Phillip’s eyes sparkled in amusement, his thin lips twitching up. His brows perked as he asked, “Now why would I throw you out?” He took a sip of his martini before setting it down on the balustrade and turning his body so he could get a better view of Andie.
“If you can’t think of a reason,” she said, avoiding his eyes, “I’m not going to provide you with one.”
This caused him to chuckle. “Did you get my message?” he asked.
“What message?” Andie asked, glancing up so she was looking at him.
“I wanted to personally offer you the internship,” he said. She looked up at him suspiciously. Another chuckle escaped his lips. “What? I’m being serious.”
“I may not be as esteemed as you are, but I’m not stupid,” she said. “I don’t like being taken advantage of, and people in this town have a knack for doing just that to other people. So excuse me for not believing you. I’m reactive, but I won’t be anyone’s joke.”
“I’m going to be honest with you,” he said, shifting his weight and sliding his left hand in his slacks pocket. “You are probably the only person in Onyx who was actually honest with me. And I need that. So what do you say?”
Andie stared up at him, trying to decipher if the man was being honest or not. He looked genuine enough, but then again, he was supposed to.
“You’re not messing with me, are you?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “Because if you are, I just want you to know that karma will come back around and bite you in the ass.” She was so intent that she didn’t realize she had just cursed at him.
“I’m sure it will,” he said with a smile. “But to answer your question, no, I’m not messing with you.” He stuck out his right hand, the inquiring look still present on his face as he gazed at her patiently. “So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?”
Andie hesitated, but the fact of the matter was that this was one of the few internships offered to high school students that actually paid, and her family needed the money. She chewed the bottom of her lip before placing her hand in his. It was warm, big, and instead of being soft like she had assumed, it was rough. If she inspected it, she would probably find calluses decorating his palm. Andie found this bizarre. If he was wealthy and rarely did manual labor, why would his hands be rough?
The odd handshake ended as a drop-dead gorgeous woman—a supermodel Andie recognized from the latest spread in Cosmopolitan—slipped her arm through Jack’s, causing his hand to slip out of his pocket. She regarded Andie with a cool stare, which forced Andie to press her lips together in order not to laugh. Was this woman really threatened by her? She was a supermodel for goodness’ sake, whereas Andie was a high school student who worked at the Spirit Museum and occasionally took a waitressing job in order to help out Carey’s mom and her family could always use the extra money. Someone needed to get their confidence in check, and it wasn’t Andie.
“Come on, Jack,” she said, looking up at him with her hazel eyes. Andie saw Jack’s brow twitch, but it smoothed in an instant. “There’s a group of people who want to meet you.”
Jack nodded and looked at Andie again. “I’ll see you at one o’clock Monday afternoon then,” he told her before heading into the party.
Andie shook her head, watching him leave. She pinched herself to make sure this wasn’t a dream and found that, no, this was actually reality. She had gotten an internship from Jack Phillip himself.
5
Keirah
Keirah would never admit it, but she took extra care in getting ready for work the next day. Fridays were known as a paperwork day, where she got to leave at three instead of five, and as such, Keirah could come in dressed casually. Even so, she still decided to grab a pair of slacks and a nice shirt. The only clients—if there were any clients—were scheduled for the morning. That, however, changed with the arrival of Noir. He was scheduled for an hour-long session with Dr. Hawkins Mondays through Fridays at exactly one o’clock. Because the client was high-risk and deemed a first priority from District Attorney Lucas Burr, Hawkins couldn’t show up late. The schedule was impossibly strict and Keirah wasn’t sure if the doctor would be able to make such a drastic character change in a twenty-four hour span. However, much to Keirah’s surprise, a couple of minutes before one, in walked the doctor, throwing a hurried nod to Keirah before heading into the room without a word.
At one, Officer Hiro walked in with Noir by his side, chains clanging with each step he took. Keirah sucked in her breath as she watched the criminal. She knew she shouldn’t; she should be typing up an essay due on Monday or confirming appointments, but she couldn’t help it. He was looking at her too, those hazel eyes shining gold and his head turned at such an unnatural angle she was surprised it hadn’t fallen off. Then he winked at her and let out a high-pitched laugh before disappearing down the hall.
Keirah let out a shaky breath and sprang up, quickly heading over to the cooler for a glass of water. Unconsciously, she reached up to fiddle with one tendril of hair that managed to escape the confines of her clip. By the time she sat back down, determined to at least write the hook of the essay, Dr. Hawkins emerged from her room and approached her.
“Keirah?”
Keirah looked up, taken aback. Once Dr. Hawkins began her sessions, she never disturbed them, especially not to talk to her intern.
“Listen, what I’m going to ask from you is a lot. A hell of a lot, really. If we had any other options, I wouldn’t be in front of you. You understand how dangerous Noir is and how necessary it is to get any kind of information out of him, even if it’s just talking about the weather.”
“Yes …” Keirah furrowed her brow. “I don’t understand what any of this has to do with me.” She glanced down the hall at Hiro, hoping he might have some answers for her. Instead, he was still in his rightful position, guarding the door, looking at Keirah expectantly.
“Well, apparently those few seconds you shared together really left an impression on him, because he refused to speak to me unless you are in the room.” A pause, and then her violet-brown eyes softened. “I know it’s asking a lot, and if you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to. I wouldn’t blame you. No one would.”
Keirah sucked her bottom lip in underneath her front teeth. She would be sitting a few feet away from Onyx’s most notorious criminal. He would be looking at her with eyes that stole her breath and caused every single hair on her body to stand erect. She was nervous and scared, but there was a very small part of her that was excited by the prospect. This was what she wanted to do with her life; she wanted to talk to psychotic criminals, try and understand them, try to fix them. And there was no one who needed fixing more than Noir.
After rubbing her lips together, she nodded, not trusting her voice. Dr. Hawkins nodded in return and went to go lock her front office door. Keirah stood from her seat, smoothing out the wrinkles on her high-waisted slacks, willing her hands not to shake. She followed Hawkins into the room. The fact that Hiro thought to whisper, “Good luck,” did nothing to make her feel better.
The minute she stepped into the room, Keirah could feel his eyes latch onto her. She avoided them for as long as possible. They were the type of eyes that could see through her, like she was a shard of glass, and she didn’t want to give him access to her soul. It wasn’t likely he would return it. She heard Hawkins shut the door and take her seat. There wasn’t any other place for Keirah, so she stood at a right angle between Hawkins and Noir.
“Okay, now what—”
“Yanno,” he interrupted Dr. Hawkins, his eyes still fixed on Keirah, “there’s plenty of room by me for you to um … sit down.”
Keirah forced her brown eyes to lock with his. “I’ll stand,” she said through clenched teeth.
“No, no, no, that won’t do.” He craned his neck so he faced Hawkins. “You. You stand.” His tone had darkened; it actually sounded dangerous. Keirah thought the doctor might actually do it.
Instead, Hawkins blinked once and
stated in a stern voice, “She’s here like you asked. She can stand.”
“No.” His eyes were bronzed glaciers. “You stand. She sitsss.” He drew out the syllable, sounding like a snake.
Dr. Hawkins looked as though she was about to object again. Keirah’s thoughts were the same. Instead, she clenched her jaw, causing the muscle to pop. She stood up and headed over to where Keirah stood, telling her to take her seat without moving her mouth. As Keirah sunk her frame into the chair, her eyes found the indent in Noir’s collarbone before the bright orange prison jumpsuit took over. She hadn’t realized that such an innocuous part of a man’s body could be so … masculine.
“I, ah, see you checkin’ out my, uh, prison garb-ah,” he said, raising his dark brows and then running his tongue along his lips. He glanced down at his own attire before locking eyes with hers. “Me,” he began, and all at once wrinkled his small nose in disgust, causing it to crinkle. “I, uh … well, I really don’t like the color orange. Too bright. Too bold-ah. Red, you see, I lo-ooo-ove the color red. It signifies um … contradiction. Love or hate. Passsion or anger. It’s, uh, too bad they don’t have uniforms in my color. I might like it more.” He blinked.
It was silent for a moment then Noir pushed his brow up again, indicating he expected something. “Your turn, dear,” he said. “I said something, now you say something.”
Keirah glanced at Hawkins who pressed her lips together and nodded her head, indicating that Keirah could speak.
“Why do you commit crimes?”
The question was out of her mouth before she could think to stop it, which caused two things to happen simultaneously: Hawkins let out a sigh through her nose—an indicator that she was not happy with Keirah—and Noir threw his head back and let out a cackle.
“I-I-I … you see, I don’t really like rules,” he explained, shrugging his shoulders and interlocking his fingers. Hawkins started writing, but he ignored her. “Now you answer my question. Are you intimidated by lil’ ol’ me?”
“No.” At least she hadn’t stuttered.
“Au contraire, sunshine,” he said gleefully. “I think you are. I think I’m already under your skin. And, you see, this might be a problem for you because it would seem that once I’m under someone’s ssskin, I’m there forever.”
Keirah unconsciously gulped at his indirect threat, but strained her muscles to keep a passive look on her face. She gritted her teeth together, thinking, before cocking her brow and asking, “And what about you? Has anyone ever crawled under your skin?”
The reaction she received was another one of those blood-curdling cackles. “Now,” he said. “That would be, hum … rather silly, wouldn’t it? It’s as silly as the doc,” he nodded at Hawkins but still refused to look at her, “taking me on as a patient. And you, talking to me. What drew you?” he asked, standing up.
Keirah glanced at Hawkins, but she made no move to get him to sit back down.
He took a step toward Keirah and she sprang up, if only to better protect herself. “My handsome good looks? Wanna figure out how Noir ticksss?” He took a step forward, she took a step back. Why wasn’t Hawkins doing anything except writing? Somehow, Keirah’s heart managed to project itself loudly in her ears. “Tick … tick … tick.” She had no idea how he did it, but every tick was in time with her beating heart. If this had been anyone but Noir and she was anyone else but herself, it might have been almost magical. Keirah’s back finally hit the wall behind her, and he smacked his lips before tilting his head to the side. “Or maybe you wanted to dance? You take a step, I take a step. But where to go when your back hits the wall?” He leaned forward, his yellow teeth clenched in a vice grip, and he snarled at her. “You’re trapped, doll-face. And that’s what you’ll be if we keep this little dance going.”
She wanted to run, but her legs wouldn’t move. Hawkins was still writing, not bothering to tell him to sit down. She had to take care of this herself. She had to prove that she could do things herself, that she didn't need everyone doing everything for her the way Andie earned the money for their family even though Keirah was older. She refused to hear her mother's voice in her head, You can't do anything right.
“I’ll take my chances,” she said as coldly as she could manage.
Noir began to laugh, a bit more guttural than before, but it still produced the same results. Fear buried itself deep within her subconscious so that when she walked out of the office, it stayed within her. It would never leave her now.
“It would seem-ah that I’ve found someone as c-rrr-azy as I am,” he drawled.
Keirah knew those words would stay with her for the rest of her life.
6
Reese
Reese would rather be at home in her Victoria’s Secret Pink sweats watching a Law and Order: SVU marathon than at a party where she would no doubt be the youngest person there. However, she could never say no to her father, and after eating a Caesar salad and a side of fries for an early dinner, she and her mother went out for a mani-pedi before getting their hair done at Chez Pink.
“I know you need to update your wardrobe, sweetie,” her mother had said. “We’ll go shopping tomorrow.”
Reese managed to find the perfect outfit: a pink halter dress that wasn’t too short and showed off her curves while still remaining classy. As cliché as it sounded, it was her favorite color, and if she had to spend her Friday night with droll rich people, she could at least look good while doing so.
The party was being thrown by Jack Phillip, her father’s new boss and “close, personal acquaintance.” As her father drove, he explained that no one knew much about Jack Phillip except that he graduated from Harvard Business School at twenty years old, and before that, went to boarding school in Wales. His parents were incredibly wealthy, owning a slew of successful businesses. While Jack attended his last year at Harvard, they were killed in an accident—something no one knew the details of—leaving him with no family except for his paternal aunt, Beverly Phillip.
It was she who talked Jack—sole heir to the family fortune and to the CEO position of Phillip Enterprises—to move to Onyx and run his business there. While he finished college, Beverly settled them in the city so by the time Jack graduated and was ready to take over, everything was ready for him. He was an instant celebrity and Onyx’s most eligible bachelor, between his exuberant wealth and good looks.
“He's always in the tabloids, darling,” Reese’s mother had put in. “Always with a new girl. Bram, you should introduce Reese to him. What a match they’d make! And she’s much more beautiful than those brainless twits he’s always with.”
“Mom, we’re not in the Victorian era,” Reese said with a roll of her eyes, “and I’m still in high school.”
This wasn’t the first time her mother had tried to set her up with someone she deemed suitable. During one of her set-ups, Reese had broken a nail socking the guy in the face after he grabbed her boob after parking at her home on their first date.
“Darling, a four year age difference is nothing,” she said.
Reese knew that tone: Mommy was set on this and Reese wouldn’t be able to stop her.
Reese was unperturbed by the big house and the fancy food. She was introduced to Jack Phillip, who seemed nice enough and was definitely good-looking. His lips quirked up when he saw her dress—apparently she was the only one who decided to wear color (she didn’t think her mother’s red pumps counted)—which at least added depth to the man, but he just wasn’t her type. Back in California, she had seen plenty of guys just like him and she always ended up bored after a few weeks. It also might have had to do with the fact that his date—“An up-and-coming supermodel,” her mother had whispered—was glaring daggers at her, whiles Jack barely acknowledged his date’s presence.
When Reese spotted Andie as she slipped onto the balcony, she all but ran to follow her new friend, looking for any excuse to take a break from the stuffiness of the room. It wasn’t as nice as she had hoped it would be, but Re
ese couldn’t exactly blame Andie. She knew what people thought when they saw her. In fact, all the guests at this party gave her odd looks or a critical eyebrow without talking to Reese themselves. All she could do was force a smile and keep her chin up, pretending no one was getting to her and that she was perfectly happy.
Would it be wrong to wish that she was still in the coma? At least that way she wouldn't have to think about the accident, her friend's death. Reese still didn't remember what happened. A flash appeared before her eyes, but it wasn't a light. It was more like a movie, but only three seconds of it. And then she woke up in Onyx. She didn't remember any pain, she didn't dream, but something had touched her lips like a kiss...
She shook her head. Sometimes, she was too romantic for her own good.
After heading back into the ballroom where the party took place, she planned to explore the mansion. Her father, however, waved her over.
“Reese, darling, this is Onyx’s District Attorney, Lucas Burr,” her mother introduced once Reese reached her parents. “His wife, Helen, and their son, Gabe. I think Gabe here actually goes to your school, sweetie.”
Reese had to blink twice before she was comfortable with the fact that the family before her was really that devastatingly beautiful and it wasn’t all a trick of the imagination. Lucas Burr was exactly six feet tall with broad shoulders, a stocky build, and steely blue eyes. He had short, dusty red hair combed to the side and a cleft in his chin. Helen was nearly as tall as her husband in heels with long, white-blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail, big brown eyes, and a stick-straight body. Gabe inherited his parents’ good looks. He was taller than his father by an inch, though maybe it was two inches, had short blond hair styled the same way as his father’s, and his father’s unnerving eyes. He was probably the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, and the smirk on his lips said that he knew it, too.
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