Undeniable

by Kandle, Tawdra

  “There’s a blood oath?” I raised my eyebrows.

  “No, silly. It was a joke. Let’s talk about today before we get distracted.” She turned the tablet toward her again, flicked her fingers over it and then pointed to the screen.

  “This is Stan Ulster, and this one is Susan Dellwood. They’re the decision makers from Chatham who will be at the meeting today. They’ve flown in from Georgia specifically to get the initial paperwork signed, get the ball rolling on this sale. Donald gave us a list of specifics to put into their minds, and I’ll show you that in a minute. But first, familiarize yourself with them. I want you to be able to recognize them right away. I won’t be able to point them out to you once we’re there.”

  I studied the faces. The man was probably in his forties, balding, with wire glasses and a jowly neck. The woman had short blonde hair and wide brown eyes. She was pretty and quite a bit younger than the man. After a minute, I was sure I would know them anywhere.

  Joss scrolled down the screen again and this time passed me a text document. “This is Donald’s list. Go ahead and look it over while I finish getting dressed.”

  I scanned the list. Nothing seemed too outrageous to me, and I felt bad for poor old Donald, who only wanted to go out with a little grace and keep his company in one piece. Plus he was trying to make Chatham agree to keep on the entire workforce. No one could argue with that.

  “Hey, Joss, you know I’m going to need to go back to my hotel and get changed,” I called. “What time do we have to be there?”

  She came out of the bathroom, wearing just her bra and underwear. My mouth went dry.

  “I know. As soon as you finish reading, maybe you can go change. I’ll meet you there in about an hour. The meeting is at one.” She leaned over, adjusting her breasts in the bra, and I closed my eyes, trying to pull my attention back to the words in front of me.

  “Rafe? You all right?” Joss opened the closet door and began flipping hangars along the bar.

  “Yeah. I’m just concentrating.” I read the last few lines, tossed down the tablet and stood up. “I think I’ll head over to the Monteleone now. Okay?”

  “Sure.” She stepped into a black dress and shimmied it up over her hips.

  Kill. Me. Now.

  I wasn’t sure what the protocol was here. I hadn’t had a girlfriend since I was a junior in high school, unless I counted Tasmyn, and that whole relationship had been so screwed up from the beginning that I didn’t. And Joss wasn’t my girlfriend. She was just a girl I really enjoyed having sex with. Really, really enjoyed.

  She turned her back to me as I headed for the door. “Hey, before you go, can you zip me up?” She gathered her hair around to the front so that I could get a better look at the zipper.

  “Uh, sure.” I found the tab, nestled within the curve just above her ass, and I slid it upwards, fighting every urge to slide my hands into the dress and around, over her breasts.

  “Thanks.” Joss turned, straightened the skirt and met my eyes in the full-length mirror. “That’s one benefit of having a boyfriend. Nice to have someone around to help me with buttons and zippers.”

  “What?” I spit out the word, and Joss was doubled over, laughing, before I even realized I’d said it.

  “Oh, my God, Rafe, if you could have seen your face...I’m kidding. Go, get out of here. I’ll see you in an hour. Don’t dawdle.”

  ***

  THE MEETING ROOM on the fifteenth floor of the Kemp building was as non-spectacular as they came. It could have been in any other office in any other city across the country. I glanced surreptitiously at the men and women sitting around the table, shifting on my feet and trying to be invisible.

  Joss had given me the rest of the briefing in my hotel room. We were attending the meeting as representatives from Donald McCall’s legal counsel, who had been instrumental in setting up this job for Carruthers.

  “We’ve worked with his attorney before, and when Donald asked if there were anything else he could do, the lawyer told him about us. He figured they had nothing to lose.”

  “So do we have to spout some kind of legal talk? Because I don’t know how to do that. Not without serious preparation, anyway.”

  “No, as a matter of fact, our attendance is contingent on us remaining silent. It’s the only way Donald’s grandson would allow us to be there. So we can just focus on our job.”

  We stood against the wall, watching as the small talk dwindled and a lawyer who sat at the head of the table brought the meeting to order. He began going over paperwork, and I knew that was my cue.

  I’d already zeroed in on both Stanley and Susan. Stan sat on the Chatham side, near the middle. I had a clear view of him. He was doodling something on the yellow legal pad in front of him and playing with the pen. He was nervous, I decided, and I wondered if it were because he knew he was screwing over an old man and destroying his legacy.

  Near the end of the long table, at the far end from the lawyer who still droned on, Susan sat between a guy about my age, whom I’d decided was her intern—and possibly her boy-toy—and a girl dressed all in brown. Even her hair was brown. She looked like a mouse, I thought, almost blending into the woodwork. She seemed to be bored by this whole meeting. Maybe she was a secretary.

  I’d decided to start with Stan the Man. He looked like an easy mark, weak-minded, which made my work so much easier. The fact that he was already distracted worked to my benefit, too. I had just begun to peel back the metaphoric layers of his mind, introduce the ideas Donald had requested, when Jocelyn nudged me, her elbow barely moving against my side.

  “There’s someone else in the room.”

  I drew my brows together. Well, yeah, there were about twenty other people in the room. I glanced down, shooting her a what-the-hell look.

  She was frowning, and her eyes were troubled. “Someone else with...ability. Like us.” She moved her gaze along the table, and I realized she was trying to figure out exactly who it was.

  “Should I wait?” I kept my whisper to the barest breath. Being overheard would be an issue, and we definitely didn’t want to attract the attention of Donald’s grandson and get kicked out of the room.

  “No, go ahead. I can’t figure—”

  “Donald, did you want to say something? You look...upset.” The man sitting to the left of the attorney addressed our client. Since Donald sat with his back to us, directly across from the first man, I couldn’t tell what had prompted the comment.

  “I—I—” The older man struggled to rise to his feet, kicking back the chair. I glanced at Joss, wondering what we should do.

  “Grandfather, enough is enough. This is a done deal, and nothing you can say now is going to change our plans. I know you don’t like it, but you’ve got to accept that it’s the best—”

  Before he could say anything more, a burst of tremendous power shot through the room. I fell back against the wall, gripped Jocelyn’s arm and pulled her behind me, trying to shield her from whatever might be coming next. She was pale, her eyes wide and her mouth open in shock, but no one else around us seemed to be affected.

  Across the room, Donald McCall collapsed onto the floor with a loud cry. The room dissolved into chaos as his grandson leaped to his side, crying his name. Another man knelt down, and someone yelled, “Call 9-1-1!”

  The group of visitors from Chatham stood, glancing at each other and then back at Donald, as if unsure what part they were supposed to play. The attorney had pulled out a cell phone and was speaking tersely into it. Someone else had loosened Donald’s collar and was trying to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

  But I could tell it was useless. I probed gently into our client’s mind, and there was no action there. He was gone, as quickly as if he’d been shot. I wondered if the stress of the takeover had caused a stroke or maybe even a heart attack.

  “Rafe.” Joss tightened her grip on my arm, and I drew her closer.

  “Are you okay? What was that? That jolt?”


  She nodded, slowly and deliberately, just once. Her eyes were riveted across the room, and I followed the direction of her stare.

  Amidst the milling people, the women weeping quietly and men shaking their heads helplessly, one person stood perfectly still. It was the girl I’d noticed earlier, the non-descript brown mousy woman who’d sat at the end of the table, part of the Chatham group. She had left her seat and was standing close to the door, staring at the scene in front of us.

  A chill ran down my spine as she lifted her eyes to meet mine. She glanced at Jocelyn, raised one eyebrow in a sort of mock salute and smiled.

  “What the hell was that?” We were back in my room, finally. It seemed liked it had been hours since we’d left for the meeting, but it was only mid-afternoon.

  “I have no idea. I’ve never seen anything like today before.” Joss collapsed onto my sofa, rubbing her forehead.

  “She killed him, didn’t she? That chick. The plain one, who looked like a mouse.”

  “Yeah, the mouse that roared.” Joss covered her eyes. “I think she did. I don’t know, though. I’ve never met anyone who could do that. Maybe it was just coincidence. But no, I don’t think it was. You felt that shot of power, right? Went right through Donald and hit us. My God.”

  She sniffled a little, and I remembered that Jocelyn had actually known the man whose body we had watched the medical examiner’s team carry out of that meeting room, less than an hour before. She had met him, talked with him about this job, what he wanted, why he wanted it. Donald wasn’t just some client to her; he was a real person, and now he was gone.

  I didn’t know how to comfort a grieving girl. When Tasmyn had almost killed Amber, I had been all action, moving to protect Tas from taking the blame and doing anything I could to save both of my friends. There hadn’t been time for me to offer a shoulder for crying.

  But in this situation, there was nothing I could do to make things easier for Joss. I sat down next to her and slid an arm beneath her head. She leaned against my chest with a sigh.

  “I know what you’re thinking, Rafe. You’re wondering how long you have to sit here and hold me. Just give me a minute. Then I need to call Cathryn.”

  “I was not thinking that. For God’s sake, Joss, give me some credit.” I gritted my teeth, thinking that the last thing I needed was to get involved with another female who could hear minds. I believed Jocelyn when she told me that wasn’t within her powers, but she did seem to read me well.

  She was quiet, just lying still against the beating of my heart. I breathed in the scent of her hair, that wonderful orange scent. Her skin was so pale that I could almost see the blood flowing in the fine veins on her temple. For such a strong woman, she felt very fragile at the moment.

  “Rafe, I understand if you want to walk away right now. We—well, the legal department for Carruthers—they might ask you to sign some kind of confidentiality agreement, just for the sake of covering our asses. But today was not the norm for us. That should have been a piece of cake. I still can’t wrap my mind around it. Why on earth...it wasn’t that big a deal. Just two companies merging.”

  “Could someone have known we were there? I mean, why we were there? That Carruthers was involved?”

  She shook her head, moving it against my chest. “I don’t see how. Other than you, it was all in-house.” She swiveled her eyes up to meet mine. “You didn’t tell anyone, right? After you left my room this morning, you didn’t call your grandparents? Or anyone else?”

  I bit back a hot denial. Right now, Joss was so shaken up, I understood she was trying to find an explanation. I almost wished I could give her one.

  “No, I didn’t call anyone. I came back here, got a shower and put on my clothes. You got here before I was even dressed. I didn’t talk to a soul, I swear.”

  She sagged against me again. “I know you didn’t. I’m sorry. It would be easier if it were you. Because the alternative...” Her voice trailed off.

  “Is someone at Carruthers, right?” I brushed back her hair where it had fallen into her eyes.

  “Yes. Or some kind of infiltration, a bug planted somewhere. We never had that kind of worry before, at least that I’ve known about. We’re all careful, and we’re all discreet. We do routine sweeps all the time.” She sighed and sat up. “Okay, pity party is officially over. Sorry about that.”

  “Hey, you’re allowed a little weakness, too, you know. Especially when you see someone get zapped down right in front of you.”

  She laughed, but the sound didn’t have any humor. “Right. I’m going back to my hotel room, tell them I need another night. My baggage is all there, waiting for me to go to the airport. I was supposed to be on a six o’clock flight. I’ll change that, find out what Cathryn wants us to do.” She swung her eyes back to me. “I mean, what she wants me to do. Don’t worry, Rafe, you’re off the hook.”

  “What if I don’t want to be?” The words were out again, before I could think about saying them. What the hell was going on with my mouth lately? I wondered if Jocelyn had some power that she hadn’t told me about, a paranormal truth serum.

  She was staring at me now, lips parted and eyes wide. “What do you mean?”

  I didn’t know what I meant, but apparently that didn’t stop me from answering. “I mean, what if I want to be part of this? I watched some screwed-up shit happen this afternoon. I want to figure out what happened. And why. And I think I want to work with you. With Carruthers, I mean.”

  Joss didn’t move for a few moments. Her eyes stayed glued to mine, and then the barest hint of a smile began to play around her lips.

  “I think we can arrange that.”

  ***

  “WHOA! THINK YOU could take those curves a little slower?” I gripped the oh-shit handle on the door and glared at Jocelyn. “I’d like to make it there in one piece.”

  She laughed, tossing her head back. “Oh, come on, Rafe. Live a little. I promise, I’m a perfectly safe driver. Besides, we’re almost there.”

  I wasn’t really sure where there was, but it was good to know we were going to be to it soon. The last two days had been a chaotic mess of change and travel, even for someone like me who thrived on last minute plans.

  Joss had phoned Cathryn from my hotel room and brought her up to speed on the whole Donald McCall mess. I could tell from the tension on Joss’s face that it was not an easy story to tell. Sharing the news that I’d agreed to come on board only softened the blow a little.

  “Cathryn wants us back at Carruthers, right away.” Joss set down her phone and turned to me. “She’s booking us on a flight tomorrow morning. Are you cool with that?”

  I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of returning to Florida, but if that was what my new bosses wanted, I guessed it was what I would be doing. I nodded.

  “I’ll need to go get a room for tonight and deal with my bags at the St. Marie.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her shoulder, sighing.

  “Why don’t you just stay here with me tonight? Call the hotel, and have them send your bags over. It’s just for one night. It makes sense.”

  Joss eyed me for a minute. “Are you sure? That seems like a mighty bold move for a guy who’s been sleeping through the tourists in the Quarter.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not proposing to you, Joss. Get over yourself. After the day we’ve had, easy is better. We’ll have dinner sent up here and just chill for the night.”

  And that’s exactly what we did. I had a large pizza with the works delivered to my room, which made Joss laugh. We demolished it along with a six-pack of beer, and then we sat in bed, watching old episodes of Friends.

  Joss ended the night lying close to me, with her head on my chest. She glanced up. “Don’t take this as a reflection of your animal magnetism or sex appeal, but I’m going to fall asleep in a few minutes. If you wanted wild monkey sex, I’m not your girl tonight. Sorry.”

  I smiled and twirled a lock of her hair around my finger. “That’s okay. I’m beat, too. S
omeone kept me up almost all night, banging my brains out. I need my beauty sleep.”

  She giggled, sleepy already. I sank down a little lower onto the pillows.

  When I woke up a few hours later, with the lights and television still on, Jocelyn was wrapped around me. Her head was nestled under my chin, and her arm was securely over my waist. But instead of feeling smothered or panicked, I smiled and reached to turn everything off without disturbing her.

  We got on an airplane the next morning at Louis B. Armstrong Airport and landed back in my home state before noon. A sedate gray BMW was waiting for us in the parking lot, and Joss insisted on driving.

  “You don’t know where you’re going. You might get us lost.” She turned the key in the ignition.

  “I wouldn’t if you navigated, gave me directions.” I tossed her bag into the back seat and scowled out the window. “Besides, it has nothing to do with that. You just like being in control.”

  She turned that blinding smile on me. “That I do, my friend. So deal with it and shut up.”

  I dealt with it, and I even shut up for most of the drive. At least until the road started getting curvy, and Joss didn’t slow down. I wasn’t a wuss when I drove, but she made me crazy.

  “What kind of car do you have?” The question was abrupt, and I frowned at Joss.

  “Don’t you know that from my dossier?” I still wasn’t over the fact that she knew so much about me, when my facts about her life were few and vague.

  “Rafe, if we’re going to be working together, one of the ground rules should be, if I ask you a question, you answer it. If I ask, I didn’t read it in your history. Okay?”

  “Sure.” I turned back to the window. “Back at my grandparents’ house, I have a 1967 Impala. It was my dad’s, and he left it in King when he married my mom and moved to California. He always said that when I could drive, we’d fly back to Florida, pick up the Impala and drive it across the country, and then it would be mine. But we never got to do that. So when I moved in with my grandparents, they gave it to me.”