Well, if this is the game she wants to play, I pick up my phone. “I’m calling Lewis from HR that you’re here.”
She jumps to snatch the receiver. “Don’t you dare.”
I move my arm out of her reach. “Explain.”
She slouches into her chair, sighing. “After you asked for her home address, I put together basic facts about her.”
“You profiled her?” I might act with shock, but in reality I’m barely stopping myself from asking for that file.
“Like I do for our business partners.” She scrunches her nose. “I like that part of my job,” she adds a little too quickly.
And she is great at it. “I want to see the file.”
“You know that is all sorts of—”
“Don’t finish that sentence. Bring the file, Roxy, or I will not only call Lewis, I’ll make sure he has a weekly one-on-one with you.
“You can’t do that.”
“Watch me.” Something in my determination—and I’ve been riding the unhinged train with dedication lately—makes her pull out her phone.
A few swipes, and a lethal glare later, a notificationpops up on my screen. I click on the attachment, and my jaw tenses. “The password,” I growl.
Roxy stands up, finishes her drink, and with a smile, walks to the door. Before she opens it, she looks over her shoulder. “First, I’m going to send you your dinner reservations for tonight. If you show up, I will give you the password.”
“You want me to take you out?”
She laughs. “I have better things to do. This dinner is a kind request from Mr. Stone Sr.” She hitches her shoulders innocently. “And Xander?”
I meet her eyes, trying to hide the turmoil her blackmail caused.
“If you care about Cora… if you’re even a tad serious about her, I wouldn’t look at that file.”
Fuck. My. Life.
Don’t be a pussy.
I’m ten minutes late for dinner with my father. Not because I got delayed. Mostly because when it comes to my father, I turn into the little boy whose balls haven’t dropped yet.
I’ve been sitting on the balcony level of the swanky steakhouse for half an hour. Senior came, immediately owned the room, and is now sittingand waiting, motionless, his gaze locked on the entrance.
If he was on the phone, or reading or flirting with the waitress, I might have descended already. As it is, he feels like a statue, not a human.
Fuck it. This is how losing feels, and I’m not good at that. In my current situation, either I show up or not, but it still feels like a defeat.
Grow some balls, asshole.
I stand up, fasten the button on my jacket, and adjust my cuffs. I walk to the curved staircase, wishing it was at my father’s back behind his table. It’s not.
Two more steps and he will spot me. Two more steps and I will have to face him. Two more steps and I will have to confront my demons.
Fucking Roxy.
But as my foot touches that second step and our eyes meet, I’m kind of glad she coerced me into this meeting. It’s not like I can avoid him forever.
I might have come here because a part of me I don’t recognize, much less know how to tame, wants that file. It wants to uncover Cora’s secrets. No, itneedsaccess to her world, her needs, her troubles, her joys.
But if I’m honest, I don’t know if I want to find out through Roxy’s skillful sleuthing. I want Cora to share her world with me. But the stubborn woman is fucking exasperating. Why doesn’t she let me in?
