Lethal Seduction: A CIA Romantic Suspense (CIA Agents Book 1)

by Roxy Sinclaire

  I gave her one more chance to answer. I really wished she would have picked up so I wouldn’t have to make the walk over to her place, and also because I was a little afraid to have this conversation face to face.

  Reluctantly, I got up and walked over to her dorm. On the way, I rehearsed what I would say to Alice. I wanted to make sure she understood how much danger she was in.

  Once I got to her door, I took a deep breath and knocked. Instead of Alice’s annoyed face, it was Lori who answered the door.

  “Hi,” she said, looking confused.

  “Is Alice here?” I asked, looking around their tiny room.

  “She just left.”

  “What?” I asked, but it was more of a rhetorical question. First, she said that she would be home all weekend, then she said that he would call on Sunday.

  “She went out for dinner. She should be home in a few hours.”

  “With whom?” I asked, my heart rate increasing.

  “Why does it matter?”

  “It isn’t Chris, is it?”

  “Yeah, actually, it is.”

  I felt my hands clench into fists. “Where did she go?”

  “Leave Alice alone. She doesn’t want this drama. She deserves a good guy who will treat her right. If you cared about her, you would leave her alone.”

  “You don’t understand,” I said, my voice rising. “He isn’t the good guy she thinks he is. He’s dangerous, and I need to warn her.”

  Lori blinked a few times, trying to process the information I was telling her.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “It’s a long story, but he has a history of mistreating women. Where did she go?”

  “I think they have a reservation at that one French restaurant. The one on 17th and L. She left a few minutes ago, so if you want to catch her, you should get going.”

  Without another word to Lori, I sprinted out of the dorm room and out of the building. I hoped I wasn’t too late. I ran down the street toward the restaurant. I had been there once before on a date with a cheerleader during my freshman year.

  It was a pretty fancy restaurant for her to be going with just a casual friend. I should know. The only reason that I ever went there was because I knew that I would get laid for certain afterward. There was something about going to a fancy dinner that got women going. They spend all evening getting ready for a sexy night out, so when they get back to the house, they want to make sure their hard work making themselves look good pays off. I think that the effort they put in to turn the guy on just turns them on.

  Luckily, I was in shape from football conditioning, so I ran the whole way there. Finally, I saw her, strutting in a tight red dress with black heels, about a block ahead of me. I surged ahead and grabbed her by the crook of her arm, almost knocking over.

  “Hey,” she screamed.

  When she caught her balance and saw who had grabbed her, the look of shock on her face turned to fury.

  “What is wrong with you?” she squawked at me. I was afraid that she was going to start crying.

  “I’m sorry. I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

  “I heard your messages. We can talk eventually, but not right now. If you can’t tell, I’m meeting someone for dinner.”

  “Chris,” I corrected her.

  She threw her hands up in exasperation. “So?”

  “He’s not the guy you think he is. He isn’t as nice and thoughtful as you may think.”

  “You’ve never met him! You’re just jealous that I chose him over you. It wasn’t a difficult choice. Do you know that?”

  I relaxed my grip on Alice’s arm. I was ready to give up.

  “I’m here because I found out something crazy about Chris and I was afraid for you. You don’t have to ever talk to me again if you don’t want to, but I need you to listen to me for ten minutes.”

  “Make it two. I’m going to be late.”

  “Jack went to high school with Chris, and they used to play games to see who could hook up with the most girls. One time, they tried to see who could have a girlfriend for the longest amount of time.”

  “That’s weird, but I don’t see what the big deal is.”

  “The girl tried to break up with him, and he drugged her and posed her in a way that made it look like she was going to kill herself or something because he broke up with her. He totally got away with it, too. He nearly killed a girl, Alice. That could happen to you if you don’t watch out.”

  Alice was smiling in response to my story, and it was freaking me out.

  “Chris told me all about it. Nice try,” she said.

  “What did he tell you?”

  “He told me about the time he saved his ex-girlfriend’s life and her crazy parents blamed him for it. You know that there was no way she would be able to remember anything. I bet she was embarrassed about what she did and tried to pin it on Chris to make herself look better.”

  I laughed out of frustration. “Of course. Of course he would tell you that. Isn’t this the guy who once cheated on you? What makes you think he won’t cheat on you again?”

  “You don’t believe in second chances? I guess you don’t. You wouldn’t even let me explain a little misunderstanding and ran off to your lake house.”

  “That was hardly life and death.”

  “Neither is this. You’re letting yourself believe hurtful rumors about a nice guy who would never hurt me again. He learned his lesson the first time he lost me. I don’t think he’d be so quick to do it again.”

  “So after everything I’ve told you, you’re still going to have dinner with that monster?”

  “Yes, and it would be nice if you would let go of me so I could get there before he starts wondering where I am.”

  I released her arm, letting it flop down to her side. There was nothing more that I could do. If she wouldn’t listen to me, I couldn’t help her. As I watched her storm off, I couldn’t help but feel defeated. Not only could I not help her, but I knew for certain that she would never speak to me again.

  “Alice,” I called out to her. I was shocked to see that she actually turned around.

  “What?”

  “I just want you to know that I’m sorry about how things ended up.”

  “Sorry? We slept together. You got what you wanted.”

  “That’s not what I want.”

  “Ha. Then what is it that you want?”

  “I wanted to be with you. I don’t want to just hook up anymore. I like having you around. It’s not just about the sex for me. I really like you, and no one has ever made me feel this way before.”

  In my fantasy, she’d hear me confess my feelings for her and drop Chris for me. I would take her in my arms and we would hold each other.

  Instead, she turned around and continued to walk away.

  “You should have thought about that before you broke my heart, Shawn Rider.”

  Just like that, it was finished. While I couldn’t shake her hold on me, she proved to me that there were other men out there who were better than me. There was nothing more for me to do, so I walked home alone just as the sun was dipping below the clouds.

  I could stop pursuing Alice as a romantic partner, but I would never stop worrying about her wellbeing. I cared about her too much to let her run into the open arms of a dangerous man.

  Alice

  When I got to the door of the restaurant, I turned around to make sure that Shawn wasn’t following me. How dare he get into my business and come up with some ridiculous rumor just to get me to take him back?

  I was also slightly shaken to hear an account, no matter how insane, of Chris nearly killing his girlfriend. I knew all about that rumor. A few months after I started dating Chris, a girl at a party approached me in the bathroom and said that there was a story going around about Chris and that it wasn’t good.

  My young and naïve self just went straight to Chris to ask him what the rumor was. When I asked, he was really upset that someone had soug
ht me out to tell me an awful lie. He told me his side of the story, and it honestly made a lot of sense to me. He’s a handsome, smart, popular kid, and his girlfriend just did something really serious for no reason. Of course her family and friends didn’t want to assume that she was drinking and doing pills. It would be easier to sue the kid whose parents were well off.

  Hearing all that made me feel really bad for Chris. I knew that he was a good guy and that the rumor really hurt his reputation in his hometown. When he came to college, he was able to leave most of that behind except for the handful of high school classmates who couldn’t leave the past in the past. It wasn’t about “protecting” women to them. It was about dragging Chris’s good name through the mud.

  Something in the back of my mind made it necessary to stand outside the restaurant for a moment and catch my breath. What would compel Shawn to go to the great lengths to find me and chase me down the street just to tell me that I need to watch out for Chris? It did make me question my trust in Chris. I was fully prepared to give him a second chance because he had shown me in the last few months that he was putting in an effort to be good to me when he had no obligation to do so.

  I looked at my phone. that whole interaction caused me to be ten minutes late for the date. I hoped that Chris wouldn’t ask where I was. I wasn’t sure if I could force myself to mention Shawn or the rumor.

  “Hello,” I said to the hostess, finally composed. “I’m meeting Chris Lane. I’m guessing he’s already seated. I’m running a little late.”

  She checked her list. “I’m sorry, we don’t have any waiting parties here at this time. Would you like to wait for him here, or would you like to be seated?”

  That caught me off guard. At least I wouldn’t have to explain my tardiness.

  My stomach growled. “I’m sure he’ll be here really soon. You can go ahead and seat me.”

  The waitress immediately brought me a glass of water and a basket of assorted breads. I wanted to wait for Chris before I started eating, but I was starving. I sneakily ripped a baguette in half and stuffed it in my mouth.

  This only whetted my palate. As I waited, I ended up eating a few more rolls. I would have finished the basket if it weren’t for the fact that I didn’t want Chris to notice that I had been impatient.

  Now, he was over thirty minutes late. I had read through the entire menu about five times now, and I was ready to order on a moment’s notice. I almost ordered an appetizer for myself, but I didn’t want Chris to see it on the bill.

  Finally, he was escorted back to our table. He plopped down into his chair and picked up a menu.

  “Hey,” he said. “How’s it going?”

  “Good,” I responded because how I was actually feeling was too much for a greeting.

  Chris just continued to look at the menu, not acknowledging that he was extremely late or the fact that I had spent over an hour getting ready. I wanted to make myself look so good that he couldn’t stop looking at me, and I don’t think he even looked over at me once.

  “Are you ready to order, or do you need more time?” the waiter asked.

  I opened my mouth to order, but Chris answered for us.

  “Can you give us a few minutes?”

  “Certainly. Would you like some more bread for the table?”

  “No, this is enough,” Chris said without even looking.

  Maybe it was just my hunger, but I was getting really annoyed with him. Not only was he late, but he wasn’t remorseful whatsoever.

  After what seemed like an eternity, the waiter appeared to take our orders. I nearly snapped at Chris as he hemmed and hawed over the long list of choices. Now that he was here, I took a piece of bread from the basket and ate it like it was my first of the night.

  “Have you finished the report on the survey results yet?” he asked.

  “I haven’t had the time,” I responded. “I had to work on my homework today.”

  “Oh,” he said, clearly disappointed. “Let me know when you have that finished. I need to look over it and pass it along to our faculty advisor.”

  I nodded. How could he expect me to do all this work at once? I wasn’t as smart as him. No one was. I felt foolish for wasting an hour getting ready for the date when I could have spent it getting work done.

  A waitress came over to the table and refilled our glasses of water. As she poured, she bent down to reach the glasses—a little too low, if you ask me. I watched Chris’s eyes follow her heaving bosom up and down. When she stood back up, he looked her right in the eyes and gave her a smirk.

  I don’t know if he thought I wouldn’t notice or if he just didn’t care. He totally checked that girl out in front of me and wasn’t even discreet about it. I was suddenly very self-conscious of my small chest.

  I couldn’t believe that he would do that to me. Anger bubbled up inside me. I didn’t want to have an outburst, so I excused myself to go to the bathroom.

  I sat on the toilet seat and took a few deep, calming breaths. When I got back to the table, I would be calm and understanding. It was just guys being guys—I shouldn’t be so upset over a simple look. After all, I have never been the jealous type.

  Once I felt relaxed, I went back to the table. Chris was on his phone with the waitress standing behind him, giggling. She bolted when I returned.

  “What was that all about?” I asked, trying to stay calm.

  “Nothing. Jeez, are you jealous?”

  This set me over the edge.

  “I didn’t want to mention it, but I’ve had another person tell me about the incident with your high school girlfriend.”

  He froze. “What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t make me say it. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

  “What exactly did you hear?”

  I wrung my hands. “I heard that you were the one who gave that girl the drugs and alcohol to make her pass out.”

  “Why would I do that? We had already broken up.”

  “Because you wanted to make it look like she was all torn up about getting dumped.”

  “That’s insane. Who told you this?”

  “I don’t want to say.”

  “Tell me,” he ordered. “It wasn’t Jack, was it? I know he’s friends with that Shawn guy. Fuck, I’d kill them both if I saw them on the street.”

  I shot him a look.

  “Oh, calm down,” he said. “I mean it in a figurative way.”

  “So you promise you didn’t give her the booze and roofies?”

  “Sleeping pills,” he corrected. “I know you haven’t taken any pharmacology courses yet, but you should know that patients using those drugs sometimes black out.”

  I could tell he was starting to get flustered because his face was turning red.

  “And then her parents just found her passed out?” I drilled.

  “Yes!” he exclaimed. “Let it go, Alice. Leave it in the past.”

  My stomach dropped. The stories didn’t match up. According to Shawn, he went back to her house to call the cops. That wasn’t a minor detail. He also knew way too much about what happens when you mix alcohol and prescription sleeping pills.

  I had caught him in a lie.

  I think he noticed, too, because he excused himself to go to the bathroom, probably to wipe the sweat forming on his forehead.

  While he was gone, I started weighing the pros and cons of being in a relationship with Chris. Sure, he made me feel the highest of highs, but being with him also presented the lowest of lows. He had cheated on me once, though, and after confronting him, I felt like I couldn’t trust him anymore.

  If I broke things off with Chris, then I’d be alone. I liked Shawn, but that relationship would never work. We weren’t even dating and we’d already had a major fight. There was no going back from that.

  Chris was gone for quite a while. I was starting to get a little nervous that something might be wrong. In my mind, I imagined him crawling out a window and escaping our date.

/>   I walked toward the hallway toward the restrooms. I didn’t have a plan, but I figured I could ask the next man who exited the bathroom if he saw Chris in there.

  As I lingered outside the bathrooms, I heard a woman making awful noises from the separate unisex bathroom. It sounded like a combination of a shriek and a groan. I lightly rapped on the door to see if it would stop. She made the noise again. I would have just ignored it, but it sounded like someone was hurt or ill. I turned the unlocked handle and peeked my head inside.

  There, I saw a glimpse of the busty waitress with her skirt around her waist, and Chris with his pants down around his ankles, thrusting into her.

  “What the fuck!” I screamed.

  They both stopped when they noticed they weren’t alone anymore. The girl turned white and tugged her clothes back on, trying to get out of the tiny room as quickly as possible. Chris grabbed his pants and yanked them back up.

  “Alice, I can explain.”

  “I don’t want to hear it. It’s over. You and your research project can fuck right off. I never want to see or hear from you again.”

  “Think about your future, Alice,” he said. “You’ll never get an opportunity like this again. No one would have given you something like this—no one but me.”

  “I’m glad that I was warned about you. You don’t deserve a second chance.”

  “Fine,” he said calmly. “You can choose to believe false statements given to you by jealous men or you can trust someone you’ve had a deep and intimate relationship with.”

  “Trust you?” I scoffed. “This is the second time I’ve caught you with another girl when you were supposed to be with me. There is something wrong with you. You are crazy to think that you could ever get away with this.”

  He grabbed my wrist and squeezed. “Never call me crazy again,” he growled. “Don’t speak about things you don’t know.”

  I wrenched myself away from him, rubbing my sore wrist. Briskly walking back to the table, I pulled a few bills from my purse and set them on the table. I didn’t want to owe him anything. Before he could catch up with me, I strode to the door, and when I hit the chill of the night air, I ran.