn’t miss a beat, though, yanking a box of tea bags out of the cabinet and slamming the door shut.
“I guessed you’d want a stronger drink that that,” I murmured, leaning against the wall with my hands in my pockets.
“Shut up, please.” I could barely hear her through her clenched teeth. Her back was to me. I could read the tension in every lone of her body.
“This doesn’t have to be a bad thing.” I wasn’t kidding around anymore. “You don’t have to act like it’s such a bad thing.”
“What, am I bruising your delicate ego?” She still had her back to me.
“It takes a little more than this to bruise my ego. It just…I don’t know. It sucks to see you making this harder than it needs to be.”
She whirled on me. Her cheeks were wet with tears, her eyes red. It only made the green stand out more. Was there anything she could do that wouldn’t make her look even better than she normally did?
“You don’t know how this feels.”
“You’re right. I don’t.”
“Everybody thinks I did it. George wants you guys around because he thinks I did it. Me!” She laughed. “I’ve worked my ass off for him for six years. You don’t even know what I’ve sacrificed for him. Late nights, weekends, phone calls at random hours because he forgot something—a file, his briefcase, his fucking wallet!” I wasn’t used to hearing words like that coming from her mouth, so she meant business. “I’ve left dates because he needed something from me. Brunch with my friends. My bed. He’s called me out of bed, Marcus.” She shook her head. “And after all that, he’s too much of a coward to stick up for me.”
“He’s in a really tough position.”
“Fuck his tough position,” she spat. The screaming of the kettle got her attention, and she spun around to grab it. Only she moved too fast and didn’t judge where she was reaching. The kettle fell over, spilling boiling water all over the stove.
“Shit!” She jumped away. I pulled her back, further away from the flood of water, and turned off the gas jet. The water had doused the flame—all we needed was an apartment full of gas.
“Are you okay?” I turned to her. She was holding her blouse away from her body. It was soaked through. “Here, take that off. Did you get burned?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Get it off just in case. It’s probably scalding hot.” I helped her unbutton it and carefully pulled it over her shoulders and down her arms. It wasn’t until I was holding it in one hand that I realized what I’d just done.
I looked down at the floor, but it was too late. I had already seen too much. Creamy, smooth skin. Flat stomach, tiny waist, and a lacy pink bra holding up a pair of full tits I would’ve given my right arm to bury my face in.
She pulled the blouse out of my hand and ran for her bedroom. There was nothing I could say to make either of us feel better, so instead of trying to cover up the awkwardness with more awkwardness, I set about cleaning up the mess on the stove and floor. I heard her opening and closing drawers in the bedroom, but after a little while, she went silent. Probably wondering what to do next, I thought. Maybe embarrassed by her attitude, or the peep show. Or both.
I refilled the kettle and put it on to boil. By the time it whistled, she was walking slowly from her room to the kitchen. She’d changed into leggings and a long sweater, and when she pulled the kettle off the flame, she wouldn’t look at me.
“Thanks for cleaning up,” she murmured.
“It’s nothing.”
“I’m sorry I acted like such a jerk.”
“It’s okay. You’re probably the nicest person I ever met. You’re entitled to act like a jerk sometimes.”
“Am I? The nicest person, I mean?” She glanced at me as she made her tea.
“Yeah, I think so. And I think you let your boss walk all over you, too. Just my opinion.” I sat at the kitchen table—a little thing, just big enough for two people to sit facing each other.
“I’ve never been good at asserting myself. And I just keep thinking—I don’t know—like, if I’m nice enough and do a good enough job, it’ll pay off one day.” She sniffled. “And here I am now.”
“It sucks.”
“It really does.” She blew her nose, then laughed softly. “I’m sorry for all the tears. You didn’t sign on to watch me cry my eyes out.”
“Don’t worry about me. But don’t read too much into what George is thinking right now—if you don’t mind my saying.”
“I’m just saying, this isn’t his call. He’s under a lot of pressure. So’s Ricardo. Neither of them wants to see you take the fall for this. I don’t think either of them really believes you did it.”
“You don’t know, though.”
“No, I don’t. You’re right. But I can see the whole picture, and you can’t. You’re too emotionally involved. You’re taking it like an attack on you—like all the work you did for your boss doesn’t matter. That’s just not true.”
She shrugged. “It’s never easy to find out you’re expendable.”
“I know. I don’t think George feels that way, though. It’s the corporate guys. And to them, everybody’s expendable.”
“I guess you’re right.” She held her mug in both hands and looked down into it. “Thanks for listening to me and not writing me off as some neurotic head case.”
“No problem.”
“And, uh…thank you for helping me earlier. I didn’t get burned or anything.” The blush that colored her cheeks told me where her thoughts went. I went there with her. Wondering what would’ve happened if I reached out and touched her. It wouldn’t have been right. She wasn’t in a good place. It would’ve felt good, though. She would’ve felt good under my hands. I was sure of it.
“That’s good,” I managed to croak as I willed myself not to get hard. She couldn’t have seen it with the table blocking me, but I didn’t want to get in the habit of letting my thoughts run away.
***
It was a long, almost sleepless night. Every time I started drifting into anything resembling sleep, I remembered the way she looked in the kitchen and how close I had been to her when I peeled off her blouse. There was nothing sexual about that, of course. I was too worried about her getting hurt to have time to think about her body.
Afterward, however. That was a different story. I had all day to think about it and all night to think about it and I thought about it when I should’ve been sleeping.
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