Marcus frowned. “Derek? You want to go dancing with Derek?”
Meredith took a sip of her coffee then shrugged. “Well, then I could still go when you’re not able to.”
“I think you can miss a week or two. Besides, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t give Derek a big enough raise to get him to go dancing.”
“You could always ask him,” Meredith said, still not looking directly at her brother.
Clearly, she knew that her brother would be able to read her expression and would no doubt delve into Meredith’s motive. Even Alicia could tell that she was more interested in spending time with Derek than making sure she could go dancing when Marcus was out of town.
“Meredith,” Marcus said, exasperation in his voice. “I’m not going to ask Derek to take you dancing. If you want that, you’re going to have ask him yourself.”
Meredith frowned, and Alicia figured that Marcus knew he was safe in making that suggestion. She hoped that it didn’t backfire on him. Something told her that Meredith’s feelings for Derek might just be strong enough to give her the courage to ask the man.
“Everything okay at the office, Alicia?”
“I’m just going through the email. So far, everything is fine.”
“Good. Hopefully, it stays that way.” Marcus took a step back. “I’ll talk to you ladies later.”
Once left alone, Alicia asked, “Are you going to ask Derek?”
Meredith sunk down in her chair, a pout on her face. “No. He’d probably say no anyway.”
“You’ll never know if you don’t ask,” Alicia said as she continued to work through the emails.
“Hey,” Meredith said as she sat forward suddenly. “You could ask him for me. Just to see if he’s interested.”
Alicia glanced at her and lifted a brow. “I really like my job, and I’m pretty sure your brother wouldn’t be happy with me if I did that.”
“I know.” Meredith sighed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. I know it’s hard when you have a crush on someone.”
As their conversations moved from crushes to TV shows to books, Alicia realized that this time she was spending with Meredith was the first time she’d had a girlfriend-type chat with someone she wasn’t related to. Sometimes she had similar chats with Tori, but it felt different doing it with someone she had just met.
In between changes of topics, Alicia fielded some phone calls and answered emails. She found it surprisingly easy to talk with Meredith. The woman seemed happy to let the conversation lapse at times. When Alicia had to answer the phone or an email, Meredith would just bend over the puzzle and hum as she fit pieces into it.
“Do you have anyone else that could go dancing with you?” Alicia asked, partly because she was curious if Meredith had any other people in her life besides Marcus and Derek.
Without looking at her, Meredith shook her head. “I don’t have friends, really. I mean, I have people I talk to online, but no one I’d be able to ask to go dancing with me.” Meredith glanced over at Alicia. “Did you have a lot of friends?”
Alicia frowned, not terribly happy to have the tables turned on her, but she figured it was only fair. “I don’t, not really. I hang out with one of my half-sisters on occasion, but other than that, I don’t really have any close friends.”
Once again, Meredith focused on the puzzle. “We could be friends. I like you.”
Alicia experienced a rush of warmth at her words. For so long, her focus had been on just keeping her head above water. It had been enough to make contact with the McKinleys and find a family connection like she’d never had before. Finding friends hadn’t been high on her list. And even now, she was just focused on doing the best job she could for Marcus because she wanted to keep this job. It paid her enough that she could pay all her bills and still have enough left that soon she’d be able to get a decent apartment instead of the one room studio. Plus, the stress of being on all the time so she didn’t drop any of the balls that Marcus threw her way meant that at the end of the day, she had no interest in anything but getting something to eat and then settling down to watch TV, read or play some mindless games on her phone or computer.
Spending this time with Marcus and Meredith, however, had cracked open a door to a life that she’d never allowed herself to wish for. As different as their lives were, it seemed that in some way, she and Meredith were alike. Neither had friendships beyond their families. But maybe that was about to change.
“I like you too. I’d like to be your friend.”
Meredith’s head lifted, and a smile spread across her face. Her blue eyes, so like her brother’s, sparkled with excitement. “It’s hard thinking of being friends with other people sometimes because they won’t really understand about…the stuff in my life. But I feel like with you, you’d be okay with it. Like, if we went out and I suddenly couldn’t handle the crowds, you’d be okay with leaving.”
Alicia shifted in her chair so she could reach Meredith’s hand where it rested on the table, a puzzle piece clutched between her fingers. “I would be okay with that. We all have things we deal with in our lives that may be easy for some people but are hard for us. Doesn’t make it wrong or bad, that’s just how we are. As long as it’s okay with Marcus, I’d like to be able to do things with you, if you want.”
“It will be okay with Marcus. He might have said no about Derek, but I don’t think he’ll say no about you.” Meredith picked up her phone and looked at the time. “Speaking of Marcus, maybe we should make some lunch for the guys.”
While Alicia didn’t think her job really entailed preparing food for Marcus and his team, she picked up her phone and followed Meredith and Bond back to the kitchen. Once again, she let the other woman direct her on what needed to be done and then after the food was ready, Alicia told Meredith that she’d go let the men know. Without having a clear knowledge of what was going on in the office, Alicia didn’t want Meredith to be accidently exposed to something that might traumatize her further.
~*~
Marcus watched as the screen flickered to life. Something inside of him hardened as he braced himself for what he was going to see. Hopefully, Jeff wouldn’t be in worse condition than the last time he’d seen him.
“Hello again, Marcus,” the voice crackled from the speakers of the laptop. “So nice to see you’ve been waiting for us.”
The blurry image gradually came into focus and once again they saw Jeff strapped to the chair, head bent forward. Marcus let out a quick breath. A hand landed on his shoulder, and he knew without looking that it was Alex. He’d had arrived an hour earlier, and Marcus was grateful for his presence.
“What do you want?” Marcus asked as he sat down on the chair in front of the laptop.
“No, Marcus, that’s not the right question. In fact, you are not the one to be asking questions.” Jeff finally moved, and Marcus felt a little bit of the tension loosen within him. At least the guy was still alive. “I’m the one to ask the questions. First one is…what are you willing to do?”
Marcus didn’t even know what the man wanted him to say. Should he be offering to change places with Jeff? If it weren’t for Meredith, he would do it, but if something happened to him, there would be no one who would care for her like he did. She needed him.
“I will give you money.”
“Well, that’s certainly a start since you owe me that anyway.”
Was this a disgruntled ex-employee? Maybe someone they’d fired which was why the guy thought they owed him money? This particular comment lent strength to the argument that the Mastermind—which is how Marcus had begun to think of him—might be one of their former partners.
“Where do you want me to send the money to?” Marcus knew he wasn’t supposed to be asking questions, but he kept hoping for more tidbits of information from the man that they might be able to patch together in order to figure out who was behind everything.
“We’ll get there. Don’t you worry.”
M
arcus hated that this man was controlling the situation. It had bothered him from the very start that someone was pulling strings behind the scenes, but his agitation because of it had increased significantly over the past twenty-four hours. Thankfully, he knew how to keep a calm and cool exterior. The last thing he needed was to give this guy any sort of idea of his state of mind.
It was so frustrating that they hadn’t been able to get a definitive location on the laptop. Trent had traced it earlier, and they’d sent a team to the location only to have them report back that it was empty. Completely abandoned. And, since that point, there had been no GPS signal to follow. Trent figured they were using a jammer of some sort to prevent the team from tracking them any further.
Jeff groaned and lifted his head.
“Welcome back, Jeff. Do you want to talk to your brother today?”
When Jeff shook his head, Marcus wasn’t sure if he was trying to clear it or if he was indicating he had nothing to say. The relief he felt at seeing Jeff moving around was more than he would have expected given the fact he’d only met him once or twice and there was every possibility that the guy had opened the door to the BlackThorpe network to this crazy man.
Marcus heard murmured voices behind him and glanced over to see Alicia standing in the doorway talking with Alex. She motioned to the kitchen, and Marcus figured that she was letting them know that lunch was ready. Meredith loved to cook and was no doubt enjoying having more people to cook for than just him and Derek. Unfortunately, even if he did want to talk with Alicia and eat the food Meredith had prepared, there was no way he would leave the laptop.
“Why don’t we have a little story time today?” the Mastermind asked. “Do you want to tell the story or should I, Jeff?”
Though Jeff lifted his head again, he didn’t respond to the man’s question. He just stared straight ahead.
“Okay then, I guess I’ll be the one to share a little history about Jeff Ross.”
Marcus felt his heart rate kick up a notch when he realized that he might get some of the answers he’d been looking for. But then he heard the sound of muffled conversation in the background just before the screen went black.
“Trent? Did we lose the connection?”
“That didn’t happen because of anything on our end. We started the trace attempt as soon as the video was live again, but I don’t think we were that close.”
Frustration rose up in him like a tidal wave. He sat there staring at the now blank laptop screen, willing it to come back to life.
“Why don’t you go grab a bite to eat?”
Marcus glanced over his shoulder at Alex. “I want to be here if it comes back online.”
“We’ll monitor it for you, Marcus. Take a break so you’re ready when he pops back on.”
With a sigh, Marcus got to his feet. “Come get me if something happens.”
Alex nodded as he clapped him on the back. “We will. Just try and shake it off for a couple of minutes.”
After one last look at the screen, Marcus walked out of the office and headed to the kitchen. Meredith was standing at the counter with Alicia talking to Derek, and they all looked at him as he moved closer to the counter. His heightened sense of frustration eased as soon as he saw Alicia. The look of concern on her face drew him toward her, and all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and bury his face in her hair.
He couldn’t do that, of course, so he had to settle for nodding in her direction before looking at Meredith. The strength of that reaction to Alicia took Marcus aback, and definitely gave him something other than the Jeff situation to think about.
“Do you want some lunch, Marcus?” Meredith asked. “I’ll make you a sandwich.”
“Thanks, Meri.” Marcus sat down on a stool at the counter. He looked over at Alicia, hoping his reaction to her from earlier didn’t show on his face. “Nothing going on at the office?”
Alicia gave him an overview of the things she’d dealt with throughout the morning, and he was grateful for the chance to focus on something else. He appreciated that Alicia didn’t just brush off his inquiry even though there was nothing that really needed his attention. She seemed to sense that he needed the distraction.
He still had a hard time believing how well she had ended up fitting with him. After going through what felt like a million personal assistants, Marcus had just about despaired of finding a suitable one when Eric had come to him about Alicia. At first, he hadn’t had super high expectations of her, and he wasn’t entirely sure why now. Maybe it had just been that he didn’t want to get his hopes up. He’d braced himself for her quitting within the first week, and yet here they were, still going strong almost a month later.
“Thank you for hanging out with Meredith. Don’t feel you have to stay here for the whole day. If you need to head into the office, feel free to go.”
She looked over to where Meredith stood at the table building him a sandwich just the way he liked it. He’d long ago given up trying to convince his sister that he could feed himself. She actually got upset with him if he wouldn’t let her make him something. Same thing with Derek. He knew the man had struggled with letting Meredith make food for him, but he’d eventually just given in like Marcus had. He figured that since she couldn’t hold down a job outside the home, this was her way of contributing something helpful.
“I probably should go in to the office for a bit,” Alicia said. “As long as you’re sure Meredith will be okay.”
Marcus smiled at Alicia, his heart warming at her concern for his sister. “She’ll be fine. She’s used to filling her time when I’m at work. I think she just likes hanging with you.”
Alicia returned his smile, and Marcus found that the way her face lit up did something to his chest. “I enjoyed it too, but I do think I need to do some work in the office.”
“Why don’t you come back later for supper, and then you can update me on work stuff. I have a couple of emails that came directly to me that I’m going to forward for you to take care of.”
“I know you have some appointments lined up for later in the week. Did you want me to do anything about them?”
Marcus had only planned to be in Washington, D.C. from Monday to Wednesday. That meant that he had scheduled to be back in the office on Thursday. He couldn’t believe that this unexpected situation would drag on for that long. But then he had a feeling that the Mastermind—as he’d taken to thinking of him—was going to stretch this out as long as he possibly could.
“Let’s see how the rest of today goes. If things still aren’t resolved by tomorrow, you can go ahead and phone to reschedule. Probably don’t rebook them for any earlier than the middle of next week.”
Alicia’s eyes widened at that, but she didn’t say anything. Even though she and Marcus hadn’t been working together very long, she already knew that he rarely, if ever, postponed things for more than a day. However, right then, with no resolution to Jeff’s kidnapping in sight, he felt it was safest to plan normal office work for at least a week away.
Even if the situation with Jeff was resolved quickly, there would still be the fallout to deal with. He’d have to figure out what he was going to do about Jeff. How to introduce him to Meredith. Plus, they’d no doubt be dealing with the police at some point as well as just making sure the company remained strong and stable during this latest ‘attack’.
But he was jumping ahead of himself. First things first. They needed to rescue Jeff and track down the Mastermind and put an end to this bizarre attempt to hold them all hostage.
“Follow up with Eric on the bid proposal and shoot me a copy.” Meredith set a plate in front of him, and he felt Bond press against his calf. “Thanks, Meri.”
Marcus wasn’t super hungry, but he picked up the cut half of the sandwich she’d prepared for him and took a bite. He wasn’t surprised that it was made exactly the way he liked it. Roast beef with cheese and tomatoes on a whole-wheat bun.
“The proposal from Eric is already in our
file on the server for you to access at your convenience.”
And it was things like that he appreciated about her. With everything going on, he would have thought that perhaps she’d forgotten the list he’d given her when he’d thought he was going to D.C. And yet, in the midst of the chaos, when he’d been distracted, she continued to do what he’d asked her to do.
“Thank you,” he said before taking another bite of his sandwich.
When she lifted a brow at that, Marcus had to resist smiling at her. He knew that him saying thank you for anything was fairly rare. Something he needed to work on, apparently. Surprisingly, he wanted to make more of an effort on things like that if it made it a little more pleasant for her to work around him.
“I thought maybe I’d check to see how Kelsey was doing, too,” Alicia said as she shifted in her seat. “Also, I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be out of town this weekend. I’ll still be available by phone or email for most the weekend and will be back for work on Monday.”
Though in the past Marcus couldn’t have cared less about his assistants’ plans for a weekend, he found himself curious about what she had planned. But he wouldn’t ask. The interest he felt confirmed he needed to keep that curiosity to himself. Lines were already blurring between their business and personal lives. There wasn’t going to be any unblurring of those lines because Meri had decided that Alicia was going to be her friend, but he could keep from blurring them further between himself and Alicia.
“Where are you going?” Meredith asked as she sat down on a stool beside him.
Alicia’s gaze bounced between him and Meredith, her brows drawn together slightly. “I’m…uh…going to California to visit. I lived there before I moved here.”
“Do you miss your friends there?” Marcus knew he should probably tell Meredith to lay off the questions, but it was hard not to want to hear Alicia’s answers.
“Well, I do like to visit California, but here is home now. The only time I really miss living there is when it’s so very cold here.”
Marcus stared at Alicia for a moment, wondering if he was just imagining that it seemed like she wasn’t quite answering Meredith’s questions. No doubt his current state of mind was having him pick up on things that weren’t really there. It could be as simple as Alicia being a very private person and just not knowing him and Meredith well enough to spill too much about her private life. He could hardly blame her for that. He knew that there were people at work who didn’t known he had a sister who lived with him.
A Sense of Security: A Christian Romance (BlackThorpe Security Book 6) Page 11