GONE - Part Three (The GONE Series Book 3)

by Bladon, Deborah

  "I'm friends with Hunter's wife," Kayla explains. "We've been friends since college."

  The world is a very small and random place. "That's amazing. I've heard great things about Sadie."

  All three sets of eyes hone in on me. I said it without thinking and now I'm going to have to explain not only how I know Sadie's name but also, who has told me about her.

  "Wait." Hunter takes a full step back just as his hand flies to his chin. "I know you."

  He doesn't. I've never met the man. He's thinking of some other redhead who knows his wife. I don't even technically know her. I only know of her because of my Clive Parker fact finding missions online and the few small details he offered about her. "We've never met."

  "You're dating Clive." A small grin pulls at the corner of his mouth. "You're that Lilly."

  "You're dating Clive Parker?" Kayla's hand falls to the table with a dull, empty thud. "Why didn't you tell me you were dating Clive Parker?"

  Why can't I rewind time to the moment when Hunter walks over to our table, so can I duck underneath it?

  "It's really new and we haven't discussed whether…"

  "I used to date his brother, Parker."

  "What?" I spit the word out with more distaste than I intend. "You dated Parker?"

  "Have you met him?" She leans both elbows on the table. "I haven't seen him in months."

  I stare at Ben. He's listening intently to Kayla, with a broad smile on his face. I, on the other hand, feel as though I'm about to scream. How is it even remotely possible that my only friend's fiancée used to date my boyfriend's brother?

  "Lilly?" She taps her fingers over my hand. "Have you met Parker?"

  "Once." I look up at Hunter's face. He seems just as invested in this conversation as Kayla is. "He came to the bistro I was working at one night so it was a quick hello. That's it."

  "That's so random." She throws her head back in gleeful laughter. "I can't believe you're dating Clive."

  I can't believe Hunter knows I'm dating Clive. I came to this lunch hoping that a few hours with Ben and Kayla would help boost my spirits and take my mind off of what happened yesterday. Now, I've been forced to reveal that I'm dating a man I'm not sure I want to even see again.

  "Don’t tell Clive this but years ago I signed up to get news alerts whenever his name popped up." Hunter's body shakes with a deep laugh. "I don't check it all the time but last week I clicked on a link and there was your face."

  He said last week so that rules out last night. Gauging by the way he's not judging me, I'm going to guess that he doesn't know that my breasts were the stars of the tech show that Hughes Enterprises put on yesterday. "My face popped up?"

  "It was an image of you and Clive at a restaurant." He pulls his face into a mock scowl. "It wasn't one of my restaurants though."

  "I had no idea." I don’t take my eyes off of him. "I'll have to look that up."

  "I'll find it right now." He fishes his smartphone out of the pocket of his black pants. "I'll just search your name."

  "No," I practically scream the word. "I'd rather we toast to Ben and Kayla's new baby."

  "Right." Hunter snaps his fingers. "I'll go get the champagne and juice and we'll celebrate."

  I heave a sigh at the reprieve. I have no doubt that if Hunter Reynolds would have searched my name that he'd get an eyeful of me I never want him to see.

  Chapter 8

  I've searched my name online three times since I came home from the restaurant and the only reference to what happened yesterday is a brief mention of the picture at the end of a blogger's comments about the shopping app. The picture didn't pop up at all but it's only been a day and the search engine's algorithms may need some time to catch up. I'm going to enjoy the calm before the storm and ready myself for what my uncertain future holds. I need to focus on showing Alec that he made the right decision in keeping me on at Hughes Enterprises, I need to find out from Garrett what I can do to protect my rights and I have to find out who set me up.

  I hear the faint knock at my door just as the sound of heavy footsteps stop. Anyone who walks into the foyer who doesn't live here is supposed to buzz the apartment they want to visit, but it's a futile idea. The latch on the inner door of the lobby is loose so virtually anyone can wander in and out freely. I've been meaning to bring it up to with the super but my breast scandal has cleared my mind of every other thought.

  I pull open the door even though I know who is standing on the other side of it. He's texted me twice already today. I told him that I was meeting friends for lunch and then had to catch up on some work but the man either can't read between the lines of a subtle hint or he refuses to align himself with anyone's needs but his own in the moment. I told him I'd talk to him on Monday. It's Saturday afternoon and I need to face him and this.

  "Do you want to come in or should we go across to the coffee shop to talk?" I motion towards my still barren living room.

  "I'd like to be alone with you." He leans against the door. "We need to talk, Lilly."

  "We do," I agree. "There's no place here to talk comfortably."

  "The coffee shop is too loud." He taps his shoe on the floor. "I'd like to take you back to my condo."

  The suggestion that more will happen than a conversation is right there in the air between us. He wants me and even if I couldn't see the evidence of that in his eyes, I'd know it from the tone of his voice.

  He reaches to touch my hand. "We can just talk if you want."

  Even when I'm trying to block out every emotion that I'm feeling, he can still read my mind. "I just want to talk."

  "That's exactly what we're going to do then."

  I hesitate for only a brief moment. I want to rid myself of the cloak of doubt that is weighing me down. I want to breathe again and I can't do that until he tells me how my picture ended up on that screen. "I'll get my purse and my keys."

  ***

  "You were shivering in the taxi on the way here." He wraps his arm around my shoulders. "Why don't you sit down? I'll make you some tea."

  It's too kind of a gesture for the moment. I'm shivering because I'm a jumble of nerves. He spent the entire ride over talking on his phone to his assistant, Bruce. Clive doesn't stop working, even on the weekends and judging by the single side of the conversation I was privy to, he'll be spending much of tomorrow in his office in meetings with associates from Europe.

  "I don't want anything." I pull away from him and move towards an arm chair. "I'd like to talk about yesterday."

  He rubs his hand over the front of his neck before he nods. "I know you're devastated over what happened, Lilly."

  The words hold more meaning than the delivery he provides. He's very calm and in control. I want him to be as torn up over what happened to me as I am but I've learned over the years of being on my own that we all have to own our emotions. We can't look to others for compassion or sympathy. I'm looking at him right now and all I see is a man with a rehearsed answer for any question I'm about to ask.

  "You were the last person to have that picture, Clive." Easing into this with pleasantries and small talk isn't going to help me find the truth about what happened. I want answers. I need them and now that I'm in his condo, I'm not planning on leaving until I have them.

  He walks towards where I'm sitting and for a very brief moment I wonder if he's going to drop to his knees and kiss me. My resolve is strong but when he's so close to me, the want is right there, rounding the corner and almost overtaking my willpower to resist him.

  He sits on the edge of the table near me. I tuck my legs up, not wanting him to touch me. The motion doesn't go unnoticed. He stares at my jeans briefly before he pulls his darkened gaze to my face. "Ask me already, Lilly. Just ask."

  I look down at his hands. They're knotted together in a twisted mess. He's cracking his knuckles and snaking the fingers of his left hand with the right. His anxiety is as evident as mine. I see it now.

  "Ask you what?" I push back not wanting to be p
ut on the spot.

  "You know what." He leans back to rest one hand against the glass of the table. "Just ask."

  Once I toss the question out there the entire dynamic of our relationship will shift. I'll be the accuser and if he had nothing to do with the picture being displayed, I'll have to live with the regret of doubting his word. I scratch the back of my head, trying to figure out a way out. I want the things he said to me while we stood in the living room of my parent's home to be real. I want to believe that the adoration I feel in his kiss is sincere. I want that. I don't want to lose it.

  "I am crazy about you, Lilly." He swallows so hard I can hear it. "I am so fucking crazy about you."

  I cast my gaze down so I can focus my thoughts. I run my hand along the arm of the chair. "I know that you care about me."

  "It's so much more than that." The soft rasp in his voice is disarming. "I love being around you. I never smiled before I met you. I never wanted to smile.

  They are beautiful and thoughtful words that I would have fallen into two days ago. Now, I know that the truth is buried somewhere within them. If he didn't have anything to do with the picture being broadcast for the entire room to see, he would have said as much. He would have just come out and told me.

  "You and Parker are the only two people who saw that picture." I point my finger at him. "I want to know how it happened. I want you to tell me, Clive."

  His head drops to his hands. "Someone else saw the picture. I believe someone else has a copy and it's my fault."

  Chapter 9

  "Who?" My legs dart out so quickly that my feet smash into the edge of the table. "Who has a copy?"

  "Shit, Lilly." He reaches for my foot. "You slammed that into the table. Let me have a look."

  The pain that is rushing through me from my stubbed toe is only quieted by my incessant need to know who he showed me picture to. "You showed me picture to someone? Who?"

  "I didn't show it to her by choice," he says the words so quickly that they meld into one another.

  "Her?" I spit the word at him. "A woman saw it?"

  I'm not sure why it's as surprising as it is. I don't really know Clive Parker that well and I've based my assumption that he's only been dating me on his words and the tender way he brings me pleasure in bed. I have no idea if he's been sharing details of our trysts with another woman or not. I didn't bother to ask because I was too busy coming under his tongue.

  I'm an idiot sometimes. I may have an honor's degree from MIT but I'm not the brightest bulb when it comes to men. The fact that I sent a nude photo of myself to a strange man is proof enough of that.

  "It was that first night in Boston," he says quietly. "The night I came to the bistro."

  I nod. I'll never forget that night for a million different reasons. "I remember."

  "I was there to see Cory for the weekend," he stops to take a breath. "I was dating a woman at the time so I took her with me."

  I recall him saying something to Parker that night about a woman. I hadn't paid any mind to the details of their conversation. Back then, I thought the worst part of my naked picture nightmare was Parker's brother seeing it by mistake. "She's the one who has a copy?"

  "I think so." He bends forward, pulling my foot into his lap. "I'm worried that you broke your toe. You hit it so hard."

  I can't tell if it's a ploy to steer our conversation off track or not. I'm not going to waste any time trying to figure that out. I swat his hand away softly. "It's fine. Please tell me more about that woman."

  "I was on the phone when we walked into the condo and she went into the office to turn on the computer so she could print out a document she was emailed."

  "You were angry with Parker for leaving the envelope on your desk."

  He had scolded Parker in front of me for that. I can't remember the exact words he said to him but the condensed version was that Clive wasn't going to get laid because his date found the envelope with my picture and the letter.

  "She saw it and threw it all at me." He shakes his head. "We weren't that serious. It was mostly friendly fuck…"

  I wince at the words. The evidence of his many lovers is online in the form of pictures of him at events and dinners with different women. We haven’t talked about it at any length because I don't want to know the details. I'm not a jealous person but the idea of Clive in bed with anyone else, makes me feel raw inside.

  "I'm sorry." He rests his hand on the arm of the chair I'm sitting in. "It was nothing like what we have."

  I'm not sure what we have so I'm not the best gauge to measure by. "You don't need to be sorry. I had lovers before I met you."

  He closes his eyes tightly. "I don't want to know about that."

  "Have you talked to her about the picture?" I ask because I don't want to know any details about what happened between the two of them that night or any other night.

  "I called her today." He rubs his hand over the soft hair covering his chin. "We're going to meet to talk about it."

  Call me foolish but planning a meeting around someone's naked picture seems excessive. "Why didn't you just ask her about it on the phone, Clive?"

  "I did."

  He doesn't offer more even though I wait with expectation in my eyes. "What did she say?"

  "She wants to see me." He deliberately avoids looking at me. "I can read her better in person. I can get the truth out of her."

  I stare at the side of his face as he surveys the large windows that overlook the skyline of Manhattan. "I feel as though I'm dangling by a thread."

  His eyes dart back to me. "I know, Lilly."

  "You don't know." I push against the chair's arm, trying to pull myself up. "You just don't know."

  "I'm trying my best to get to the bottom of this for you." He's on his feet. His hand outstretched towards me. "I know how to handle this."

  As much as I want to laugh at his words, I can't. "Tell me her name, Clive."

  "Let me talk to her first, Lilly."

  "I want to know her name."

  "I can't be sure if it was her or Parker." His shoulders slump forward. "I have someone in Dubai going through Parker's phone to see if he captured an image of that picture of you."

  "Parker has no reason to hurt me," I say the words as if I mean them. I was nothing but a brief Internet fling to Parker. He hasn't emailed me since that night so I have no idea if he'd do anything to jeopardize my career or not. There is no logical reason for him to go to the trouble of sabotaging my presentation.

  "I still think it's worthwhile to check his phone."

  I finally stand, suddenly feeling a renewed sense of energy. "Why won't you tell me her name?"

  "I told you," he begins before he reaches to grab my hand. "I have to be certain first. If it was her, I'll take care of it."

  I pull my hand from his. "You're choosing her over me."

  His brows pop up. "That's ridiculous."

  I try to step past him but the path between the table and the chair is too narrow for us both. "I have a right to know her name."

  "As soon as I speak with her, I'll call you."

  It's futile. I can stand here, in front of him and demand an answer but it's glaringly obvious that he's not going to give it to me. He promised me he'd protect me and the first time he has an opportunity to do it, he chooses to leave me flailing in an emotional windstorm.

  I pull back when he moves to kiss me goodbye. I grab my purse, march towards the door and leave him and his secret lover's name behind.

  Chapter 10

  "I haven't seen that picture of Parker before." The security guard at Corteck leans over his small desk. "It's a good one."

  It's not. It's the picture Parker emailed me when we first started communicating. Correction. It's the first picture of his face that Parker emailed me. He thought it was proper form to send me a picture of his dick first. Good manners do not rampant in that family.

  "I like it." I try to sound as though I'm swooning as I tuck my tablet back into my pur
se. "I think he looks hot in it."

  The elderly man laughs so raucously that his head falls back. "You kids and your funny phrases."

  Hear that? That's the sound of me getting exactly what I want.

  I flirted with him when I first walked into the lobby five minutes ago. Then I told him I was crazy about Parker and now that I've backed it up with proof, the man is putty in my hands.

  "Did you know that Mr. Parker sent Parker to Dubai?" I push my bottom lip out for added emphasis. "I miss my little pumpkin so much."

  Eww. I'm going to need a shower after this conversation.

  "I bet he misses you more." His eyes travel down to my cleavage. Digging the one push-up bra I own out of the bottom of my drawer had been the easy part. Trying to get used to the under wires that are practically stabbing my sides is another thing. I take a deep breath, reminding myself why I'm here in the first place.

  "I cried last night because…" I whimper softly as I lean over his desk. "I lost my phone last night so I can't call Parker since I didn't memorize his new number."

  "You poor thing." He touches the top of my hand. "You know Mr. Parker isn't in today, right? He doesn't work on Sundays."

  I know, from overhearing Clive's conversation in the taxi yesterday, that he's going to be in within the next couple of hours. That's the only reason I'm doing this, right now, at the crack of dawn. "I don't think I can wait until tomorrow to get Parker's number. Can you call Mr. Parker and ask him for it?"

  His lips pull back in shock. You'd think I'd asked the man in uniform for his social security number. "Mr. Parker doesn't like to be disturbed unless it's an emergency."

  I was counting on that. "I get it."

  "If you come back tomorrow, the receptionist who sits over there can help you out." He points towards the main desk in the lobby. If he's referring to the woman who is usually here during the week, she's not willing to help anyone out.