Diesel nodded. “Yep. That’s what I heard, too. Sorry we can’t help you.”
Pete, who’d been congenial the entire time since they’d met, got a very sudden, evil glint in his eye. “You two wouldn’t be keeping anything from me, now would you?”
Cam huffed, but remained silent.
Diesel said, “What could we be keeping from you?”
Pete reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a picture, flipping it face-up onto Diesel’s desk.
“If aliens don’t roam around here in plain sight causing mischief, what is this half octopus half man looking creature doing in your private employee’s only parking lot?”
Chapter Eighteen
Juliana drove back to her apartment, disappointed that Mr. Harriman hadn’t cared for the article she turned in. He wanted aliens. His heart had been set on proof of extraterrestrials and nothing else, it seemed, would do.
The secret source he’d referenced—but wouldn’t put her in contact with—had been the driving force in his zeal to prove aliens did exist.
Instead, Juliana had given him infamous bank robbers from the last century robbing a bank no one in history had ever heard of, really only proving that they’d been seen and photographed drinking in a speakeasy in the same building.
She felt it was compelling enough and worthy of print.
If Mr. Harriman had seen the alien article she’d written on the proof she had, likely he would have been ecstatic and handed over the chunk of money she was promised to use for the research trip she wanted to take.
But when push came to shove, she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t betray Diesel and his family, no matter what he’d done to her heart.
Juliana hadn’t been able to deliver the article Mr. Harriman wanted that stated aliens had been living in Alienn, Arkansas for decades. She also hadn’t brought him the pictures she’d stolen from Diesel’s secret office because she knew it would be disloyal to his whole big family. She just couldn’t do it. It wasn’t her style to hurt others to further herself or her career.
Standing in front of the two articles, Juliana knew that even if Diesel had used her horribly, she couldn’t use him in return.
A slim part of her hopeful soul still believed that perhaps it was a misunderstanding. She hadn’t spoken to him all week, but she hadn’t tried to call him either. In fact, Juliana still loved him even if he was no longer interested in a future with her. How foolish and pathetic was that? Maybe a lot, but she wasn’t going to blow things up forever until she spoke to Diesel in person or on the phone to discover his intentions or lack thereof.
She’d made her decision, snagged the bank robber article and ultimately consigned herself to being turned down by Mr. Harriman. She’d have to wait much longer to finance a research trip to the northwest in search of her family. Any story not containing proof of aliens was never going to be accepted. She’d known that the moment she selected the bank robbers article to deliver.
Mr. Harriman told her he was quite disappointed with her non-aliens article. After listening to him go on about why she hadn’t discovered what was truly going on, he’d gone off on a tangent regarding her career, telling her that basically it was over as far as Finder’s was concerned. At the end of his rant, he’d dismissed her and told her to take her foolish article about bank robbers with her.
Juliana had been rather discouraged after being ripped up one side and down the other by her former instructor.
But one other thing had happened that gave her renewed hope as far as her relationship with Diesel was concerned.
In her effort to perk herself up without caffeine, she’d thought about Diesel and the events of the past week. Every single one of the recollections she’d thought were dreams after being blasted with the Defender those two times had come back as full-fledged memories. Even when she’d been slack in Diesel’s arms, she remembered hearing the conversations between Diesel and Cam.
She didn’t even resent Cam for being the shooter. He was only trying to protect his family and the enterprise they ran. Diesel had been upset by the means necessary, but had gone along for the greater good. She understood. The phraseblood is thicker than waterwas accurate for a reason.
The letters she’d read on Diesel’s secret desk regarding Adele and her poor treatment became the thing that was suspect. What if someone, like possibly the apple-throwing menace, had set her up? What if she’d been meant to find those possiblyfakeletters to get her to leave Diesel and never look back? Wasn’t that what the mild threat was aiming for this whole time?Leave my love interest alone or else?
Juliana needed to ensure exactly how Diesel felt about her before she made any decisions about their relationship. She planned another trip to the Big Bang Truck Stop. She would wait until he spoke to her in person to glean his true feelings.
Her heart was in danger of being further trampled, but she had to know firsthand and not through someone’s poisoned pen letter scheme or from apples hurled at her door.
Diesel had been protective of her both times the Defender had been used on her. Would he be so concerned if he only planned to use her and dump her?
Miss Penny poked her head out of her apartment as Juliana approached her door. “I heard you race out of here earlier. Did you make it in time to turn in your article?”
“Yes. But he didn’t want it.”
“Don’t worry, dear. It’s his loss,” Miss Penny stated plainly and then closed her door.
Juliana smiled and shook her head. She turned the knob of her unlocked door, knowing she’d forgotten to lock it in her zeal to make it to the meeting with Mr. Harriman, which had been a complete waste of time, as it turned out.
