Partners (Fire & Lies - One) (4 page)

“
Miss
Donovan?” he asked, his tone soft but commanding as he leaned down
to speak to her, stopping only inches from her face. She caught her
breath as she realised that it was the closest they had ever been.
She knew it was wrong and knew that the cameras were recording
their every move. They couldn’t get involved, but she couldn’t stop
her eyes from dropping to his mouth. She couldn’t stop herself from
longing for the brush of his full lips against hers. If she just
leaned forward, she could graze her mouth over the stubbled hair
that had grown throughout the day along his square jaw.

She dropped
her eyes, unable to maintain the contact, and unable to take the
risk of being seen. She wasn’t quite that brave yet. And he was so
close. She couldn’t breathe and needed air.

“
Do I scare
you, Miss Donovan?” he asked in a low voice near her ear, as he
reached out and shut the lid on her laptop. He did it in one fluid
movement, and it made Chloe wonder if he was standing exactly where
he was because his body blocked her from view.

Lifting her
eyes to meet his, a blush crept across Chloe’s cheeks. “Yes,” she
whispered.

“
Good,” he
stated, as he stood up and moved around the desk, picking up her
bag, and holding it out to her. “I’ve called you a car. We need to
be downstairs in five minutes.”

Reaching out,
Chloe took her bag from his hand, their fingers brushing lightly
during the exchange. Her eyes closed, that simple touch enough to
make all of her nerve endings burst to life. She nodded her thanks
and stepped away, increasing the distance between them.

It was true.
Aiden did scare her. He scared her because of how he made her feel.
He scared her because he made her want something she couldn’t have.
And he scared her because she wanted it anyway. She wanted him.

Riding the
lift down to the ground floor together in silence, Aiden kept his
expression flat and his gaze forward. Once again, they were both
acutely aware of the camera that recorded their every move and
every interaction. To Chloe, the lift felt too small to contain
whatever it was that happened when Aiden was in her proximity. She
felt hot. She felt nervous. She felt the urge to touch him…

Eyeing the
camera in the corner of the lift, her heart began to beat loudly in
her ears as she reached out and brushed her fingers across the back
of Aiden’s hand.

He inhaled
deeply. “That’s quite a risk you’re taking, Miss Donovan.”

“
No worse
than what you did in my office,” she whispered, doing it
again.

“
Don’t you
follow the rules?” he asked, turning his head toward her slightly
but keeping his stoic stance.

Her fingers
moved and slid between his. “Not the stupid ones.”

When the doors
pinged open, she released his hand and let out a breath, not
realising she’d been holding it the entire ride down. If Aiden
noticed, he didn’t let on.

The car and
driver were already waiting in front of the building as they exited
through the double sliding doors. Aiden lifted his arm signalling
the driver to stay in the car as he placed his hand on the small of
her back and reached out to open the back door. She almost flinched
at his touch and her body reacted immediately, sending glorious
shivers of delight over the surface of her skin.

“
Enjoy the
rest of your night,” Aiden said, his voice warm, soft, and rumbly.
When he spoke, it felt like his voice physically rolled through
her. “Try not to break anymore rules.”

“
I promise
nothing,” she smiled, sliding into the back seat, glad to be
outside where she felt a tiny amount of freedom from electronic
eyes. “Will you be here to walk me down every night?”

“
I wouldn’t
miss it,” he assured her, as he moved to shut the door. “Good
night, Miss Donovan.”

“
Aiden?”
she called, reaching out to keep the door from closing. Turning her
head, she glanced at the driver who was pretending he wasn’t
listening. But he was paid with her father’s money so Chloe was
mindful of what he’d hear.

“
What is
it?” Aiden asked, his eyes questioning as he leant down to see her
face.

With another
glance at the driver, she lowered her voice so that only Aiden
would be able to hear. “I like the way you scare me.”

Against his
better judgement, a smile pulled at the edge of his lips. “Good
night, sugar,” he murmured, pushing the door closed the rest of the
way and tapping the roof to signal that the driver could leave.
Then he stood there, telling himself he was under control, that it
was all just a flirtation, that it wouldn’t go any further than it
already had. He told himself that, over and over again, as he
watched the girl who was likely to be the end of him, drive away
until he couldn’t see her anymore, and even he didn’t believe
it.

“
Shit,
Price,” he said to himself as he headed to the basement car park
that held his own car. “What the hell are you doing?”

And even he
couldn’t answer that question. Because he didn’t know.

PRESENT,
14 days before the job

I PUSH my way
through the drunken crowd, hot and sweaty while they gyrate against
each other. The rock music crashes all around us, ensuring that
even a yell can’t be heard unless you’re against someone’s ear, so
I don’t bother speaking. I simply push their bodies to the side as
I make my way to the centre where I’m needed.

Every fucking
time I work here, I’m breaking up fights. We offer live music. We
offer decently priced alcohol. And that mix in the cramped space
that we have, often leads to a few hot and pissed off
party-goers.

Most clubs
like ours would be shut down by now. But our security is fast and
we aren’t shy about banning troublemakers from the premises. The
wall in the office is full of pictures of them. It doesn’t stop
patrons coming though. Between security and me, the fights are
always over quickly and everyone can get back to having fun.

“Move,” I
command, yelling next to the ear of some guy who’s blocking my
access to the fight. He doesn’t move, so I grip him by the back of
his shirt and pull him backward and out of my way. In the centre,
there’s a big Islander looking guy, standing over someone he’s
knocked to the floor. His arm pulls back, fist tight as his muscles
coil, ready to unleash their fury on the person who’s on the
receiving end of his wrath. I growl in anger. This is not going to
happen. Not in my club.

Before he can
follow through, I grab a hold of his elbow, twisting his arm behind
his back as one of my other security members grabs the other person
to assess the damage.

“She’s a
fucking dirty whore!” the guy hollers over the music, wriggling in
my grip as I escort him to the door through the parting sea of
people. It’s then that I glance behind me to see that it was a girl
he was attacking. Anger flares up, hot in my chest, and I twist his
arm just that little bit more, causing him a hell of a lot of
unnecessary pain in this situation. I don’t hear him grunt, but I
feel it against the back of my hand where it rests on his back.
Knowing that he’s hurting makes me feel a hell of a lot better–only
cowards hit women.

When we burst
through the side door, I shove him ahead of me, watching as his
foot catches the ground, and his feet scuff noisily along the
gravel as he scrambles to keep his balance. In my ear, I hear
security confirm that they have the girl and she’s in the office
getting first aid. Giving a brief response, I return my attention
to the scum in front of me, and step toward him menacingly.

“You like
hitting the ladies, do you?” I growl, as he turns around to face
me. He’s a big guy. But I’m bigger, and I can guarantee I’m a hell
of a lot stronger and faster too.

“She’s no
lady. That girl in there is a straight up dirty whore that I’ll be
more than happy to hit again. She needs to know her place.”

My fists
clench. I want to pummel the fuck out of this guy’s face. But I
hold back, glancing to the side, where I know there’s a CCTV camera
trained down this alleyway, filming our every move. “Just get the
fuck out of my face before I do something that puts you in the
hospital, and don’t you ever come back to this club again.”

He stands back
from me, and I swear I can see the fear in his eyes as he
straightens his shirt and takes another step away. “You don’t have
to ask me twice, bro. Stupid name for a club anyway – Ark. What are
you, fucking Noah?”

“Nah man, Noah
had to take all the animals. In my club, weasels like you aren’t
welcome.”

He lets out a
light burst of laughter, then turns his head and spits on the
ground before walking away from me, shaking his head like he’s the
only one in on some sort of joke.

“Dickhead,” I
mumble to myself, before hitting the button on my radio to let the
others know the guy is out, and I’m on my way back inside.

Pulling out my
key, I unlock the door and head back inside. The thump and crash of
the band hits my ears full force the moment I open the door. I
wince slightly, my head hurting from my anger towards the dick I
just evicted. Breathing slowly, I clench my jaw and focus on making
my way to the office where it’s quiet, pushing my way through the
crowd with a little more difficulty this time. They move quickly
when I’m escorting someone out because they all love to watch the
spectacle. But when I’m on my own, they’re too busy partying to pay
attention to what’s going on around them.

Finally, I
make it inside the office, taking a moment to enjoy the muted sound
from within the room before I focus my attention on the two women
inside. My sister, Marli, sits on the couch to the left of the
injured girl, holding an ice pack to the side of her face while she
tries to talk to her. The girl sits forward, hunched over so her
dark bob is falling over her face as she sniffles quietly and
shakes her head at something my sister asks.

Acknowledging
my presence, Marli stands and moves toward me, giving me a slight
shrug of her shoulders as she twists her mouth downward. “She’s a
stubborn one–doesn’t want an ambulance or a doctor. She’s got a
nice cut on her cheek and her lip. I don’t know if she needs
stitches…”

Nodding at my
sister, I make my way toward the girl and crouch down in front of
her, lightly touching her knee to get her attention. “What’s your
name, sweetheart?” I ask, tilting my head in an effort to catch her
eye. But she won’t look at me; she just keeps her head down. “I’m
not going to hurt you, I just need to see how bad it is. Will you
take the ice pack down for me?”

I reach up and
lightly touch her face as I cover her hand with mine to urge her to
look at me and remove the pack. The moment I turn her face, our
eyes meet and suddenly I get what that guy found so funny.

Clenching my
jaw, I speak through my teeth. “Marli, can you leave us alone for a
moment?” I ask, keeping my eyes locked with the girl.

“Um… sure?” my
sister says slowly, so it comes out as more of a question than a
comment. But she doesn’t wait for an answer, instead, trusting me
and slipping out of the room without further comment. A burst of
noise blasts through the door as she opens and closes it, leaving
the girl and me on our own.

My eye narrows
slightly as I reach up and wrap my fingers around a thick strand of
her black hair. She stares at me without flinching, a steely look
coming across her eyes as I pull, dislodging the dark wig and
revealing the dark blonde hair beneath it. It tumbles from the top
of her head and falls messily about her face, down to her shoulders
as she sets her jaw. She’s unapologetic in her stance, which means
she knew I’d see through her ruse the moment I got close to
her.

Although her
tough façade falters when I brush my knuckles lightly along her jaw
toward the cut on her cheek. Her breath hitches and her eyes
flutter closed for just a second before she reins it in and that
façade is back in place. If I didn’t know her, I wouldn’t have even
spotted it. But I do know her. I know her too well.

That’s why
when I move my thumb over her cheek and hit a stickiness that blood
doesn’t produce, I’m not surprised. She’s bold, and I wouldn’t put
anything past her.

“Corn syrup?”
I ask, bringing my thumb to my mouth and tasting the sweetness that
confirms my suspicion.

“He wouldn’t
hit me for real. I had to improvise,” she responds with little
emotion.

“Hmmm,” I say,
poking my finger at the fake open wound on her cheek. “Nice makeup
job.”

“It’s one of
my many talents…”

“Well, you
were always a talented lady,” I say, standing up. “You managed to
pull one over on me, and I can count the number of people who have
done that on two fingers. And they both share the same
surname.”

She has the
decency to drop her eyes and look slightly guilty about the way she
ended things between us. At least she still has some sort of
feeling in that hard heart of hers, I think as I push through my
thighs to standing. I walk over to the basin in the corner of the
room, where our coffee urn is set up, so I can wash the sticky
syrup off my hands.

Grabbing some
paper towels when I’m done, I turn around and lean against the
bench, drying off my hands and shotting the paper into the bin.
“This had better be really good Chloe, because after what happened
between us, then the shit your father pulled, I really don’t have a
lot of time for you. I thought I made that really clear this
morning.”

“You did, and
I don’t blame you for not wanting to see me, or my dad. But you
don’t know the whole story.”