Page 125 of This is a Kissing Book

“And I turned the tables.”

I tuck my chin. “What do you mean?”

“I told them I’d double whatever they were making if they’d back off, leave you out of it, and tell me everything about their boss.” His mouth quirks in a smug smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

My jaw lowers.

“They accepted.”

“Whoa. Those are some impressive business negotiating skills.”

“Money can’t talk, but it has a loud voice,” he murmurs.

“Your father would be proud.”

He grunts. “Despite not winning the Echo & Answer bid, at the end of the day, Drecken can’t outbid me.” The certainty in his voice reminds me again of the vast gulf between our worlds.

“Did they tell you anything worthwhile?”

His shoulder bumps up. “Not much.”

“But she’s after us. Why?”

“They didn’t know.”

“You believed them?”

“They were just following orders,” he says, voice clipped.

“Anything else?”

He points to his laptop. “I also learned that she’s been doing some dirty dealings.”

“Which are …?” The anticipation is worse than when I was a kid with a loose tooth that I just couldn’t wiggle enough and make it fall out. I’m hanging by a thread.

“It’s safer for you not to know.”

I study his face in the low light of the computer screen. He’s logged into Meridian and was looking at spreadsheets. “And that’s it? That’s all you’re going to tell me?”

“That’s it.”

The dismissal stings. I thought we were in this together. Linc and Jules against the world. “Well, I guess that’s one set of bad guys off my back.”

His gaze lands on me. “They’re also going to find out who burned down your building.”

I should be grateful. But I feel so lost. Almost like a forgery. A fake. Linc is always in command yet perfectly at ease. I hardly know who I am or where I belong. Certainly not in a museum.

I try to cut how dismal I’m starting to feel with comedy. “Thanks. They say it’s a small world, even in Thug Town. It’s a community, if you will.”

“They won’t bother you again.”

Something in his voice makes me shiver. I’ve never seen Linc like this—like he’s prepared to destroy entire worlds to protect what’s his. It should be reassuring. Instead, it makes me feel small and helpless because before we were a team. Now, I feel like I’ve been left in the dark.

“On the upside,” I say, forcing lightness into my voice, “any evidence that I forged the Echo & Answer painting went up in smoke.”

Along with my fake diploma, though, what’s on record in HR should hold up to scrutiny.

Linc remains quiet. Humorless. I can feel him pulling away, retreating behind walls I didn’t even know existed. The man who held me in the lake, who kissed me silly—he’s disappearing right in front of me.