by Karen Deen
“At your service, young lady. I didn’t spend years in the police fraud department to forget what I’m doing. I may be retired, but I’m not old and washed up. Let’s get these troublemakers and stop them in their tracks. I’ll be over shortly, tell Beth I’m home for dinner. That woman’s cooking is second to none.”
“Sounds perfect.” I hang up knowing there’s one more person I still need to talk to today.
The man I can’t stop thinking about but have been petrified to call.
I can’t put it off any longer.
With sweaty palms and shaking fingers, I push the button.
“Mason.” That’s when my voice disappears, and I almost stop breathing.
7
Paige
“PAIGE, THANK GOD. Are you okay, is your dad okay?” He sounds worried, yet it calms me. I’m trying to talk but suddenly my throat is all choked with emotions and tears are starting. “Paige, talk to me. Please don’t cry. Is it your dad?” He’s getting distressed, and I’m struggling to get my voice working.
“No, there’s no change.” The tears are really coming now.
“Is it you? Do you need me?” I can hear him getting more worried by the minute, yet I can’t stop the emotion.
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” Fuck, what’s wrong with me? I’m never emotional or not in control.
“Let me help you. Your first answer was yes. Let’s go with your true feelings. My gut’s telling me there’s something more than your father going on. Please, Paige.” He’s almost begging me to let him support me.
“I can’t. It’s not that simple. I need to do this on my own.” I’m slowly pulling myself together.
“Like fuck you do, woman! You’re so damn stubborn. Stop trying to be superwoman. You don’t need to do this by yourself. Yet you keep pushing me away.” The frustration in his voice has me feeling it too. I wish things were different.
“You don’t understand, Mason. There’s so much I can’t tell you. So much depends on me. Don’t worry, I’ll work it out. I just needed to hear your voice.”
“No, you don’t get to do this, Paige. You can’t call me every time you’re scared. Then I’m wanting to kill whoever’s doing this to you, but you aren’t letting me into your life. Do you realize what it’s like on the other end of this phone, hearing you cry and not knowing where you are or how to get to you?” Mason’s voice is full of real emotion. How has this man who’s been in my life for months, turned a switch that‘s got every word he’s saying pulling on my heart.
“I’m sorry. I’m being selfish. Not thinking about what I’m doing. Forget about it all. No more pathetic phone calls. I’m fine.” I fight back the rejection, or what feels like rejection.
“Fine! If I hear you say fine one more time, I swear to god, Paige. No one’s ever fine. Fine is a nothing word. You hear me loud and clear. When I finally have you in my bed, naked and feeling safe in my arms, holding you tight—” He pauses, hearing me gasp, then continues on, “There’s going to be a little game we’ll play. I’m counting the number of fines you give me, and I’ll leave you to guess what the number will be used to count. So just think about that. The next time you try to tell me you’re fine, when clearly, you’re not, being able to sit down may become a luxury.”
I can’t help but burst out laughing. If I don’t laugh, then this warm tingling that’s running through my body might just overtake my emotions.
“Feeling pretty sure of yourself, are you? Who said you will have me anywhere near your bed, and naked in any way?”
His breathing is still strong and coming through the phone. “Life’s short, Paige. When your heart reaches out and connects with another, you don’t walk away. I. Am. Not. Walking. Away. Now stop pushing.” Calm breathing and determination in his tone has me shaking.
“You have to. This can’t happen. We can only be friends. You work for me.” There it is. I said it. The thing we have been skirting around for a few days. Like a bucket of water onto a fire.
“Who cares! If it’s a problem, I quit,” Mason argues.
“No!” I scream down the phone. “You keep me safe. I need you to be my pilot. I trust you. Especially now. I need you to be the one who looks after me.” We both go silent. I’ve said more than I should’ve. Finally, he understands that I need him in the only way I can allow.
“I’ll be your private pilot, Paige. I’ll keep you safe. Whether you like it or not. I’ll protect you, even if it’s from yourself. One day, you’ll hopefully let me be more than that. I’ll see you on your next flight. Until then, I hope you’re fine.” Then he’s gone. No noise on the end of the phone. Just stone, cold silence.
“Paige, you idiot what have you done?” I smack my forehead with my palm. My phone falling into my lap, I drop my head to the desk on top of my arms and cry. I‘ve been holding it in and only letting little bits go. I need to get this out and pull my shit together.
In a minute, I’ll be strong. I just need one minute. Or maybe ten.
~
“Thanks for dinner, Beth. As always, it’s yummy. I’m going to put on weight if I stay here too long. Daddy better improve quickly otherwise I won’t fit my clothes.” She smiles at me as she clears away the dishes on the table. Uncle Franco laughs at me.
“I’ve seen you eat crazy amounts of ice cream even as a little girl, and you’ve never changed. Keep eating and forget about how you look. No matter what, you will always be beautiful to us.” Passing his plate to Beth, he stands and holds out his hand to help me up.
“Let’s chat about this little problem we have.” Following him upstairs to the office, I feel a small amount of comfort that finally I can talk to someone about this. I’m still hurting from earlier, but I’m pushing it down and putting the company first. Just like Daddy says. The company comes first, even before me. That’s what I’m doing.
“Start at the beginning, then let’s get this solved.” Franco sits opposite me at Daddy’s desk, leaning back in the chair with his foot resting up on his opposite knee. I wish I felt as relaxed as he appears. He doesn’t have the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“It’s all come out of left field and the timing could not be worse with Daddy sick.” I pull up the files on my computer that I’ve been working on today.
“I had a meeting with the government officials that we liaise with for the contracts with the defense department last week. As you know, to continue holding these contracts for the supply of technology parts, we are under constant surveillance. We knew that when we signed the deal.” Franco nods his head at me to let me know he’s following and to keep going.
“The meeting was a routine one, or so I thought. Tyson was sick so I was on my own. I don’t know if that’s why they chose to tell me that day or I would’ve found out anyway.” I take a breath and turn the screen so we could both see the reports.
“They’re finding discrepancies in the invoicing and the number of physical parts being delivered. That’s bad to start with. But the problem I’m finding is the invoices going to them are for a higher amount, yet those invoices don’t appear in my system. The figures in my system are for what is delivered. The payments we receive in the bank account are more than what my system has outstanding. So, on the three invoices where it has happened, there is a refund entry for overpayment. Digging further today, the refund that is going back is not to the bank account for the department we deal with.” This has him sitting forward on his seat and starting to scan the screen. I can see that he’s paying attention now.
“I have the bank account number, but no way of tracing whose account it is, and I’m sure it then gets transferred somewhere else anyway. It’s never simple. I’ve loaded it all onto a thumb drive for you to take and look at. We’re talking two-hundred-and-fifty thousand odd dollars over the three payments. Sure, on a thirty-seven-million-dollar contract, it’s small change. Reality is, though, it’s a lot of damn money, and someone is embezzling it from us and making it look like we’re stealing from
the government. Our reputation will be ruined if this gets out. It’s also put a black mark against us for future contracts.
“I need to find this person or people fast and get the money back. I’ll be transferring the money back to the government tomorrow and try to blame just an inventory problem and give a thousand apologies. Hopefully it will be enough, and it’ll get buried and forgotten about before our contract comes up for renewal.”
Flopping back into the chair, I’m exhausted.
“The worst thing is feeling so embarrassed that someone else found it rather than me. It slipped under my radar and I had no idea. Now I’m panicking that there are more fraudulent invoices out there with other companies and I just don’t know about it yet.”
“Paige, we’ll find these bastards, and then I’ll personally make sure they pay for what they’re doing. I hate to agree, but I’m sure there’ll be more invoices to be found. They usually start small to see if the system picks it up, and then the amounts escalate. I think there’ll be more people involved than just one. Someone needs access to delete some of the programming on the accounting software that does the double-checking for this, plus others. The most important thing is that you tell no one about this. We need them to try again so we can grab them and follow the trail. In the meantime, I need access to your system, I’ll start investigating tonight. It’ll be better than the crappy crime novel I’m reading. The author has done no research and everything’s just so unbelievable.” He’s laughing at himself now. “I know they’re stories and don’t have to be perfectly accurate with reality. But just a little would be nice.
“Now, you, my dear, are a very lucky lady. Not every little girl has an Uncle Franco who’s a fraud investigator at her fingertips. Know this, though, princess, I won’t stop until I get them. I promise we will get this sorted.”
Feeling like part of the weight I’ve been carrying for days starts to lift off my shoulders, I stand and embrace him in a hug.
“Tell Aunt Veronica I’m sorry. I know you retired to spend more time with her,” I whisper into his shoulder as he gives me the comfort hug I’m needing tonight.
“Don’t be silly, Paigey. She already wants to kill me since I’ve retired. Apparently, I can be annoying. Go figure. Plus, she won’t even know what I’m doing most of the time. She’s too busy with her head in some romance book, or binge watching some show that all her friends tell her she must watch. You leave Aunt Veronica to me. Now let’s get to work. The night is still young.” He walks out of the office only to return a few minutes later with his bag and starts pulling out two laptops and several folders. He means business.
“Can I ask one more favor?” I look at him, hoping he sees how important this is.
“I know what you’re going to say, and I agree. We don’t need to tell your father until he’s fully recovered. We’ll have it solved by then anyway.” He looks down and continues to type.
“How did you know?” I’m stunned.
“It’s written all over your face. Work, my girl, time’s a wasting.” With that, we both get into the system and start dissecting all the major orders we’ve shipped in the last six months.
It’s going to be a long night.
At least it’ll take my mind off things.
More to the point, make my heart stop longing for what it can’t have.
Mason
“For fuck’s sake, damn stubborn woman!” I scream at no one as I’m pressing end on the phone.
I pace my apartment back and forth.
“Why can’t she just tell me what the hell’s going on? Oh no, she’s some highflying businesswoman who doesn’t need help. Well, I’ve got news for her. She’s getting my help even if she doesn’t want it. I might not know what the drama is, but I’ll work it out.” Picking up my basketball, I bounce it as I pace.
“This is why I don’t do relationships. They’re fucking infuriating, these women. I never know which way I’m supposed to turn. Bad luck for her that this time, I’m calling the shots. She may think we’re just friends. But I know it’s more than that. When she’s ready to admit it too, then things will get very interesting. I’m going to fuck that stubbornness right out of her. She won’t have enough energy left to say my name after the numerous times she’s been screaming it all night. No one can kiss like that and not want more.” The whole time I’m ranting to myself, my cock is getting hard thinking about her feistiness.
This woman has me so hot under the collar I’m talking to myself. What the hell’s going on?
My counselor is going to love it when I tell her this. Will probably even laugh out loud. At least someone will get humor out of it.
My mind goes to the boys. Tate would absolutely lose it if he knew I’m yelling at the walls in my apartment and talking to myself all over a woman. I can imagine him doubled over in here laughing so hard he can’t breathe. He can laugh all he likes, this’ll happen to him one day too.
I had the best day with the kids, but now Paige’s got me on edge again. The adrenaline’s pumping, and I won’t be able to settle for a while. Time to hit the gym. Work it out, or more to the point, work her out of my system. For the next few hours, anyway. I know it won’t last long.
Running on the treadmill is so mind-numbing. Picking up speed, music cranked, I focus on one foot in front of the other. Thump, thump, thump. The repetitive noise of my feet hitting the machine. It reminds me of the noise of the rotors on my chopper. Their drone becomes a noise that’s comforting when you’re in the air. It helps keep you calm, that everything’s still moving the way it should be. If the blades stop, we’re down and not in a good way.
Thinking about my army days has me so off in my own little world I don’t even hear or see Bent walk up next to me, until he pats me on the shoulder. I almost take him out with a fist. You don’t sneak up on a trained soldier. Jumping off, I pull my ear buds out so I can talk.
“So sorry, man, didn’t mean to startle you.” Bent laughs as I try to slow my breathing down.
“All good. Sorry, I was thinking about something and didn’t even see you. How are you doing, got the night off?” He leans against the wall next to the treadmill while he’s stretching before he starts.
“Yeah, Ms. Ellen’s staying at her father’s taking care of him. He has a driver too. We’re taking alternate shifts. Her dad’s pretty sick.”
“I know, she told me she’s staying with him and not flying until he improves. Knew it must be serious for her to cancel meetings. Is his place near here? I haven’t seen you at this gym before.” I try to sound casual but want to see what he’ll tell me. Which should be nothing if he’s doing his job right and keeping his boss’s privacy. But we have a good relationship and he knows she trusts me, so it’s enough to keep him talking.
“Yeah, he has this big house close by which is awesome. It’s old school, you know with the big circular drive and fountain out front but looks beautiful. I’m staying in the servants’ quarters. This is the closest gym to there. I can’t go a day without a good workout, so I thought I’d get one under my belt while she’s all settled in for the night.”
My mind’s going crazy. I want to smash his face for virtually giving me her address, yet all I’m thinking is how quick I can get out of here to drive by and check it out.
“Setup looks pretty good here. You come here much?” Bent’s on the treadmill now and warming up. I figure I should keep going through my workout, seeing what else I can learn about Paige from her driver. They hear and see everything, but normally never repeat it. Let’s see what Bent wants to share tonight with those loose lips.
“Most days or nights. Just depends on my flight schedule or the weather. Sometimes I prefer to be running outside. I’ve also got some buddies I train with, so depends on when they’re available.” I’m back running but not at full speed and haven’t bothered with the music yet.
“Happy to train with you anytime I’m here, or if you want a running partner. I ran here tonight, I’m like you and enj
oy some fresh air sometimes too,” he says and I tuck that fact away for later.
“Yeah, how long do you think the boss will be staying at her father’s place?” I start with the first innocent question.
“Don’t know, but I’m guessing at least a few days if not longer. He’s on oxygen and he’s eighty-one years old. Not sure how well they bounce back at that age.” He’s so blasé about someone that Paige is very attached to and distraught over.
“I’m sure the boss is hoping he gets better quickly. She seems close to her father.” I don’t know much about her family; she’s never mentioned a mother so I’m guessing she has already passed away or isn’t around.
“They’re really close. She visits a lot. If he didn’t have the heart attack a few years ago, I’m sure he’d still be running the company. He’s damn stubborn, the old guy.” That makes a lot of sense. Must be where his headstrong daughter gets it from.
Coming to the end of the run, we’re both sweating profusely.
“That’s enough for me tonight. Time to cool down.” Pushing the button, the machine lowers the incline and the speed. Bent follows with his machine. I wipe the sweat off with my towel and then clean the machine.
“Hey, do you need a lift home? I’ve got my car so I can drop you off if you don’t feel like running?” Plan A into action.
“That would be great, man. I think I’ve done enough for one night. You pushed me hard. Trying to keep up with you is a struggle.” I laugh at him sucking in the breaths. I’ve always been fit, but once I joined the army, I was trained hard. I’ve never really stopped.
“No problem, just let me have a quick shower. I’ll only be ten minutes, tops.” I grab my towel and head for the locker room. Within minutes I’m walking back out and see Bent trying to chat up a woman at the counter. Yeah, good luck, buddy.