“Probably should eat something other than cookies and coffee,” I quip, circling my desk to plop down into my plush desk chair.
“Breakfast of champions,” she retorts, offended I would blame cookies.
“Have you found anything?” I ask her, trying not to think about the photos of me hidden in my desk drawers. The envelope from Jolt was filled with photos of me through the entire week, dinner with the group on Sunday night, walking into Colton’s apartment hand in hand, getting out of the car with Wade holding the door open. A dozen of them, all taken from far away by someone who knows what they are doing.
“I’ll keep following the flower trail, but I can’t find anything out of the ordinary or who brought them into the office. The cameras outside the office on the floor don’t show anyone coming over here during the time you were gone.” She blows out a breath, frustration coating her face.
“You’ll figure it out. They made a mistake somewhere, and we will find it when they do,” I reassure her. If anyone is going to find out how someone keeps messing with our security system, it’s going to be Sadie. The fact someone was able to mess with it at all is honestly impressive.
“Yeah, okay,” she mutters, eyes glazed over and distracted as she stands to leave the office.
I watch her leave, shoulders stiff and tense. I hate that Ihaven’t told her about the photos, especially knowing that I probably won’t make it much longer without confessing to her and accepting my solitary confinement. I wanted to give myself the day to come up with a plan, to find a solution that didn’t involve me hiding away.
The day has come and gone and so far, I’ve come up empty, which means once the rest of the staff has cleared out, I’ll have to show my hand.
I hear a sultry caress of notes slide through the crack in the door, Stella’s voice soothing the worry in my soul. When she asked if she could stay to practice a few new songs, knowing at least a few of us would be staying behind I told her it was fine, knowing damn well that whatever I told Sadie was going to be shared with her, anyway. Better to bring her into the fold than her hearing everything second hand. The fact that the whole staff doesn’t know what’s been going on is proof she can keep the information close to the chest.
The song is sad and desperate, about lovers who missed their chance and now look back in regret for words unsaid. It’s like Stella saw my face at the meeting and decided anything uplifting would be unwelcome right now. She isn’t wrong. I’ve been sulking and brooding all day, desperate for the moment I can cocoon myself in Colton’s arms and hear that everything will be all right.
Like my thoughts summoned him, Colton comes into my office, lighting up my face for the first time today in a soft smile. He shuts the door behind him, pausing to take a deep breath before he turns to me, wiping the smile off my face in an instant.
I’m out of my chair immediately, rounding the desk and meeting him in the center of the office.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, not bothering to cover the note of panic in my voice as my eyes rake over his body, checking for signs of injury or pain.
“It will be fine, it will be fine,” he mutters, wrapping me in his arms, burrowing my face against his chest, chin resting atop my head.
Does he know about what happened at the coffee shop? I welcome the embrace, knowing I have him in my corner no matter what this news brings. I pull away, arms still held tight to him as I look up, “What’s wrong Colton?”
His hand caresses my cheek before he leans his mouth down to mine. It isn’t a rough kiss, but it’s filled with longing and need. I kiss him back with the same passion,I’m right here.
“You know I love you, right?” He asks, forehead pressed to mine as a loud crash outside the office shakes the walls. I shift to pull away, but he holds me firm, his hands shifting to cradle the side of my head, desperation leaking into his questions. “Tell me you know I love you. That you know this is real.”
I look up at him, feeling my stomach turn at the panic in his request. I’ve heard him say the word love so many times these last few days. Whispered against my skin as he made my body pulse with pleasure. In the shower, sung loudly and off-key, using the showerhead as a makeshift microphone. Each time the single word has sent a ripple effect through my body, butterflies fluttering wildly at the declaration.
This time, the declaration is sinking into my body like claws, sharp and jarring, a low pool of dread settling where the butterflies used to fly.
The music cuts off with a shout, and I turn away to go to the door, needing to see what is happening outside these walls, but Colton stops me with a hand on my arm, spinning me to face him.
“Please, Sunshine, I need to hear it,” he says, eyes pleading as his hold on my arm loosens.
I step towards him, shifting his hand so it’s clasped in mine, giving it a single squeeze as I answer him, “Of course this is real.”
He closes his eyes for a beat before he releases my hand and takes a step back from me. Colton brings his wrist up to his mouth, pushing on the dial with his other hand before speaking into the face, “10-24, I have eyes on the ringleader.”
31
COLTON
“Colton, are you still with us?” Says Anders, my boss and definitely the person I should be paying attention to asks. Instead, I’m staring at Harper across the main club floor, watching as she talks with Sadie in a low, whispered tone, hands crossed over her chest and face pulled into a tight grimace.
Look at me.
It’s the same look she’s had since she spun away from me, darting out of her office to see Drug Enforcement Administration agents swarming her sanctuary. They made a quiet entrance, saving the wreckage for the inside of the club, not wasting their energy to knock down the door. Why would they, when the door was opened for them to walk right in? By me.
Over the last several hours I watched Harper, and Harper watched everything else. Her home was searched top to bottom by goons with little care for the intimate space they were desecrating. In those hours, she’s been careful to check in with the skeleton crew that had stayed behind, a few of Sadie’s techs that luckily seemed freaked out enough to keep the events of the night to themselves, though I’m sure there was persuasion inwhatever form worked best. The two sisters had comforted, soothed and eventually sent the employees home once they had been cleared bymycolleagues.
A term I use loosely at the moment. In their eagerness to uncover the drugs I had already assured them weren’t present, they had abandoned all pretense of civility.
