by Izzy Sweet
The screen directly in front of us changes, flashing to a desktop then to a surveillance feed. Simon clicks the mouse a couple of times and the picture zooms in on the men roaming the perimeter of his house.
If this is his way of reminding me that attempting to escape is hopeless, he’s wasting his time. I’m not stupid, I fucking get it. What I don’t get, however, is how he thinks I’m safer with him than out on my own. Especially when he has crazy people on motorcycles trying to kill him in church parking lots.
The screen remains on the roaming perimeter guards for a couple of minutes. With another click the picture changes. The outside of Lucifer’s compound pops up. We watch the two guards in the guard house dig into their lunch and my stomach rumbles a little bit.
I guess it is past the time I usually eat by now.
Simon sighs. “Once I finish this, I’m preparing your lunch.”
“I’m fine,” I grumble out of sheer stubbornness. I don’t want him ‘taking care of me’ and preparing food and stuff for me like I’m a fucking child.
“You’re not fine, Meredith. You’re hungry. And denying it is exactly why you need someone like me to take care of you.”
I gasp and twist in his arm to glare angrily at his face.
His attention remains focused on the screen. The blue glow reflecting off of his glasses.
“I’ll eat when I want to eat, Simon.”
He doesn’t even look down at me when he says, “You should eat when you need to eat. You’re far too thin, as it is. Perhaps I should increase your calorie intake?”
Too thin? Is such a thing even possible?
“If you do that, I swear I’ll go on a hunger strike,” I promise him. And I will. I have to draw a line in the sand somewhere.
The corners of his lips twitch as if he finds the prospect amusing.
“There are ways to get around such reckless foolishness.”
Why do I get the feeling he’s already thought of this before?
I just have to ask, “What ways?” So I know exactly what I’m dealing with.
His arm flexes around me and his eyes finally drift down.
“Temptation. Force feeding. Feeding tubes… The possibilities are endless. In fact, I do believe there are contraptions specifically designed to keep a subject’s mouth open against their will. Should I purchase one, Meredith?”
I blink at him and the corners of his lips pull up even more. Fucker is getting off on the idea, I know it.
“No,” I answer and jerk away. Twisting back towards the screen so he can’t see the utter defeat in my expression.
His lips drift down to my ear and I sense him breathing in the smell of my hair before he says, “Good. You know I will do everything in my power to take care of you. Even if it means stopping you from your harming yourself.”
I clench my teeth together. I’d bite my tongue, but I’m so annoyed I’d probably bite right through it.
What he really means is that he’ll do everything in his power to control me, and if I fight him, he’ll make my life even more miserable.
Click. The picture switches to a view inside some man’s car. I recognize the man instantly as one of Lucifer’s men though his name eludes me at the moment. The man seems to be ranting and raving at himself.
“What the fuck is he doing?” Simon hisses.
Click. The picture changes, switching to what I figure must be traffic cameras. The exterior view shows a black BMW driving around a block of streets in circles. We watch the car drive the same four streets for a couple of minutes before Simon switches the live feed back to the interior view.
Stopped at a light, the man bangs his fists against the steering wheel and his head drops down in defeat.
“Who is that?” I ask.
“James,” Simon answers, his cold, wintery tone alone showing his distaste for the man.
I instantly decide I like this James, even though I don’t know him yet.
“He works for Matthew?”
“Yes.”
“Looks like he’s upset about something…” I point out the obvious.
Simon sighs. “Yes.”
“Perhaps you should call him and find out what’s wrong?”
“I rather not,” Simon mutters. “I can never talk sense into his stupid, young brain.”
The picture zooms out again, but from farther away. It almost looks like we have an aerial view. Is he tapping into a satellite?
“Why the fuck is he driving in circles around a college campus?!” Simon says angrily.
The picture zooms back in to the interior view. James is no longer ranting and raving though, and he’s not driving in circles either. No, he’s stopped and staring at something through his windshield.
Through his windshield, I can make out a group of young men and women standing on a curb, waiting to cross a street.
“Fuck!” Simon curses. “She’s the fucking police Commissioner’s daughter. If he… I swear… I’ll fucking castrate him.”
“Oh, that sounds serious,” I smirk. “You sure you don’t want to call him? Before he does whatever it is you’re afraid he’ll do?”
I don’t have to look up, I can feel Simon’s glare. With another angry curse, he snatches his phone off of the desk and types something in quickly one-handed.
There must be little or no delay with the live feed because once Simon stops typing the man in the car glances to the side, towards his phone on the middle console.
I watch him mouth Simon’s name, scowl, and turn his attention back to the windshield.
“Looks like he’s ignoring you…” I can’t stop myself from chuckling.
“Yes, I can see that, princess,” Simon hisses.
Oh, he called me princess again. He must really be pissed.
“Just call him.”
“No,” Simon growls, but he dials a number and presses his phone to his ear.
I hear a deep, rumbling voice bark something on the other line.
“Johnathan,” Simon says with undisguised annoyance. “James is about to do something stupid. I need you to get over to GCC’s campus and—”
The deep rumbling voice cuts Simon off before he can finish. Simon sucks in a harsh breath and his entire body tenses beneath me.
“Look, you knuckle-dragging Neanderthal,” Simon seethes from between his teeth. “I don’t care about some stupid curse—”
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Simon pull his phone away from his ear and glare down at it.
“He hung up on you?” I guess.
“Yes,” Simon snaps.
“I don’t think the men respect you, Simon,” I snicker.
Simon growls and movement on the screen draws my attention. James is unbuckling his seatbelt.
“Oh, I think he’s going to get out of the car!” I say cheerfully.
“Goddammit,” Simon curses. “I don’t need this shit right now. With everything else going on…”
I don’t know why I feel bad for Simon, but I do, and I feel the need to help. “Dial him and give me the phone.”
Simon snorts.
James starts to pull open the door of his car.
“Okay. Don’t do it. Do you have any popcorn around here? This should be interesting…”
“Fuck,” Simon grumbles, and his thumb dances across the phone before he shoves it in my face.
I accept the phone happily and watch as James freezes with one leg out of his car and glances towards his phone.
He scowls again, and I’m afraid he’s going to ignore my call, but he must think better of it. Snatching his phone off the console, he jerks it up to his ear as he exits his car.
“What the fuck do you want, Simon?”
“Hello, James…” I smile and purr out in my most seductive tone.
Simon’s arm tightens around my midsection. He definitely didn’t like that, but this is all about diplomacy. Something he clearly lacks and doesn’t understand.
James’s brows furrow together in confu
sion and he pulls the phone away from his ear, double-checking the screen, before he asks. “Who’s this?”
“Meredith, Lucifer’s sister,” I say, my smile sharpening into a smirk.
It’s been years since I’ve thrown Matthew’s name around, and yet I still experience that old, familiar satisfaction over how just invoking it and my connection to it causes the recipient to react.
James’s eyes widen and his entire body stiffens.
Splendid, I’ve got him exactly where I want him.
“It looks like you’re having a rough day…”
James’s snorts. “You can say that again.”
“And you’re about to make a very poor decision. A decision you will regret.”
James’s eyes dart around and he turns in a small circle. “How do you know?”
“Simon has eyes everywhere,” I say elusively. No point giving away the secret. In fact, it’s best he believes the worst.
“Fucking Spider,” he mutters.
“You can say that again,” I sigh heavily, hoping to evoke feelings of camaraderie.
James grins. I guess it worked.
He leans against the side of his car. “You know, when I stopped by his place this morning to drop off your boxes, he was wearing dress shoes without socks. I’ve never seen the uptight fucker with a hair out of place, let alone missing a piece of his wardrobe. Your doing?”
“Oh, yes,” I confirm almost gleefully.
He laughs. “I hope you’re giving him hell.”
“Oh, I am,” I chuckle back.
James’s shoulders start to relax and I pounce. “Listen, James, things are very… chaotic right now for the family.”
Referring to Lucifer’s little criminal gang as a ‘family’ makes me want to puke a little in my mouth, but I know it’s one of the tactics he uses to ensure his minions are loyal and feel like they belong.
James sighs and nods his head. A good sign, so I go on.
“Now is the time for all of us to come together. To support each other. Whatever decision you’re about to make, whatever thing you’re about to do, will affect all of us.”
James takes a deep breath and pushes away from his car. I watch him glance towards the group of people who had crossed the intersection and now stand together, chatting on the curb of the sidewalk.
If I had to guess, I’d say he’s looking directly at the pretty, young blonde.
“Besides, don’t you think whatever you’re about to do would be done better in the dark?”
“Meredith,” Simon hisses.
I ignore him.
“And with less witnesses around…”
James blinks in surprise and for a second I’m afraid I’ve lost him, that I’ve gone too far.
“Give me the phone,” Simon whispers angrily, but I jerk away from his grasp.
James is staring off in the distance as if he’s in thought. Then his lips curve into a slow, almost seductive smile. “I suppose you’re right.”
I’ve planted a seed, and I have no clue what it’s going to grow into and I don’t care. For the moment, the disaster seems to be averted, and that’s all that really matters right now.
“I always am…” I drawl out and then chuckle to show him I’m not really serious.
“Was that Simon I heard in the background?” he asks as he climbs back in his car.
“Yes,” I sigh.
“He sounded pissed,” James chuckles and shuts his car door.
“Oh, he is.”
“You should help him yank that stick out of his ass,” he says as he starts his car.
“Unfortunately, I’m not a miracle worker,” I respond dryly.
James laughs and throws his car in gear.
“Look, James, I need to go. But if there’s anything you need… anything at all, don’t be afraid to call me.”
“I just dial Simon, right?”
Ugh. “Yes.”
“Alright. I will.”
“Goodbye, James.”
James’s grin grows and his voice has a slight husky quality to it as he says, “Goodbye, Meredith.”
13
Meredith
Simon yanks his phone out of my hand. Yeah, I pissed him off and I’m probably going to get it now.
I tense up, expecting him to grab me or do something to hurt me. His arm flexes around me and he lets out a long sigh.
Then he asks, “How did you do that?”
I blink in surprise. “Do what?”
He leans forward, forcing me to lean with him, and sets the phone down on his desk then motions to the screen. “That. How did you talk him out of acting stupid when you don’t even know him?”
On the screen, James is pulling his car out into the street. He glances briefly towards the group of young people once last time then speeds off.
I lean back against Simon as he leans back and consider the best way to answer him.
Shrugging my shoulders, I say, “I read all his cues, and then just ran with them.”
Simon makes an irritated sound. “What cues?”
Is he really that oblivious?
“Are you recording this?”
“No, of course not,” Simon grumbles. “It would be a waste of resources.”
“Okay,” I drawl out. “That will make explaining this a little bit more difficult, but we can work with it. Do you remember when you first started spying on him, and he was ranting and raving?”
“Yes,” Simon says impatiently.
“Well, that was the first cue right there. He clearly was upset about something.”
“Obviously,” Simon snarls, but I don’t take it personally. This entire situation is no doubt frustrating the hell out of him. I don’t know how the fuck he’s survived this long if he doesn’t know how to read people though. “But how did you know what he was upset about?”
“I didn’t know. I still don’t know.”
“Then how the fuck…”
I smirk and shake my head. “I used his body language to make a lot of assumptions. I had a fifty-fifty chance of being right…”
“So it came down to luck then?”
“Yes, and…” I trail off with a snicker.
“And?” Simon asks pointedly.
“Well, it was easy to pick up on his dislike for you. Really, you should be nicer to your men.”
Simon snorts against the top of my head, fluttering my hair, but I sense his body beginning to relax.
“He either changed his mind because I talked some sense into him. Or he did it simply because he picked up on how pissed off you were that I was talking to him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’m more inclined to believe he stopped what he was doing and heeded my so-called advice because he knew it would piss you off. As opposed to trusting a complete stranger he’s never met.”
“Meredith…” Simon growls.
“Are you almost done here?” I ask and purposely squirm on his lap.
His chin hits the top of my head and I listen to him take a deep, calming breath. “Yes,” he says.
Arm rubbing against my arm, he grabs the mouse and clicks a few times. The image on the screen changes.
“Another one of your men?” I ask as a man with long hair and a thick beard appears on the screen. I think I recognize him from Christmas at Matthew’s, and he helped Simon today with his car, but again, for the life of me I can’t remember his name.
“Yes,” Simon answers simply, not providing a name.
The man with the beard is tossing a baseball with a young boy in what appears to be a backyard.
I yawn and snuggle closer to Simon, bored off my ass watching them.
“Tired, princess?” Simon asks, pulling me closer to him.
“No, just bored.”
“Almost done,” he says and double-clicks his mouse.
A big, beefy man covered in tattoos appears on the screen. The man is roaming around the outside of an ugly industrial warehouse building. Checking
the doors, windows, and perimeter.
I suppress another yawn. “Who’s that?”
“Thaddeus.”
“Are you checking on all of your men?”
“Yes.”
“Do they know you’re checking in on them?”
“Doubtful.”
I snort softly. “So I’m not special, am I?
Simon sounds genuinely confused when he asks, “Why would you think that?”
“You watch everyone, Simon.” I point out.
Which makes more than half the shit he told me last night absolute garbage. Gah, I can’t believe he made me feel like his watching me was so much more than it was. And I really don’t know why that it bothers me that it’s not, but it does. If anything I should be relieved, not annoyed with him.
“Yes, but only because we’re in a time of crisis.”
I shake my head and roll my eyes. “It’s still the same.”
His hand leaves the mouse and he grabs me by the chin, forcing me to look up at him. “You think I watch the men like I watch you?”
A slow smirk stretches across my lips. He walked himself right into that one. “Yes.”
His eyes narrow and his grip on my chin increases. “You’re wrong.”
“Prove it,” I dare him.
I want to see what the hell he has on me. If he has anything.
Simon stares at me long and hard, and so many emotions flicker in the depths his dark eyes my chest tightens.
“Very well,” he sighs with a look of resignation.
His fingers release my chin and he reaches for his mouse.
I turn, settling myself comfortably on his lap with my back against his chest, and look to the screen. Both eager and a little apprehensive to see what he’s about to show me.
He clicks around with his mouse and his other arm unwraps from around my midsection so he can type on his keyboard. His body curls around mine as he leans forward.
“I have six hard drives dedicated specifically to you. One for each year,” he says as he types something in one-handed. “And everything is backed up on a secure cloud service.”
The screen flashes to a desktop then several windows pop up, each one a different folder. The folders are named in code, each beginning with an ‘M’ followed by a long set of numbers.
