The cons weren’t that bad either. There was a nondisclosure agreement I had to sign that Clive found questionable if I observed any illegal activities; he wanted more specifics on expectations relating to overnight service and travel; and he thought I should be higher on the salary schedule due to my extensive military service.
All in all, it was as good an opportunity as I’d thought.
I wanted it. I wanted it like I’d wanted to re-enlist with the Marines over and over again. The very idea of it made me feel like I had a purpose again. A real shot at doing something I cared about for decent money, and this time close to the people I loved.
But if I signed it right now, I knew my chances with Meredith were out the window. And that ate at me. If I reacted this strongly to losing the chance to get to know her better, who knew how intense things could be if we actually managed to get anywhere.
“Fuck.”
I blindly reached for my phone, realized I didn’t have Mere’s number, and settled for an ineffective Instagram direct message.
Tonya: How are you doing?
It was late, and I didn’t expect her to respond, but shockingly my phone pinged only a moment later.
Meredith: I’m okay.
Tonya: Why didn’t you tell me you went home?
Meredith: It’s fine. Chester is here. One of the guards on my dad’s team.
Tonya: He’s there 24/7?
Meredith: No, they were here in three shifts. I’m starting to feel stupid with all of this manpower being used on me.
Tonya: That other guy is still out there though.
Meredith: No, he got picked up earlier today.
Tonya: For real? That’s great. Are you sure it’s him?
Meredith: Well, I don’t know. I’m hoping his friend sold him out, but I have to meet with an investigator tomorrow.
Tonya: Want me to come?
She stopped responding. I wondered if it was because she didn’t want to see me or if it was because she did. Not knowing kept me up for the rest of the damn night.
I woke up covered in sweat, sunlight streaming into my face, with the contract on my mind. I was almost positive I’d had a dream about going to the precinct with Meredith to talk to the investigator only to have the damn cop start quizzing me about the contract’s clauses.
A quick glance at my phone showed Meredith had never replied, and that it was seven in the morning. I had no jobs assigned today, which wasn’t entirely shocking—I guess Redline just saved me for queer events—but I stumbled into the kitchen to find coffee. Instead, I found Victor in a suit. He looked like a gang member about to face a judge.
“Where the hell are you going?”
Victor jerked his thumb at the already-brewed coffeepot. “Stone’s office.”
I froze with my hand on the handle of the carafe. “You serious?”
“As a fucking heart attack, sis.” He jerked at his tie. “Seems too good to be true, but I have nothing to lose, right?”
“Yeah. Especially if you getting a job with him means you getting up off my couch.”
Victor smirked. “Go get yourself dressed and come with me. He’s just having a preliminary meeting with me, but you’re pretty much guaranteed a job if you really want it.”
I hesitated and dropped my gaze to the coffeepot. My mind still hadn’t made a decision about what to do, which was a pretty big indicator that I was more into Meredith than I’d let myself admit before this weekend. The usual me would have already moved on this, but here I was—dragging my feet. Over a girl. I lived my life pretty much trying to never do shit that would later leave me regretful and full of shoulda-couldas.
Frustration choked me and turned me off everything. Even coffee.
“Let me get dressed,” I said finally. “I can at least talk to the guy.”
Maybe he’d know which precinct Meredith was at.
Compared to Victor’s suit, I’d already felt bummy in my too-much-fabric-for-ninety-eight-degrees outfit of jeans and flannel, but I felt like a complete slob once we stepped foot into Stone Capital. It was one thing to abstractly know someone was rich, but it was another to see evidence of it.
The place had marble floors—or at least floors shined to a marble finish—windows with stained glass, giant paintings with golden frames, and all the furniture was plush and velvety. It was also completely silent except for the receptionist. I felt skeptical that real people worked in these opulent conditions. I’d constantly worry about messing something up.
I ran a hand over my hair, glancing around as Victor spoke to the receptionist, and was glad the place seemed so vacant as we were led to a small conference room. It looked like a hotel room but minus a bed and plus a giant wooden table.
“Let me talk to him first,” I said once we were sitting side by side. “I’m not staying for long.”
Victor shook his head. “You’re being dumb.”
He was right, but I still glared at him until he resumed his close observation of the room. Back in the day, I’d wonder if he was scoping the place to see what he could steal. Now, I just wondered if he was picturing himself working for a man who had an office like this. I honestly couldn’t see it, but Victor had only been back for a few days, and my most vivid memories of him involved violence against my friends, and him hanging out with people who were now sitting in Rikers. As I studied the tattoos climbing up his thick neck, and the face that looked far younger when not gnarled into a glare, I wondered how many of those same friends could have changed for the better had they had the same chance Steph and her uncle had given Victor.
“Stop looking at me,” he griped.
I snorted, which was when the door opened. I got to my feet and Victor followed half a beat later. Kenneth entered with a gorgeous woman with mahogany skin and a close-cropped haircut.
“Good morning,” he said, looking between us. “This is Shonda, my lifeline.”
“His executive assistant,” Shonda said, sitting down with a tablet. She was all business in a way I appreciated, and now I wondered if that was why Kenneth had kept smiling and nodding at me during our first meeting. I had the same kind of no-nonsense lack of interest in wasting time with pleasantries. “I only had Quinones down for this meeting.”
“I only came to ask Mr. Stone a couple of questions,” I said. “If that’s okay? I’ll set up a separate meeting at another time.”
“We can set it up now.” Shonda set a small portable keyboard in front of the tablet and clacked at the keys. “I have an opening for—”
“Thanks, but I haven’t made a decision on what I want to do yet, so I’d rather wait.”
Shonda pursed her lips and said nothing.
Internally cringing at how tacky I was being, I looked over at Kenneth. “Can I have two minutes of your time? Separately?”
He stone-faced me, and I couldn’t blame him for it. I’d party crashed hard, and I was making Victor’s preliminary meeting about me. Grimacing, I shot Victor a look.
“Sorry, Vic.”
He raised his hands, and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Yeah, he’d changed.
“Two minutes, Sergeant Maldonado,” Kenneth said, and turned to step into the hall. I thought he would lead me to his office or somewhere more discreet, but he simply crossed his arms over his chest. “Speak.”
“Do you know which precinct Meredith is meeting the investigator at?”
His head jerked back enough to betray his surprise, but he just as quickly shifted to staring down his pointy nose at me. “That’s what you wanted to discuss?”
“That’s most of it.” Nerves shot through me, spreading beneath my skin, but I held his gaze and kept my chin up. I’d bet he was used to people who feared going toe to toe with a billionaire hedge fund manager in a sharp suit, but that was before he’d faced off with a Maldonado. “She should have someone with her besides a bodyguard. She’s tough, but that was scary shit, and she needs support. That doesn’t make her weak.”
“I didn’
t say it did.”
“You’re not saying much of anything.” My words were flinging at him, bullets full of bad attitude and impatience, so I tried to dial it back. Put myself in his shoes and think of how I’d react if I were him, and some punk-ass twenty-seven-year-old in ripped-up jeans had stormed my office, interrupted a meeting, and was now demanding answers. If I were him, I’d have thrown my ass out. I rolled my shoulders and adjusted my stance. “I’d be very grateful if you helped me to support Meredith. We’d planned to go together, and I’d like to follow through.”
“Why didn’t you call her?”
“I don’t have her number.”
“Even though you—” Kenneth stopped and looked close to clutching his pearls. He cleared his throat. “Is this why you’re debating not taking my offer? Because you want to have a relationship with Meredith?”
“Maybe.” I looked around, lowering my voice. “And maybe I want you to tell me why I should work for a man who has such a bad relationship with someone I might want a future with.”
The condescending down-the-nose stare returned. “If this is your approach to a job—”
“It’s not. Trust me on that. But this isn’t exactly a normal situation, Stone. You came by my house unexpected to make an offer after I got out of bed with your daughter. And she proceeded to walk the hell out of my apartment like I’d told her I was considering a job as a necrophiliac gravedigger.” His lips twitched, and I moved closer, dropping my voice again. “Look, I don’t know why you want me on your staff—”
“You’re a decorated Marine who served multiple tours in Afghanistan. You earned a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for heroism in combat. There were stories about it in the news. And as I said before . . .” He glanced at the door to the conference room before returning his steady stare to me. “Meredith’s judgment says a lot about a person.”
“So, does that mean I shouldn’t take the job because she hates you?”
Judging by the clench of his jaw, Kenneth wasn’t used to people coming at him hard and direct. He blinked at me slowly, pursing his lips and then obviously trying to relax his face before speaking again. “My relationship with my children is, to be blunt, fucked. I saw them as miniature versions of me and was frustrated when that turned out not to be the case. It wasn’t until very recently that I realized I was wrong.” When I continued to watch him, he added, “I don’t talk about my family with anyone, let alone strangers, so that should show you how invested I am in acquiring you.”
“But why me?” I demanded. “There’s a bunch of former Marines looking for a job.”
He exhaled through his nose, resembling a pissed-off bull. “After I looked into your background, following my viewing of the surveillance tape, I realized you identified as queer. Then I realized you’re connected to my son’s . . .” I watched him struggle to describe who Chris was to Aiden, and relished every moment, “my son’s other significant other.” His nostrils flared again. He didn’t have the vocab or the understanding, and I could not help but privately enjoy his struggle even though I appreciated his effort. “I specifically want a set of guards who my children would be comfortable with, so Shonda suggested I look for people who are, as she put it, queer. I took the suggestion in the hopes that Caleb and Meredith would accept my assistance.”
“What about Aiden?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Don’t you want him and his fam to be safe too?”
“Yes, but his husband actually speaks to me. We get along perfectly well.”
My eyebrows shot up but instead of asking how the hell he had a good relationship with Jace, of all people, I said, “If you’re still looking for new people, there’s a guy I work with at Redline who might interest you. Also former military and openly gay. His name is Stavros.”
“Thank you for the recommendation, but am I now pursuing him instead of you?”
I shrugged, still torn on the answer, even though the idea of being hired to personally provide protection to people who mattered to me sounded pretty fucking great.
“I’ll let you know. Now, do you know what precinct she’s at?”
I left his office in midtown and practically flew to the R train to Brooklyn. The train came quickly, but I still couldn’t seem to get to the precinct fast enough. Realistically, I knew Meredith would be fine. I knew it was entirely possible that she’d glare at me and ask why I’d bothered to show up at all, or maybe even be confused at my mixed signals. But it was also possible that she’d been serious that night, and that she’d actually felt safe with me. Some people didn’t value their word, but I’d grown up knowing it was all I had.
After shoving my way through the crowded subway and sprinting up the stairs two at a time, I stripped off my flannel shirt, balled it in my hand, and ran to the station without once stopping for air. I knew it was ridiculous, I was being really extra in a way that was cringeworthy as hell, but I tended to have a sense about these things. Right now that sense was telling me to haul ass so I could see the girl who might someday be my girl.
I stopped in front of the precinct, breathing hard, and looked around. There were cops lingering on the steps, but there were also paparazzi snapping pictures across the street. It wasn’t the kind of side show that would have gone down if Ashton had been the one inside giving a statement, and I was glad for it. I had no idea how that kid functioned when there was always a camera up his ass.
I climbed the steps, steeling myself to go into a place that usually put me on edge, and nearly barreled into Meredith as she stepped out. She dropped her purse, eyes going wide, and reared back.
“Holy shit!”
“Sorry,” I said quickly, picking up her bag. “My fault.”
“No, it’s fine.” She put a hand to her heart and took a deep breath. “I’m just being ridiculous and jumpy.”
“You’re not being ridiculous. You have a right to be jumpy.”
Meredith’s mouth tipped up, and her gaze skated over my sweaty outfit. She wet her lips and looked away, squinting down at the car waiting on the curb. It was a black Lincoln with tinted windows, and I bet one of her dad’s people was inside. It was confirmed when she grimaced a little.
“I guess you have a ride,” I said dryly. “Sorry. I wanted to be there for you and dropped the ball.”
“You didn’t. I was the one—” She broke off and glanced at the cops lingering nearby. They had mostly stopped talking, and I wondered if they were actually all up in our business instead of talking about whatever cops talked about. “I was the one who didn’t answer you. I was being childish, I know.”
“No. Well, maybe.”
Meredith smirked and pressed the tips of her fingers against my shoulder. “Gotta love the brutal honesty.”
“It’s one of my best qualities,” I deadpanned.
“I agree.” Meredith walked farther down the stairs, hesitated, and grabbed my hand. “Is that invitation to talk still open?”
“Of course.”
A giant soundless exhale escaped her, and she beamed like it was Christmas morning. It was so bright and infectious I couldn’t help returning her smile, or pulling her to me to brush my lips to her cheek, photographers be damned.
“Your car or my, uh, subway?” I asked in her ear.
“I could ask Chester to drive us to Queens?”
My mouth ticked up. “We can go to your place, Meredith. Unless you don’t want to for a reason besides trying to placate me.”
“God, I can’t get away with shit with you.”
She dragged me to the town car and practically threw me into the back. Only when she got in behind me did I notice the bright-yellow, and incredibly thin, dress she was wearing with her big boots.
“Chester, can you take us to South Jamaica?”
Chester glanced in the rearview mirror. He looked at me, seemed confused, and then frowned. “Where in South Jamaica?”
“Um . . . wherever the F train stops on Sutphin Boulevard?”
“Just drop us by the
civil courthouse on Sutphin,” I said. “We can walk from there.”
He gave me another skeptical stare, and I knew for damn sure he wasn’t going to just let us wander away. Meredith seemed to know too, because her well-formed mouth sank into a frown. I didn’t know what part of this was getting to her, but I assumed it was having to be shadowed by someone who already wasn’t too thrilled with driving her around. He was also looking at me like I’d just busted into the car thinking it was a dollar cab.
“I thought you said these guys were nice.”
She shrugged. “They were when I was little. Now, my father is forcing them to be my chauffeur and they’re salty.”
In the front seat, Chester rolled his eyes without responding. Either he knew Meredith well enough to know engaging in a petty argument would get him nowhere, or he’d known her long enough to let her comments roll off his back.
“I guess that’s why my father is trying to hire more staff.” Mere nudged me with her knee. “Anyway, I’m just irritated in general. I do wish you’d been in there with me, because I kept forgetting shit. Maybe they’ll talk to you next?”
“Probably. Or we can go back together.”
Her hand found mine, fingers sliding together. “They didn’t tell me all the details because they’re still investigating, but the second guy was picked up at his house in Staten Island.”
I scoffed. “Figures.”
“I know, right?” Meredith shook her head. “The cop, Detective Henson, didn’t say it outright, but I think the guy’s friend had to have turned him in, unless they identified him some other way.”
“If they tracked him through surveillance cameras to a car or something, they could have. But I know literally nothing about criminal investigations and something like that would probably take longer than two days.”
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