She’d admitted who she was at least, he’d take that for now. “Can I sit down?”
“Please do.” She held her hand out to one of the empty chairs around the table and he took the one across from her. “How are you?”
“I’m good, how are you?” It wasn’t the speech he’d rehearsed in his head for a decade, but it was something, at least.
“Good. Did you know it was me when you hired me?” She didn’t beat around the bush, but then, she never had.
“I wasn’t totally sure, no,” he finally admitted.
He watched her, noted how she chewed over the information, and saw how her eyes narrowed. She had some kind of plan then.
She might not be Chloe anymore, but he knew she was in there somewhere. He just had to bring her back. If he could break through this hardened façade she’d built around herself. She’d obviously come up with some kind of plan and that’s why she was out here talking to him now.
“Listen, I need a favor.” She wrung her hands and leaned back in her chair before she came back towards him to put her elbows on the table. She was anxious about something and when she pulled her lip in between her teeth and went quiet he knew she was really stressing about it.
“If you’re about to ask me to keep this a secret, well, I can only do so much. People have been looking for you, you know?” He held his hands out in a ‘what can I do?’ fashion and shrugged.
“People, huh? Yeah, I know who those people are, and I don’t want anything to do with them. My life is fine, just the way it is.” Her New York accent, blunted by years in the south, came back in an instant.
“I know what you mean.” His life was fine the way it was, especially now that he’d found her. He didn’t want his life to change, not really, even if he was lonely. He wanted kids but he’d adopt if he had to one day. A wife wasn’t necessary at all, not to raise children.
“Right. I do want you to keep my secret, but that’s not all.” She paused, took a deep breath, and finally brought those soul-capturing blue eyes up to his. “I want you to loan me some money.”
“How much?” It was an automatic question, but he wasn’t expecting the answer.
“It’s a huge amount. 150 grand. But I don’t just want a loan, I have a watch, my mother’s Chopard watch. I’ll give it to you to hold until I can pay the money back.” She reached for her phone while his eyebrows reached for his hairline.
What did she need with 150 grand?
“This is it.” She handed him her phone and he saw the watch he’d caught a brief glimpse of the night her parents died. He remembered it well because of the unbelievable number of diamonds the impractical piece was covered with.
“Nobody will want it with a dead woman’s name engraved on it.” He replied without thinking. “Sorry.”
“No, you’re just being honest. I could pawn it back home, but that leaves a paper trail, questions might get raised, and I wouldn’t get what it’s worth.” Roxie sighed, as if she’d spent a whole lot of time finding out exactly what would happen before she even came to New York. He had a feeling that’s exactly what she’d done.
“I’d guess the diamonds are worth that much.” He said quietly, thinking it over. “Why do you need the money, again?”
He should have mentioned the inheritance, should have mentioned his former stepfather was looking for her, but for some reason, he decided to hold that information back.
“My boyfriend Nathan needs it for bail. He’s been arrested for burning down my old place, but I know he wouldn’t do something like that.”
“The guy that burned down Elmo’s?” He asked, stunned that he’d been so close to her without even knowing it. If he’d dug into that Nathan dick’s life a little more, he’d have found her. Un-fucking-believable.
“Yeah, how did you know about that? Did Dylan mention it?” Her eyebrows pulled together until he nodded.
“Yeah, Dylan mentioned it. He was there with his wife, right?” Lincoln asked, his eyes back down on the phone. He couldn’t tell her he’d had a guy investigating the crime for a while.
“Yeah, I was too. I was one of the owners.” She shrugged and looked away, out at the moonlight dancing on the water. Probably reliving that night if the way she shivered meant anything.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He sat back in the chair and looked over at her, waiting for her beautiful face to come back to his.
He waited for a while. She was too lost in her own thoughts to be present for the moment. When she did turn back, he saw a woman haunted by more than just the distant past. It was a look that made his heart ache for her.
“Nathan’s alone. He has nobody, just like me. Dylan offered to pay the bail and I know I have no right to ask you, but you’re the only one that would give me what the watch is worth. I don’t want charity. I just want a fair deal.” She swallowed, pursed her lips, and brushed her hair out of her face when the wind blew it into her eyes.
“You know he’s probably going to go to prison, right? There’s a lot of evidence he was the one that did it.” He didn’t move, didn’t try to touch her, just spoke quietly, and waited.
Tears popped into her eyes and her lips twisted as if her nose itched. “I know that, but, even if he’s guilty, I have to try. When I met him, he was a good guy. I’d have married him if he’d stayed that same man. But he didn’t. Something happened and he turned into someone else. I have to give him a chance to form some kind of defense and he can’t do that if he’s locked up in jail.”
“And if he runs and you lose the bail money?” Lincoln asked softly, wanting to make sure she understood the risk. He’d wanted to rip the guy’s head off before he found out what he was to Roxie. Now, he wanted to just straight-up stuff the man in a suitcase and drop him in the bay.
“So be it. I’ll have done what I could. I’ll have done what nobody else bothered to do for him.” She said and Lincoln knew she still had a heart of gold, under all that tough exterior. Even now she pulled her chin up to stare at him with defiance burning in her eyes.
“I see.” He said, stalling for time to think. He knew that asshole would probably run and Roxie wouldn’t get her money back. Lincoln had thrown away more than that on weekends in Greece, he had it to spare, so why not? But he didn’t want her to lose that kind of money. It was life-changing money, and it was her mother’s watch. Did she really want to let that go if she still had it after all this time? She’d held onto it for a reason. Was this Nathan guy worth it?
“I’ll agree to this, on one condition.” He finally said, an idea coming to life in his head.
“What condition?” She pulled back, looking at him warily.
“I want you to work for me. For one year.” He held up a single finger, showing her that was the only string attached.
“I’m not moving to fucking New York!” She declared, shaking her head vehemently.
“And you won’t have to.” He shook his head in time with her, a smile forming on his face. “You won’t have to tell anyone who you are, or what you’re doing, you just have to give me one year of your life. Or I’ll sell the watch.”
“Forget it. Like you said, nobody will want the watch with a dead woman’s name engraved on it, even if the diamonds are worth that much. I’m not moving back to New York, not even to get Nathan out of jail.” She sat back, her arms wrapped under her breasts, as if to shield herself from him.
“And I said you won’t have to.” He reminded her, staring at her with smiling brown eyes.
“What kind of work?”
“I’ll think of something.” He winked at her this time, which only seemed to make her more nervous, as he knew it would. He was kind of enjoying having her in this tight spot.
“So, if I work for you for a year, you’ll give me the watch back, no strings attached?” She repeated it all, as if to make sure she understood him correctly.
“You have my word.” He offered her his hand and she stared at it, uncertain for a long moment.
“Fine.” She took his hand and shook. From the dread on her face, he had to wonder what kind of work she thought he had in mind. He wasn’t a monster, but he did want his money’s worth out of her. And he’d get it one way or another, he thought, with a twisted smile.
8
Roxie
“I’ve paid the bail, you can go pick him up.” Lincoln sent a text message to Roxie the next day.
She’d flown back home that morning and had gone straight to bed. She slept for six hours and woke up to the news from Lincoln. Good, that kept the money out of her bank account and away from wandering eyes. She had a bank account in her fake name, after some help from an old friend to create her new identity, but she rarely used it. The account was a way to prove her identity, nothing more, when she applied for her driver’s license and to pay her car insurance.
She’d give Lincoln credit for being smart enough to realize she didn’t want the questions that would come from such a large deposit and for going through with his commitment. Now, that just meant she had to follow through with hers.
The idea of working for Lincoln bothered her in many ways. Yeah, they had history, but most of that history consisted of him and his friends teasing her for one reason or another. And then Lincoln had figured out she had a crush on his stepbrother, Liam, and that only made matters worse. Then there was that whole trauma-fest from the night her parents died.
Sprawling out on her couch, feeling overwhelmed with worry, defeat, and far too much stress, Roxie stared up at her ceiling, trying to find the energy to get dressed and go pick up her wayward boyfriend. That is, if he was still her boyfriend. He’d disappeared long before the police started looking for him. She put her hands over her eyes and groaned a long, loud sound of frustration.
“Holy fucking moly, what the hell am I going to do?” Not for the first time in her life, Roxie was in a tough spot with an overwhelming number of problems that seemed insurmountable.
She didn’t want to think about her past or the absolute worst days of her life, so she got up off the couch, dressed, picked up her bag and keys, and did the only thing she could do. She drove down to the police station to pick up Nathan.
“Hey, babe. I’m so sorry I disappeared on you.” He said as soon as he slid into the passenger seat. “I’m so glad you’re here, I’ve missed you.”
His hair was too long now, he looked exhausted, and his eyes kept shifting around like he was waiting for an attack, but he was there. He kissed her, but she pulled away quickly. She’d bailed him out because she was all he had, that didn’t mean she was completely, utterly stupid. Well, maybe she was, she decided as she pulled out of the police station lot, but she hadn’t completely gone over the edge.
“You hungry?” She asked, knowing she had nothing in the house he would eat.
“Yeah, let’s get something to eat.” He replied and sat back in the seat as though it was the first time he’d relaxed in weeks. Maybe even months.
That tugged at her heartstrings. She’d thought she’d loved him at one point. But he changed, not her.
As she pulled into the parking lot of a place adored by tourists and locals alike, Roxie’s thoughts started to spin. By the time they got out of the car, she was ready to confront him.
“Listen, Nathan, I need to know something. And I know I should probably wait, but I have to know. Did you burn down Elmo’s? And if you did, why?” She stood there in the afternoon sunshine, hands on hips covered in short denim shorts, a cropped black tank top displaying her toned abdomen.
“Babe.” He drawled in that southern twang that used to make her knees melt but now only made them lock up. He had a pleading tone in his voice that she ignored while she stared at him blankly. “Okay, look. Come here.”
He cupped her left elbow and pulled her to the back of her car, where they’d have more privacy. He looked around again with his constantly shifting eyes before he looked down at her. For a moment she saw the old Nathan, the one she wanted back so much.
“I needed the money, okay. I owned part of Elmo’s too, okay? I needed the insurance money.” He tried to lean in to kiss her neck, something he’d always done to distract her, but she pulled back and shook her head.
“Nope. Nuh-uh, you aren’t distracting me like that. Why didn’t you ask me for money? I’d have helped you out.” She knew it was probably because he’d have had to admit he had a problem, and he didn’t want to do that.
“Look, babe, you don’t have the kind of money I needed.” He started, but then his eyes darted to the entrance of the parking lot. The squeal of wheels against pavement made him nervous for some reason and Roxie looked around to see a gray van pull up with windows only in the front.
“Fuck,” Nathan whispered, but she heard him. “See ya, babe.”
“What?” Roxie started to ask but Nathan was already running.
A side door slid open on the van and Roxie saw a man squatting there, waiting. To pull Nathan inside.
“Nathan, what’s going on?” She called out, but Nathan didn’t look back. The man inside, a bald guy that Roxie didn’t recognize, glared at her as the van passed her, heading for Nathan. But he’d already made it out of the parking lot and was headed for a strip mall next to a row of houses.
What the actual fuck?
The door on the van closed as Roxie watched its driver reverse and head out of the parking lot. Should she call the cops? She wondered as she stood there, watching the whole thing take place. This was…insane.
Her stomach rumbled so she went into the restaurant, ordered some food, and then stayed in the parking lot to eat in case Nathan came back. This was all crazy and maybe she was in shock, she wasn’t sure, but she felt stupidly calm. Sure, she should be screaming, running after the man even, maybe even calling the cops, but there were two things wrong with that.
One, she wanted to avoid the cops as much as possible. They asked questions that might lead to more questions she didn’t want to answer about her own life. She’d avoided them since she left New York a decade ago, and she didn’t want to go to them now.
Second, Nathan had just been bailed out of jail. If she called to report this, they might see it as him running from justice. They’d declare him a fugitive or something and then she’d never get her money back. Besides, he wouldn’t screw her so completely, would he?
Was he really that far gone?
She crumpled up the garbage from her dinner and put it in the trash before she left the parking lot. She liked to keep order in her life and trash in her car would drive her crazy. That was the last thing she needed right now.
Worry ate at her as she drove home. Would Nathan be there? Would he not be there? Which would be worse?
She couldn’t decide and by the time she opened the door to her apartment, it was almost a relief to find the place empty. There were no signs of Nathan hanging around somewhere outside either. What the fuck was she supposed to do? She wondered, even as relief flooded through her.
Guilt soon mixed with that relief, but she ignored that. Nathan had admitted to burning down the place where she worked, the place she’d invested a lot of time and money into. Anger simmered underneath it all, anger that he’d been so selfish but so very stupid too. Because it was arson, none of them would get any money from the insurance company so he’d not only screwed himself, but he’d also screwed her. And if he didn’t show up for court, he’d screw her even harder.
The relief she felt at arriving home quickly evaporated and she was about to drown in confusion when she heard a knock at her door just before Wendy stepped in. “Hey, honey, I’ve closed up for the night downstairs but thought I’d come up to check on you. How are you doing?”
“Oh, damn! I meant to bring that Dolce dress back down to you this morning! I’m so sorry.” Roxie stood up to go get the dress for Wendy, but Wendy stopped her by taking her left hand and tugging at it until Roxie sat back down.
“You’re about to blow, what’s going on?” Wendy’s face was a mask of con
cern and Roxie felt bad about that.
“It’s just…Nathan.” She shrugged and held her hands out. “I got him out of jail a little while ago and we stopped for some food, but these guys pulled up in a van and I guess they tried to kidnap him or something, but he took off, and now I don’t know whether he’s a fugitive or just running to hide from those guys until his court date and I’m totally fucked.”
“Wow.” Wendy’s eyes grew big and round as the words poured out of Roxie in a stream. “That’s a lot.”
“That’s not even all of it.” Roxie blew air out between pursed lips and tried to calm down. “A guy from my past showed up at that event last night.”
“A guy from your past?” The confusion came back to Wendy’s face and Roxie cringed. Even Wendy didn’t know about her past. Emily didn’t either, for that matter. Nobody in her ‘new’ life did.
“Just a guy I knew in high school.” Roxie brushed it off, feeling like an idiot for letting that slip. “Anyway, he’s offered me a job and I’m going to take it.”
“But I thought you wanted to do the classes,” Wendy said, lost again.
“I did, but this is a more permanent job, I think.” She hoped, she meant. “That other gig would be better for Kitty, I think.”
That wasn’t the total truth, but it would stop any further questions and Roxie was nothing if not good at evading questions.
Okay, she was an awesome dancer, and even better at some things she wasn’t about to think about now, but evading questions was a skill she’d perfected long ago.
“Well, that’s good news then.” Wendy’s frown turned into a smile and she leaned back against Roxie’s couch. “It’s not all bad then.”
“No, I guess not.” Roxie wore the frown this time, still not sure what Lincoln had in mind. He had a life in New York, obviously, what would he do down here? What would he want her to do, more importantly?
“I tell you what, let’s have a girl’s night in. You’ve been asking me to do your hair for a while, we’ll do that and forget about your troubles for a while, shall we?” Wendy’s face was bright and happy now, eager to cheer her friend up.
Dancing With Lies (Barre To Bar Book 1) Page 9