Revenge: A Bad Boy Romance (12 page)

We sat next to each other on the sofa, but that was fine because there weren’t many other places to sit. Just the other sofa. And an armchair. Shit. Oh well, it was too late to move now.

“You want to watch a movie or something?” Denton asked. “We have cable here, believe it or not.” 

“You have a cable subscription for a house you never use?”

“We have poker nights here occasionally.”

“I feel like you’ve let me into an exclusive gentleman’s club or something. I’m honored.”

“Oh trust me, there have been plenty of women here as well.”

The smile disappeared from my face before I could remember to hide my emotions from him. What did I care if he’d had other women here? That was part of why I’d been sent undercover--he had a weakness for the ladies and it was my job to exploit that. 

“Sorry,” he added. “I guess that was a little inappropriate.” 

“That’s okay,” I replied, with what I hoped was a casual wave of my hand. “So, what movie do you want to watch. Scarface? Heat? The--”

“No,” Denton interrupted. “I do not want to watch The Godfather or any gangster movies thank you very much. Have I mentioned that you’re way too cheeky for your own good.”

“Not yet, but you wouldn’t be the first man to say it.” 

This time it was Denton’s turn to lose his smile. I might just be getting my hopes up, but he didn’t seem to like hearing me mention other men. That would be good--for the case, anyway... that’s all. I just needed him to be attracted to me to help with the case. Nothing else.

“There’s something not quite right about you,” Denton said, examining me quizzically. 

That was the absolute last thing a woman ever wanted to hear, especially when she was supposed to be working undercover.

“Uh, what do you mean?” 

“You’re funny, clever, and a little charming.”

“You can stop right there if you like,” I joked.

“But--”

“Yes, I have a great butt, now let’s watch a movie.” 

Denton smiled. “But you seem surprisingly blasé about blood and violence. I’ve never known someone so prepared to turn a blind eye to things.”

And that right there was the problem with this entire facade. I had to earn his trust and act like I was okay with things that disturbed me greatly. I hated violence, especially after what happened to Dad, but I just kept telling myself that this operation was for the greater good.

Yes, I’d see some people get beaten up, but in the end, Denton’s dad would end up in prison. And so would Denton. That bothered me more than any of the beatings. He didn’t deserve it. I was convinced of that.

“There’s something not quite right about you, too,” I said, desperate to change the subject. 

“I know, it shouldn’t be possible for one person to look this good, but God works in mysterious ways.” 

“That’s not what I meant.”

“But…”

“I’m not commenting on your butt. I just meant that you have all the money and power anyone could want and yet you insist on, how do I say it, taking care of business personally. I mean, why not just let others take care of it?”

“I do,” Denton said. “Sometimes.”

“Why not all the time?”

Denton looked away and I felt certain he was going to ignore the question, but then he answered. 

“There are some jobs I need to take care of personally.”

“You’re not really answering the question.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.”

“I’m clever, remember?” 

“How could I forget. Okay, I’ll tell you, but I’m keeping some details out of it. You can’t know everything.”

“You can trust me,” I insisted. They felt like hollow words. Anyone who said they could be trusted immediately sounded suspicious.

“I know. It’s not a trust thing. If I tell you then you could be considered part of a conspiracy. I’m not placing you in danger.”

I nodded and thanked him. I couldn’t be too eager. Besides, I didn’t have any bugs on me, so I wouldn’t have to testify about anything I heard today if I kept it to myself.

“I handle jobs personally where it concerns a certain family that I have an intense disliking for,” Denton continued. “They killed someone I cared very strongly about, and they are going to pay for that.”

“Holy shit. I’m so sorry. We don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.”

I suddenly realized I didn’t want to talk about it much myself. The last thing I wanted right now was to hear Denton profess his love for his dead girlfriend.

“It’s fine. But now you know why I have to handle this myself?”

“Sure.” I bit my lip and considered whether to keep going down this line of thought. I knew what I should do. I knew what Lois would want me to do. Screw it. I had to hear this at some point. “The woman in question is Kara, I assume?” 

Denton frowned and stared at me with that quizzical look again, like I were a puzzle he could solve if he just focused long and hard on my face. 

“How do you know about Kara?” 

“Do you eat in the office cafeteria often?”

“God, no,” Denton replied. “The food in there is crap. Why?”

“Because the people in there talk. A lot.”

“You mean they gossip?”

“That’s not it,” I insisted. “They used to work with her and now she’s gone. That’s a big deal. People miss her. Maybe not as much as you do, but they miss her all the same.”

I’d not learned much at all about Kara in the few days I’d been working for Denton, but I hadn’t lied about people talking in the cafeteria. She was the subject of conversation, and it often brought out a few tears from her former colleagues. Kara had been popular, that much was clear. 

Denton stood up and I worried that he was ending the conversation before it had even begun. “If we’re going to talk about Kara, I’m going to need something stronger than a cup of tea.”

“Coffee?” I joked.

“Not what I had in mind. Would you prefer a glass of wine, or I shall I pour us a drop of whiskey?”

“That depends--is it good whiskey?”

“Do you even need to ask?”

“Good point. I’ll take the whiskey.”

“Ice?”

“No,” I replied, with a firm shake of the head. “If the whiskey’s that good then I don’t want it watered down.”

“Wow, sometimes I really wish you weren’t my assistant,” Denton said, as he handed me a large glass of liquid gold. 

I inhaled the aroma a few times, letting the harsh, but desirable smell of oak hit my nose and send my brain into overdrive. I loved a good whiskey, and this smelt like a great one.

“Why do you wish I weren’t your assistant?” I asked.

“Because… ah, never mind. Human Resources is on my case enough as it is.”

“You’re not scared of men attacking you with knives, but you’re frightened of the little old lady who runs HR?”

“Don’t laugh. Just wait till you get on the wrong side of Deadre, then we’ll see how funny you think it is. That woman terrifies me. Anyway, we were about to watch a movie.”

“Uh, no, nice try. You were about to tell me about Kara.”

“You know, most women just do as I want. I never get much hassle from them normally.”

“And don’t you find that boring?”

Denton smiled again. “I guess I do.”

God, that smile could melt away every single doubt I had about him. If only Lois could see him like this, she’d know he was innocent. I had to help him break free of his father, but first I needed to know about his plan for revenge. If he killed anyone to get back at Kara’s death, there would be no helping him. He’d end up in prison and there wouldn’t be anything I could do about it.

Denton took a long, slow sip of his whiskey, and relaxed back into the sofa. I did the same, hoping it would make this whole thing feel more like a casual conversation and less like an interview.

I wanted him to trust me. Because for some weird reason, I already trusted him.

Most people were wrong about Kara and I. They made assumptions and I never bothered to correct them. As far as I was concerned, it was no one else’s business, so I didn’t talk about it.

Not even Mom and Dad knew. Dad thought she was just another woman I fooled around with, while Mom just assumed she was a casual acquaintance. I didn’t care what they thought. I didn’t care what anyone thought, yet for some reason, I sat here opposite Chloe, about to tell her everything.  

Why did I find it so easy to trust her? Sure, she looked a bit like Kara, but once the initial shock of that had worn off, it didn’t bother me so much. Chloe gave off a vibe of honesty and integrity, like she was the most trustworthy person I could ever talk to about anything.

When I looked into her eyes, I knew that whatever I told her would not be repeated to anyone else. I suppose this was how some men fell for honey traps. A beautiful woman could have a powerful effect on a man’s senses. But I never fell for that shit. I had pretty women throwing themselves at me on a daily basis. Although Chloe was sexier than any of them by far, and she didn’t even try.  

“The story is not actually that exciting,” I began. “The mystery makes it all seem much more dramatic than it really was. You’ve probably heard that we were lovers?”

“Variations on that story,” Chloe agreed. “Most people think you were a couple, but some think it was just a friends with benefits kind of thing.”  

“God, I hate that phrase. Kara was a friend without any of the sex, and that relationship had more than enough ‘benefits’ for me.”

“So you never…”

“No,” I insisted. “We grew up together as kids. We went our separate ways after high school, but I bumped into her again about five years ago.”

“And you offered her a job as your personal assistant?”  

“Eventually, yes. When I met her, she was in a bad way. She’d gone to college, but never graduated. Ended up with a bit of a drug habit. Believe it or not, there are worse people to be acquainted with than me. At least I stay well away from the drug game. Those things have killed far more people than my dad ever has.”

That was one of the ways I justified my actions. I’d done horrible things over the last ten years, and no doubt I would do more, but at least I wasn’t out there peddling crack and heroin to addicts. It was a pathetic way to defend what I did, but it helped me sleep at night.

“How did she die?” Chloe asked.  

“What does the office gossip tell you?”  

“That she was attacked on her way home from a night out. Most people seem to think it was a random act of violence.”

“Most people?”  

“Some people speculate that you had something to do with it.”  

I took another swig of my whiskey. That’s why I didn’t go down to the cafeteria. I knew people gossiped about what happened to Kara and my involvement, but as long as I didn’t hear it I could pretend it wasn’t happening.  

“I don’t believe you had anything to do with it,” Chloe added quickly. “I’m sure it was an accident.”

“No,” I snapped. “It was no accident. And they’re right about it being my fault. I am to blame.”

“That’s ridiculous. From what you’ve told me, you loved her--as a friend--so I’m sure you did everything in your considerable power to save her.”

I shook my head. “After the first time, I tried to have her leave town. But she was stubborn. She insisted on staying put.”  

I should have tried harder to persuade her. I should have forced her to leave the country. That had to have been some way to keep her safe. I’d failed.

“The first time?” Chloe asked.

“Someone tried to kill her before. They shot at her.”

“Holy shit, I had no idea.”  

I stared at Chloe who for the first time look genuinely surprised by what she was hearing. She’d taken all the other information in with barely a raised eyebrow, but now she looked shocked. “Why would you have known? All of this is new to you, isn’t it?”  

“Yes,” she replied quickly. “Of course. I just expected something like that to be known in the office. What happened? I take it they missed.”

“Sort of,” I replied.

Chloe waited for me to elaborate. She wasn’t going to let up until she had all the information. She deserved to know. Kara had been my assistant and friend. Now Chloe was my assistant, and she was quickly becoming a friend too. Maybe even more than that.