“What did I get on my written test?” She leaned over, trying to look at her file.
“Excuse me?”
“The written test I took to be considered for the job. What did I get?”
“We don’t like to divulge that information.” The chief scrunched his face.
“Chief Davis, you owe me that.” Her voice was deep and domineering.
He reluctantly opened her file and flipped through the pages. He stopped at a page, scanned it, then another, and then a third. He made it seem as though he was searching for the answer she so craved. But he didn’t need to: he knew exactly what mark Megan had received. There was no way he could have forgotten that. He looked up at her with a half-hearted smile. “Well, it looks like you got a perfect score.”
“And the detective test?”
“Miss Coulis…”
“The detective test, sir.”
He didn’t even pretend to look down. “Another perfect score.”
She sucked her teeth and lowered her eyes. She wasn’t meant to take the detective test, but in the time allotted for the written exam, she had finished both. She knew there was no way she could be made a detective without previous work in the field, but she saw the test on the proctor’s desk, and decided to steal it. Hell, she was already accused of stealing a test; it wasn’t as though she could be kicked out of school again. Double jeopardy.
After finishing both with still time to spare, Megan had no doubt that she had aced both exams. They were simple; too simple. For a brief second, she thought that her tests scores would be enough. As it was, no one got perfect scores.
No one except for her, of course.
But what she didn’t count on was the chief’s complete inability to look past her record, even if it was all a lie.
She knew he had more to say. “And yet…”
“And yet you have no previous employment to speak of.”
Of course she had no previous employment. She had been arrested for the murder of Dr. William Covington when she was only sixteen years old, tried as an adult, and by the time she was seventeen, locked up in a minimum security prison with a sentence of fifteen to twenty-five years. Luckily, before she was incarcerated, she managed to take her GED, so she at least had the equivalence of a high school diploma.
But college…employment…they were all a distant dream to her. Megan had fully believed that she would spend the majority of her young days trapped behind bars.
“I have life experience.” Megan quietly growled.
“You’re twenty-six years old, Miss Coulis.”
“And I have spent a third of my life in the deep end of the justice system. No one can understand this stuff better than I.” She stood, allowing her anger to find the surface.
The chief of police leaned back in his chair, examining the woman who stood across from him. It was against his better judgment to consider allowing someone with her background to advance to the physical endurance portion of the interview process, but from the moment she walked in, there was something about her that made Chief
Davis sure that by the time she left his office, he would undoubtedly pass her through to the next level. She had been through a great deal, especially for her age. Maybe he felt sorry for her.
He shook his head, feeling her stare on him. That wasn’t it.
If anything, he was scared of her…he was scared of what she might be able to find out about that night if he didn’t keep a close eye on her.
After all, he was the one who had put her behind bars in the first place.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
It had been a week since Megan had surprised Evan at his home. He found himself pacing his floor over and over again, replaying the events of that evening in chronological order. He had made a promise to himself to not let her in, to not let her affect him, but he was quickly finding that the promise was hard to keep.
Why had she run out?
What had he said?
Why couldn’t he stop thinking about that kiss?
His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound of his ringing phone.
“Covington…Right, I signed off on that purchase order…If China has a problem, China can call me…I don’t give a rat’s ass if they don’t want to talk to me: this is my company…Tell them they have three choices: they can either have the product here in four days like promised, or they can call me and endure my wrath, or we can take our billion dollars elsewhere…Let me know. Thanks.”
He clicked off his phone and snuck it back into his pocket.
Evan ran his fingers through his hair, breathing off the stress the phone call had brought on. It wasn’t a hard position, heading up his father’s company. He pretty much ordered people around all day, which he had no problem doing. Sure, he made decisions that could possibly lose him a couple hundred million dollars in a single breath, but decision-making came naturally to him.
He had never lost any amount money, and he didn’t plan on starting anytime soon. Keeping his money just meant that sometimes he needed to yell at China.
Evan moved into his study, pulling the copy of the purchase order from his desk. Although he had no doubt that his memory was solid, he still preferred to double-check his facts. It kept him at the top of his game.
There it was: a one billion dollar order for airplane parts, supposedly already in transit, and meant to arrive in four days. If China was calling, China wasn’t delivering.
Evan tossed the purchase order off his desk in a fit of rage, and called his brother.
“Darren, it’s me.”
“Hey man, what’s up?”
“China is backed up.”
“How long?”
“I’m not sure. They’re not giving us a time frame.” Evan continued pacing the floor.
“How much leeway did you leave?”
“Three weeks.”
“Good call on that: you’re solid. I can’t imagine they’ll be three weeks late.” Darren tried to calm his brother with nothing but his voice.
“They won’t be.”
“Then what are you freaking out about?”
Evan leaned against his desk. “If they pull this again, we’re going to need a new supplier. I can’t allow them to think this is okay.”
“And you want me to fish around for a new supplier?”
“I do.”
“Should I stay looking in China?”
“It’s the biggest up and coming market, so I’d like at least one direct competitor, but grab me one from France and one from Russia as well.”
“You got it.”
“By tomorrow?”
Darren already had a few candidates lined up. “I can do that.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Of course.” Darren cleared his throat before continuing. “So what’s really going on?”
“That’s what’s really going on.”
“No, it’s not.”
Evan took a breath before responding.
“What gave me away?”
“It’s three in the morning and you called me about something that isn’t that imminent, considering you predicted they would be late from the get-go.”
“Well, it’s annoying.” Evan pushed off his desk and began pacing again.
“It is annoying, but it won’t be a problem. You made sure of that.”
“I did.”
“So, what’s up with Megan?”
Darren knew him too well. He had always been like that. He was the only person on earth that Evan couldn’t lie to; not for lack of trying. Although Darren was more of the protector among the two, Evan was the one with the brains. When their father had died, it wasn’t even a question who would take over as president and CEO. Darren humbly stepped back, knowing that even though his brother was young, the company was in much better hands with him at its helm. He sat back, did what he was told, when he was told to do it, and lived a very comfortable life with his inherited billions. Darren had no complaints.
Except
that it was blatantly obvious that his brother was unhappy.
“She’s just in my head.”
“Of course she is: she’s hot.” Darren laughed.
“Not for that reason.” Evan fired back.
“Come on, it’s a little for that reason.”
Again, he couldn’t hide anything from his older brother. “Okay, fine, a little bit.”
“Did you guys fuck?”
“Darren.”
“Seriously? Dude, you’ve been pining over the same girl for a gazillion years. Fuck her already. It’s getting old.”
Evan paced in front of his desk.
Darren knew exactly what he was doing. “Evan, stop pacing.”
“Do you have no guilt?” Evan grabbed the back of his neck and tried to relieve some of his own tension.
“Guilt?”
“For what we did to her.”
“Oh my God. You’re still on this?”
Evan dropped his hand to his side and spat into the phone. “Of course I’m still on this.”
“She’s out. It’s over. Forgive and forget.”
“She’s been through hell these last ten years, and we’ve been living like kings.”
Darren chuckled on the other end of the line. “First of all, stop it with your Shakespeare bullshit…”
“I didn’t quote Shakespeare.” Evan cut him off.
“Well, then stop it with your living like kings bullshit. You work hard. You deserve to live like a king.”
“I deserve to be in jail.” He whispered as if it were possible for anyone else to hear him.
“You did nothing. You know that, right? I was the one who physically framed Megan. Dad was the one who thought the whole thing up. Not you.”
“But I could’ve come forward. I could’ve stopped it from ever going to trial.”
“You were sixteen, you were in shock, Dad wouldn’t have let you.”
“I could’ve have figured out a way.”
“Not with him watching over you, Evan. You have to let it go. Please.”
It was the same conversation they had had so many times before. Evan felt guilty, Darren promised him that it wasn’t his fault, and so many times before it had worked, at least to an extent.
But this time, someone else was involved, and she was looking for justice. She was looking to point her finger at the person who caused her to spend nine years locked away for a crime she didn’t commit.
And if this older Megan were anywhere near as smart as the Megan that Evan had fallen in love with, she would soon end up pointing that finger at him. Then, it would all be over.
The screwed up piece of the puzzle was that, Evan was the one who had turned in the evidence that caused her to be freed from her sentence.
Evan’s guilt would ultimately be his undoing.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Megan had already flown through the first two portions of the physical fitness test. With one minute on the clock for each, she managed to produce fifty-one sit-ups and twenty-seven pushups. The next part of the test was a one and a half mile run. She needed a time less than fifteen minutes and fifty-four seconds, which wasn’t at all a concern for her, as she had taken up running while she was in prison. She knew her mile time landed her around seven minutes and thirty seconds, so she was confident she could come in at the twelve minute mark for this specific test.
The officer issuing the test gave her a ready, set, go before he hit his stopwatch. Megan began to run, feeling the cool breeze bounce off of her face as she found her pace. The track was nice, steady, with only a few minor hills, and a section that ran through the trees.
As she rounded the curve and made her way toward the patch of trees, her mind began to wander. It had been two weeks since she was acquitted of the charges against her. For the first time in her adult life, she was truly free. If she wanted to, she could veer from the track and run forever. No one would stop her.
It was a strange feeling.
And yet, there she was, attempting to gain employment in the very town that sentenced her for the crime she didn’t commit, and from the very people that put her away for that same crime. She wasn’t running away. If anything, she was running straight into the fire.
But she didn’t have doubts. She didn’t second-guess her decision. She needed to know, needed to learn what had happened, on the night her life changed. No one else seemed to be doing anything about it: it was up to her.
But a citizen could only get so far. Files were locked away, hidden, especially files that ended up putting an innocent child behind bars for almost ten years. The only people with access were the ones that had clearance. In order to get clearance to the files she desperately needed to read, she needed to gain employment in the very town that sentenced her for a crime she didn’t commit, and with the very people that put her away for that same crime.
That’s why she studied. That’s why she knew the justice system better than her left from her right hand. That’s why she was running a mile and a half in under fifteen minutes and fifty-four seconds.
She had one goal, and she was on track to achieve it.
But she couldn’t help the other thought that kept racing through her mind. Ever since she had seen him the night she was released, she couldn’t get Evan Covington off her mind.
The prison where she had spent a third of her life was a women’s correctional facility. The only men she came across were a handful of male correctional officers and her lawyer. And to put it mildly, she thought all them were scum. But Evan…Evan was not. He was devilishly handsome, as he always had been, but with ten years on him, he was something else. He was mysterious and sexy, with a hint of trouble running through him. She didn’t know quite what troubled him, but she was dying to find out. Megan had wanted to go back, to surprise him at his door again, but she couldn’t find it within herself to take the chance. She still had something to prove, and she couldn’t allow him to be a distraction.
But boy did she want the distraction. The searing sexual energy that raced through her the second his lips touched hers was enough to last her until the end of eternity, but it also heavily begged to be repeated. Once she felt that power, his power, she couldn’t un-feel it. She needed it. She needed him.
On the next straightaway through the forest, she closed her eyes and pictured him: his sharp eyes, his strong chin, his chest, his shoulders, his hips, his voice…
“Megan.”
His voice…
“Megan.”
Her eyes shot open. She wasn’t imagining his voice. Evan was with her in the forest.
“What are you doing here?” She kept her pace, even though she was in both shock and denial.
“Would you believe me if I said I was out for a run?” He jogged along side of her.
“If you weren’t wearing a suit, maybe.”
Wow, he looked good in a suit. The night she had barged into his home, he was wearing a pair of jeans and a long sleeve tee shirt: striking, sexy, but not a pin-stripped suit. And she thought he commanded attention then...
“While we’re here…”
“We’re not here, Evan. I’m running.”
“Right, but since I have you…”
Megan kept her focus straight ahead. “You don’t have me. I have to finish this, and I can’t do that talking to you.”
“Just stop for one second.”
“Absolutely not.”
“What are you even doing?”
Megan glanced sideways at him. “You know exactly what I’m doing.”
Although Megan had refused his visits after her expulsion, she never stopped following him. She knew when he graduated, when he left for Harvard, when he graduated from Harvard, when his father died, and when he took over the company. She read interviews with him and articles about him, and the one thing she knew about this ten-year older Evan was that he never went into a situation without knowing exactly what he was getting into. So for him to randomly end up in this small patch of woods at
the exact time she was testing for a position at the police department would have been too much of a coincidence.
He must have had been following her too.
“Okay, fine, I know exactly what you’re doing.” Evan relented.
“But I still have no idea what you’re doing.” She said through her steady running breath.
He took a second before he responded, but finally blurted out his intentions. “Come to dinner with me.”
With that, Megan stopped her stride to a screeching halt. “Excuse me?”
“Dinner. You and me.”
“Why?”
“Ouch.” He widened his eyes as he took a sharp breath.
“No, I didn’t mean it that way.”
“How did you mean it then?”
Megan set her sights back on the running path and tried to pick up her pace where she had left off. Evan joined in right beside her.
“Evan, I have to finish this.”
“Or we could sneak off right now.” He flashed her a smile.
It was the smile she missed; the one that she had seen so many times while he was standing in her doorway. She softened as she was taken back to a time before…everything.
“I’m going to finish this run, and I’m going to do it in less than fifteen minutes and fifty four seconds.”
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