Worst Date Ever (Scandals #3) (5 page)

“I say we start first thing tomorrow.”

“Sounds good to me.  I’ll let Michael know what we talked about.”  He turned left and headed toward a side exit. 

I looked back at Liberty as I pushed one of the glass front doors open.  Suddenly, it was pulled out of my grasp, causing me to lose my balance.  As I fell forward, I automatically reached out, trying to grab something and my laptop flew out of my hand.  I did a mid-air correction, more frantic to save my laptop than to protect my body.  I couldn’t bear to watch it hit the sidewalk outside, and I closed my eyes as I continued my tumble to the ground.

My elbow scraped the concrete, and I felt the knee of my leather pants split open.  Shit, these were my favorite pants.  I crawled to a sitting position and looked over at what I assumed would be the rubble of my laptop.

Instead, I saw a man in a navy blue Austin Fire Department t-shirt and navy cargo pants laid out on the concrete in front of me, his arms outstretched with my laptop in one hand that was several inches above the sidewalk. More importantly, it was intact.

My God! Where had he come from and was it really a better choice on his part to go for the flying laptop rather than me? But I couldn’t question his judgment. I would have gone for the laptop, too.

He rolled over on his back and sat up. His chin, elbows and abs where his t-shirt had ridden up were bleeding. In spite of the injuries, I was a little bit distracted by the muscles flexing beneath bronze, sweaty skin.

“Wow…you alright?” I asked.

He looked down at the blood on his t-shirt   that had dripped from his chin. He reached up and wiped it off, then rubbed his hand on his pants.

“Sure. I always wanted a cleft in my chin.” He bounded to his feet and held out his empty hand to help me up.

Normally, I would have ignored it and scrambled to my feet on my own, but I was mesmerized by the twinkle in his blue eyes. I took his hand and let him pull me up, seemingly without effort on his part. I had a feeling he could easily bench press me over his head…and I wasn’t a half-starved swimsuit model.

Once on my feet, he let go of my hand, then extended the laptop toward me with his other hand. “Here’s your laptop…I’m sorry.”

I reached out and took it. “I don’t understand…sorry?”
“Sorry, I wasn’t able to catch you, too.”

“Are you kidding?” I cradled my laptop against my chest. “This is my life. You saved me. Thank you.” I felt the biggest smile in memory on my face. It wasn’t something I did often, and my face twitched.

“You wouldn’t have fallen had I not opened the door for you,” he explained, returning my smile with a crooked grin that would charm a rattlesnake out from under a rock.

“I wouldn’t have fallen if I’d been looking where I was going.”

“You’re bleeding,” he said, gently wiping the dirt off my scraped elbows.

“Yes, so are you.” I didn’t dare touch him, but I nodded toward another drop of blood that splashed onto his t-shirt.

“I’ll live.” He raked his fingers through the tobacco brown hair that had fallen across his forehead. Instead of staying in place, as soon as he removed his fingers, it flopped back down. I had a feeling it was a constant battle, but I found that tousled, disobedient lock to be incredibly attractive.

For a moment, our eyes met and held. A wild, strange tingling sensation raced through my whole body, starting in my brain and shooting all the way down to my toes.

“Uh…where did you learn to catch like that?” I asked, my mouth so dry I could barely force the words out.

“A&M…tight end.”

“Good hands.”

“You have no idea.”  Again, that rakish grin teased me.  “My name is Cody, by the way.”

I couldn’t resist, “Hello, Mr. By-The-Way, I’m Tulsa.”

“A smart ass.  I like that.”

“Hey, my name is Liberty.”

Cody and I turned to look at her.  I was ashamed to say that I had completely forgotten about her.  In fact, I hadn’t even been aware of any of the other dozens of people passing us on the sidewalk.

“Oh, hi, Liberty.”  Cody gave her a smile, and I felt a pang that was suspiciously close to jealousy.  “I’m Cody.”

“So, I heard,” she said.  She glanced back at the building.  “You live here?”

“Yes.  Since it first opened.  Got a really good builder’s special.”

“I guess…must be expensive.”

“It is,” he confirmed unapologetically. “Well, listen, Liberty…” He turned back to me. “…and Tulsa. It was really nice meeting you, but I’ve got a house full of hungry firefighters to feed…it’s my turn to cook…and I forgot to bring the bread from my favorite bakery. My station is only a couple of blocks from here.” He dabbed again at his bloody chin. “Maybe we’ll meet again.” His smile radiated warmth that I could actually feel on my skin.

“God, I hope…I mean, yes…maybe... We’re doing some work here so we might bump into each other again.” I tried to sound casual.

He wiped his chin again and gave us a nod, then pushed open the door and entered the building.

Liberty and I walked to the parking lot in silence.

“Darius is pretty hot, isn’t he?” she asked when we were back in the car.

“You think?” I asked, mostly to give her a hard time.  There was no denying that Darius was a gorgeous specimen of a man, but my thoughts were still focused on a different male.

Liberty blushed visibly.  “Oh, I just thought…”

“Interested?” I prodded.

Liberty gasped.  “Oh no…my mom would have a cow.”

“Because he’s black?”

“That wouldn’t matter.  There are a lot of mixed race couples at The Farm.”

“What then?”  Now I was curious.  Plus, I needed a distraction.

“He’s probably almost thirty!  Way too old for me.  I don’t think she would approve of someone so…”

“Worldly?”

Liberty shrugged.  “I’ve never even been on a date.”

“You’re kidding!”  I couldn’t resist a quick glance in her direction to see if she was teasing me, but her expression was dead serious.

“There weren’t a lot of boys my age on The Farm,” she explained as if that had been her only option…which, it probably had been.

“Does that mean you’ve never…?”  I stopped myself from using a more graphic term and finished with, “…made love?”

The pink of her cheeks darkened to a flaming red.  “Not even a kiss.”

I wanted to point out that kissing wasn’t necessarily a requirement of fucking.  I’d had a couple sexual experiences that had been completely devoid of affection or kissing.  “How old are you?”

“Nineteen.  I’ll be twenty in September.”

Jeez…nineteen.  By the time I was nineteen, I had already had sex with a half-dozen guys, some consensual…some not.  And that wasn’t even the worst of it.  But Liberty wasn’t mature enough to hear about my horrible life.  I decided this wasn’t fun anymore, so I changed the subject.

“What did you think about our meeting?” I asked.

“Why does one guy need seven and a half bathrooms?”

CHAPTER FOUR

It had been a long day, made longer by the horrendous rush-hour traffic we got caught in as we headed back to the mansion.  We had stopped by the Scandals office, but everyone else had already left, so after Liberty picked up her kitten, we inched our way out of town and along the highways leading to Lake Travis.

I glanced over at Liberty, cradling the tiny purring calico fluff ball she had rescued from the explosion last month.  At first she had left the kitten in the office, but for the past couple of weeks, she had been taking her back and forth every day and keeping her in her bedroom at the mansion.  It wasn’t that anyone objected to the little animal roaming freely, but she was still too young and the house was so big she might get lost or accidentally stepped on.  It was definitely safer in Liberty’s room, at least for now.

I checked the right lane behind us and moved into the exit lane so we could get off the Mopac Expressway. “I thought we’d do better taking surface roads to get back.  I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a margarita.  Oh…never mind.  You’re still too young to drink.”

“Hey, thanks for reminding me.”  Liberty laughed.  She knew none of us would stop her from having a drink at home even though she was underage.  The truth was, there was no alcohol allowed at The Farm, so she hadn’t been tempted then and wasn’t tempted now.  “Give me some of John’s fresh-squeezed lemonade any day.”

“Yes, it’s pretty good,” I agreed.  “Especially with a splash of vodka or tequila.”

My cell phone rang and I glanced down, hit the speaker button and answered.  “This is Tulsa.”

“Tulsa, this is Michael from Linked. Can you talk now?”

“Ahh…Sure, Michael.  Liberty and I are caught in traffic.”

“I finally got bailed out and released from the hospital.  So, what’s your next step?”

“Darius told you we were there earlier today and what we talked about?”

“He did.”

“We’re going to compare notes tonight, and I want to go over the information I got from Darius.  I’m going to need to log into your system.  I’ve got some special software I want to use that will parse the data.”

“Uh…don’t have a clue what that means, but I’ll look forward to getting this rolling.”

“We’ll be at your office tomorrow around nine.  I’ll give you an update on what we’ve discovered so far and we can figure out the next step.  Okay?”

“See you then.”
  The phone went silent.

“People don’t say hello or goodbye anymore…notice that?  I glanced at Liberty.  “I’ll take that as a no.”

Liberty laughed.  “I always say hello and goodbye.”

“Right…you just never use a phone.”

“I don’t even have one yet.”

“I’m sure Pam has one for you.  Tomorrow, I’ll give you a phone lesson.  You’re going to love it.”

“But I don’t have any one to call.  My mom doesn’t have a phone.”

I snorted.  “Silly girl.  No one uses their phones just to make calls.  You can play games, listen to music, watch movies…”

My cell phone rang again, and I answered it through the speaker phone without looking at who was calling.  “Hello, Tulsa speaking.”

“It’s Christopher, Killeen, Reno and Dallas here.  Michael call you yet?”

“Just hung up with him.  Was I his first phone call after getting out of jail?”

“I think so.  I forgot to warn you about him.  He’s a bit of a control freak.”

“It’s his dime, isn’t it?  We’re on our way home now.”

“We’re already here.  John said to tell you that dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.”

“We’re going as fast as we can.  Traffic sucks.”

“Welcome to Austin.”

A car abruptly changed lanes in front of me and made an illegal right turn.  I had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him.  “I gotta go.  See you soon.”  I disconnected.

“You didn’t say goodbye,” Liberty pointed out.

“Hey, I’m trying to get us home alive.”

My cell phone rang for the third time.  “Again?  Really?”

“We don’t know anyone else…do we?”  Liberty asked.

She was right.  I had no idea who else would be calling me, but I answered it, again through the speaker phone.  “This is Tulsa.”

There wasn’t a voice or sound initially, but then there were two distinctive clicks.  An electronic digitized male voice said,
“Hello Tulsa.  I’ve been following you today. I suggest you tell Christopher you’re going to resign from this case.  They are all waiting for you at the lake house right now.  Trust me…your life depends on it.”

We were stopped at an intersection, so I could look at my phone.  There was a number displayed, but I didn’t recognize it.  The call disconnected, and I pushed the call back button.

“Sorry, this cell phone does not accept incoming phone calls,”
a normal recorded female voice announced.

“Fuck!”

Liberty looked at me with concern.  “Who was that?”

“No clue.  Probably a burner phone which would make it untraceable.”

“He’s creepy,” Liberty confessed.

“He’s not alive…it’s a digital text-to-speech converter file you can download off the internet.”

“Someone just types in words and this spits out?”

“Kind of like Stephen Hawking with an attitude, isn’t it?”

“Who?”

“Look him up.  You’ll be impressed.”

Everyone was out around the pool when we finally got home.  They were already in their play clothes and had drinks in their hands by the time we had changed and joined them.  It had taken me a couple extra minutes while I cleaned the dried blood off my wounds and dabbed on some Neosporin. 

I headed straight for the Tiki bar where John made sure the mini-fridge was always stocked with several types of beer, as well as a blender filled with icy green liquid that was so cold it was guaranteed to cause a brain freeze.  I took the risk and poured a generous amount of margarita into a glass.  Liberty took out a pitcher of lemonade and filled a large glass.

“There’s our hard working duo!  How’d it go today?” Reno asked.  Jenny, looking more relaxed than I’d ever seen her, was seated next to him.

“Hey Reno...Jenny.  You look like the weight of the world has been lifted off your shoulders.  You doing okay?”

“Yes, great actually.  I got a message today from Angie.  She’s doing good, and they’re all settled in…somewhere.”  Jenny smiled, then looked at my hands which I realized were shaking.  “Are you alright?”

“Sure…why wouldn’t I be?”

“Your margarita is starting to foam from the agitation.”

I hadn’t planned on sharing that phone call with everyone right away.  But if someone as distracted as Jenny noticed I was upset, I wouldn’t be able to hide it, even temporarily.  “It’s been a rough day.  This case has a lot going on and the client has everything to lose.  I just don’t want to fail him or the agency.”

“You’re great at what you do…and this job is right in the middle of your sweet spot.”  Reno offered his encouragement.

“Thanks,” I responded, feeling a little embarrassed by the acclaim.  I didn’t know how to deal with compliments.  I knew how to deflect criticism and to pretend that I didn’t care when sometimes it hurt so deeply I wanted to disappear.  But praise, because it was such a rarity, also made me uncomfortable.

I noticed Liberty talking with Christopher and Killeen over by the fire pit, and I used that as my excuse to escape.  “I’ll catch up with you guys later.  Great news about your sister, Jenny.”

I walked up to Christopher, Killeen and Liberty, but I didn’t jump into the conversation.  The scratches on my elbows were stinging which reminded me of my clumsy fall…which, in turn, made me think about a pair of dazzling blue eyes, a shock of dark hair and broad muscular shoulders.  And that grin…

“Hey Tulsa,” Christopher smiled and clicked his beer bottle against my glass.  “I heard you impressed Darius.”

“Uh…I don’t know about that.  But he sure has a sweet set-up there.  Have you ever seen their office?”

“I’ve been there a few times, mostly social.  Michael had a huge grand opening party and every Christmas, he has a special party for his clients.”

“Good place to meet girls, huh?”  Killeen winked at me, but Christopher didn’t see it.  He shifted uncomfortably.

“I never…well, maybe once or twice…but not lately...,” he stammered.

Killeen put him out of his misery.  “You were single.  No harm, no foul.  Of course, if you hook up with someone now, you’re a dead man walking.”

Christopher’s expression showed his relief.  “No worries there.”  He looped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him.  “I’ve found the woman of my dreams.”

“Good answer.”  Killeen leaned her head on his shoulder affectionately.

Everyone else migrated over to stand with us.

“Liberty told us about your tumble,” Christopher said.  “Good save on your laptop.”

“You should have seen the guy who caught it,” Liberty spoke up.  “He sort of looked like Ashton Kutcher, but with blue eyes.”

We all looked at her curiously. 

“That was surprisingly precise,” Killeen commented with a smile.

“I had plenty of time to check him out because he and Tulsa were so busy staring at each other,” Liberty defended.

Now all eyes turned to me.  Automatically, I ducked my head so that my long bangs fell across my eyes to hide my true feelings. “You’ve got to be kidding.  He was totally not my type.  He was so clean-cut he squeaked.  God, he was even a fireman.  Way too conventional.”

“Hmm…methinks the lady doth protest too much,” Killeen paraphrased Shakespeare.

“I was just glad my laptop wasn’t in a million pieces,” I told them.  “Anyway, I’ve got to look at all the documentation after dinner.  I wonder where John is.”  I looked around, a little frantically.  I wasn’t all that good at conversation, and I sure didn’t want to continue this particular discussion.

“Did I hear my name?” John remarked as he walked out of the house and placed a platter of vegetables, a bowl of chips and a plate with some small stuffed mushrooms speared with a toothpick on the table.”

“No forks?” Dallas asked.

“Forks?  Come on guys…I spent all day getting the crab stuffing to hang together so I could serve them with tooth picks.  Chicken and pork are on the grill.  They’ll be ready in about a half hour.”

I grabbed a mushroom and popped it into my mouth.  “Mmm, this is delicious.”  I got another one.  I just realized that Liberty and I had missed lunch today, and all I had had to eat was that donut at our meeting this morning.  Everyone else got a second mushroom, and, to my disappointment, the plate was empty.  Oh well, there were carrots and celery to munch on until dinner was ready.

John headed over to the grill to keep an eye on the meat. 

“So Tulsa?  How was Darius today?” Christopher asked.

“He seems to be very good at his work.  And he’s a total fan of Michael.”  I turned to Liberty.  It was her turn on the hot seat.  “You know, Liberty was a big help today.  What was your take on Darius?”

Liberty’s cheeks turned visibly red and her lips quivered.  “Uh…he seemed nice.”

“Just nice?” I teased.

“Did I miss something?” Christopher sensed the undercurrents that were rippling beneath the surface.

“Okay, I thought he was hot,” Liberty admitted.  “Now everyone knows.”

Reno nudged Jenny.  “Sounds like Tulsa and Liberty got Linked today.  And we spent all day trying to dig up dirt on a dead girl.”

“Darius didn’t have anything bad to say about her either,” I reported.

“Yes, that’s the same story we’re hearing from everyone.  I think her real name was Mother Teresa and Tamara was just a nickname.”

“No hint of a motive?” Christopher asked.

Reno shook his head.  “Just Michael, so far.”

Christopher led the way to the huge round wrought-iron table, passing by the bar so we could all replace our drinks.

Christopher took a drink of his beer and smiled.  “After Dallas and I met with the insurance company, we went shopping.  The Scandals Air Force has two new drones.”

“Cool.  Expensive?”  Reno asked.

“Together, they were cheaper than the one I crashed,” Dallas admitted.  “But that one was a prototype.”

“It was worth it to get all of you home safely.”  Christopher shrugged. “Okay, let’s get on with this. Tulsa, what do you know tonight you didn’t know this morning?”

“Not much because I haven’t had time to read the report.  But the virus and hacker protection schemes installed at Linked all seem to be world-class state-of-the-art.  The malware and routines that grabbed the client’s identity data were on Michael’s work station.  The data was tracked to a node in the deep internet and became untraceable.  Then it showed up in the hands of the ultimate buyers who used it to financially ruin about a dozen clients.”

Dallas raised his hand as if in class. “You’re speaking geek.  What is malware and the deep internet and all that?”