My eyebrows shot up even higher. “You think-”
“Not me: MIT,” Julia interrupted to correct me.
“Sorry. MIT thinks that after the mess they created for me, I’m going to let them have a say in how I run things? Tell them to be happy with the millions I’ll be making for them and to keep their noses out of my business,” I said, standing to leave.
“Wait!” Julia cried, reaching across her desk to latch onto my arm. “It’s not like that. I swear, Danisha.”
I sat back down in my chair. “Then what’s it like?” I asked, my arms crossed.
“You’re young and inexperienced,” Julia began.
“So now you’re—I’m sorry—MIT is going to insult me while they try to take my money?” I asked sarcastically.
“Danisha. You are young and inexperienced. The only reason you even found out your invention was stolen was because we advised you to get a patent—something that would have prevented all of your heartache if you had simply gotten it in the first place. Perhaps if you had someone looking out for you, making sure you’re going through the proper channels. Someone who can sort through the hundreds of offers you’ll be receiving soon, and determine which ones are credible and which ones aren’t. Someone like MIT?” Julia suggested.
I slowly calmed as I realized she was right. This was all incredibly new to me. I would need help.
“What did you have in mind?” I reluctantly asked. Julia may have been right about me needing someone with experience to guide me, but I was suspicious of MIT’s motives. People like Sally made you paranoid.
Julia bent to open her desk’s bottom drawer. “We have done our best to field all contact to you ever since the trial results were announced. I’m sure at least a few of them managed to get your personal cell phone number, but the rest attempted to contact you through the Admissions Office.” Julia pulled out a thick pile of folders. “We put them all right here until you were ready. I know things have been rough. We didn’t want to push,” she said sympathetically.
I looked at the intimidatingly large stack of folders. “Thank you for dealing with that for me,” I said.
“If you would like, I would be willing to help you whittle down the list,” Julia offered.
I narrowed my eyes at her suspiciously. “Oh, yeah? How would you do that?”
“Take a few days and make a list of everything you need to get the EyeRead off the ground. If you need parts, investors, or a marketing team, let us know, and we’ll narrow down the applicants to the top…ten? We’ll set up interviews for those candidates and you can choose from there. How does that sound?”
“That sounds…great, actually,” I said, surprised.
“Excellent,” Julia said, beaming. “Winter Break is starting in a few days—do you think you could have the list to me by then?”
“Absolutely!” I exclaimed. I left her office feeling lighter than I had in months.
Chapter Three
“Sally?” I said, utterly bewildered. “What happened? You were supposed to be at the courthouse!”
Sally stood up from the couch and took a couple of steps towards me. “I know. I was going to go, Adrian, really, but when it came time… I just couldn’t,” she admitted quietly.
“What do you mean you just couldn’t? It’s easy; you get into a car, you drive to the courthouse, you’re done,” I was beyond infuriated with Sally at this point. Her behavior had become completely unpredictable.
“I was on my way there, I had just left the airport and I-”
I held up my hands. “Wait a minute, the airport? You were going to run? Jesus, Sally. I trusted you!”
“I wasn’t going to run! I was trying to get Victor to stay!” she yelled.
“Wh- Victor?! You met Victor at the airport? And you didn’t call the cops?! Sally, oh my God, we could have had him!” I shoved my fists into my pockets to keep myself from punching a hole in the wall.
Sally waited in impatient silence while I collected myself.
“Please, continue,” I said after several moments.
“Are you done interrupting?” she asked insolently.
“If you’re done being a pain in my ass!” I fired back. No matter what we were doing, fighting or fucking, Sally and I were always pushing the boundaries.
She rolled her eyes but let my comment slide. “I thought I could maybe convince Victor to stay, but it was a waste of time. He left and I headed to the courthouse to turn myself in, but when I got there…I saw Danisha walking in and I couldn’t let her see me that way, Adrian. I was too embarrassed-”
“So you became a fugitive!? You’re twice Danisha’s age, Sally! I cannot believe you are still so concerned over that girl that you would let it affect your life like this!” I exclaimed
“Why shouldn’t I be?” Sally raised her head high. “Are you going to deny that you still have feelings for her? That you don’t want to leave me for her?” Sally challenged.
“I…” I was completely blindsided by her question. It was true. A large part of me did want to be with Danisha, but Sally and I had such passion, and she obviously needed me—how could I turn my back on her?
“Exactly,” Sally said, correctly interpreting my silence. “So why wouldn’t I be concerned?”
This was getting out of hand. We needed to focus. Victor was getting farther and farther away by the minute.
“Sally, we need to call the police right now. I’ll tell them there was some sort of mix-up about you coming to Colorado, but you have to promise to confess to everything if you want my help.”
Sally thankfully nodded and I pulled out my phone. I sat with Sally on the couch as we waited for the police to arrive.
“How are you going to catch him?” she asked. “He’s too far gone for the cops by now.”
“Iraja told us he’s on the island. I managed to get the drop on Victor there once; it shouldn’t be too hard to do it again,” I half-joked.
“Don’t underestimate him, Adrian. Victor rarely makes the same mistakes twice,” she warned.
I frowned thoughtfully. Sally had a point. Perhaps I needed to take another look at my strategy for retrieving Victor. Right now, my plan consisted of Jackson dropping me off at the beach and me taking Victor by gunpoint if necessary. Reflecting upon that, I realized it was a terrible idea.
A harsh knocking pulled me out of my thoughts. I cursed mentally. I looked at Sally who had been quietly resting in my arms. She began to weep silently.
I gently disentangled myself from her and went to the front door. Two police officers stood in front of me when I opened it. A third stood at the end of the driveway watching from a distance.
I stepped aside to let the officers in. Sally was standing at the top of the stairs. One of the cops reached for his handcuffs.
“Is that really necessary?” I asked quietly. The officers looked at each other and shrugged.
“If you could please come with us, Ms. Baker,” one of the officers said.
Sally robotically moved down the steps, her eyes staring straight ahead.
“Sally Baker, you are under arrest. You have the right to…” I watched as the other officer began to read Sally her rights as they led her out of the house and into the back of a cop car.
They rolled down the back window and I bent down to speak to Sally. “Don’t say anything until I’m there in the room with you, okay? I love you, Sally.”
The officers slowly pulled away and I hurried back inside. I had the seed of a plan floating in the back of my mind. Now, I just needed to wait for it to come to me.
Chapter Four
I hopped up the steps to the admissions building. The last few days had been so incredibly relaxing. My finals were a breeze now that the stress of the EyeRead’s patent claim was finally over. I had spent most of my time sleeping and working on the list Julia had asked me to give her. Today we were going to go over the requirements I was looking for in my future team for the EyeRead.
I stepped into the
office and gasped audibly. There were at least a dozen people packed inside the room, either sitting or standing. I gently pushed through the crowd to Julia’s secretary’s desk.
“Hey, Angela. Could you please let Julia know I’m here?” I said quietly. The room had been loud when I first entered, but now people were beginning to stare at me, speaking in hushed whispers.
“Sure thing, Danisha. She’ll just be a couple of minutes, okay?” Angela said.
“Great, thanks,” I awkwardly stepped to the side and looked around. Every chair was occupied, along with the edges of some tables. Standing room was also limited.
“Would you like a seat, Miss Carter?” said a man, standing up from his chair.
Instantly, every other person sitting stood, clamoring to offer me his or her seat. I glanced back at the man who had first spoken. He smiled warmly at me. I realized I was smiling back. His offer was the only one that had seemed genuine. His smile said that he would have offered me his seat even if I weren’t the inventor of the EyeRead.
“Danisha?” I broke my stare from the kind man to see Julia in her office doorway holding the door open for a woman in a sharp pantsuit to exit. Julia motioned for me to come in. The crowd silently parted for me to enter Julia’s office. I didn’t look back, but I could feel the man’s gaze on my back until I shut the door behind me.
“Is…Are they all here…for me?” I asked incredulously.
Julia briefly looked up from sorting through her files. “Hmm? Oh, yes. They are the final batch of applicants we’ll be pulling from based on your qualifications. Which you brought for me today, correct?”
I pulled my own folder out of my bag. Julia came from around her desk and we sat next to each other at an antique table by the window. It took surprisingly little time to explain my requirements, barely a half an hour. I wanted someone loyal, environmentally conscious, and of course, savvy.
“How does next Monday sound for final interviews?” Julia asked.
“Could we do it sooner? I’m eager to get things moving,” I replied as I began to collect my files and put them back in my purse.
“I like that,” Julia said grinning. “You’re eager. Eager is good for business. How about the day after tomorrow?”
“Perfect,” I said.
The days passed quickly and I soon found myself back in Julia’s office. Walking in, I had noticed with what I hoped was a discreet pleasure that the man who had offered me his seat had made the final cut. The room had been only slightly less crowded the second time coming in. There were ten applicants, most of whom were here representing technology firms for me to partner with in creating the sealant required to make the EyeRead. A couple of people were also here to interview for a marketing consultant position as well.
“Are you ready?” Julia asked, pulling me out of my reverie. I was wondering which position the man was here to inquire about. I nodded and she called in the first applicant. I was secretly hoping it would be the man, but it wasn’t. It was an older woman I hadn’t seen before.
It wasn’t until the ninth interview that he finally walked through the door. I sat up a little straighter. His eyes twinkled as he leaned across the desk to shake my hand. My breath hitched slightly at the feeling of his rough, tan fingers gently squeezing mine. He looked young, in his late twenties, perhaps. He had a neat stubble of facial hair that made him incredibly handsome.
“Hello, Mr. Ramirez,” Julia said. “Please sit down and we’ll begin.”
“Please, call me Trent.” His voice was just a soft and dark as I remembered it.
Despite his youth, it turned out Trent actually owned the technology firm he was representing. I was impressed. He seemed to be extremely intelligent and experienced for someone his age, but then again, so was I.
Every time I felt his eyes on me, I flushed hot. The last time I had felt this way was…Adrian. Adrian wasn’t here right now, though. He was probably sick over Sally having run off with Victor. Served him right.
Trent was answering a question of Julia’s when he began to look at me strangely. I guiltily realized I hadn’t heard a word out of his mouth for the last five minutes. I’d been too busy thinking about Adrian and frowning. I probably looked like I was going to start snarling at any moment. I quickly smoothed my face into a more pleasant expression.
We finished the interview and my breath stopped again when he touched my hand to shake it goodbye. The last interview was a complete blur to me. In fact, all of the other people who had interviewed ran together in my mind until the only person I could see was Trent.
I packed up my bag at the end of the night, when all of the interviews were finally through. I stepped out into the cold winter air and began to head towards my apartment.
“Miss Carter!” that same dark voice called out. “Would you like a ride?”
I looked around to see Trent sitting in the backseat of a town car. He opened the door and stepped out, holding it open for me. I walked down the steps towards him.
“Are you trying to suck up to me so you’ll get the job?” I asked him mischievously.
“No, ma’am. I just happened to be raised right, and a woman walking home alone in the cold at night is not right,” he said solemnly. “But if I happen to fall into your good graces in the process, I would not refuse them,” he added cheekily.
I chuckled. “Normally I might say yes to your offer, but the last time I accepted a strange man’s help, I got abducted and was left stranded on a desert island, so I think I’ll just walk home. It’s not far.”
Trent’s eyes widened.
“Oh, yeah, the abduction thing? It’s kind of a long story, I don’t want to bore you,” I said, trying to keep a straight face.
“Doesn’t sound like a bore to me! How about I walk you home, then?” Trent asked.
I pretended to think about it for a minute.
“Okay!” I said.
Trent got out of the car and told his driver to meet us at my house. We chatted as we walked, mostly just small talk. It felt good to be able to have a conversation with someone without any pressure. With Adrian, there were all of these unspoken expectations, but Trent was like a breath of fresh air.
We were at my apartment’s entrance sooner than I would have liked. Trent’s town car was there waiting for him.
“Danisha…” Trent began. “Would it be a conflict of interest if I were to ask you to dinner some evening? I don’t want to put you in an awkward position with your hiring process.”
“Oh, um…” I wasn’t entirely surprised that Trent was asking me out. I was actually hoping he would, but he was right about there being potential problems.
The front door behind me opened, spilling light across both my and Trent’s faces. I turned to look, squinting. A silhouette stepped into the doorway.
“Danisha?” it called.
It was Adrian.
I turned back to Trent. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
“Oh, okay. Well, can we talk later?” he asked.
I glanced back at Adrian standing on the front step. “Absolutely,” I said.
Chapter Five
“Who was that?” I asked, trying my damndest to sound casual.
“Just a potential partner,” Danisha said simply. She shrugged off her jacket and tossed it on the futon. “What are you doing here?”
“Victor ran to the island he originally brought you to, and it’s outside U.S. extradition laws. I came up with a plan to catch him myself, but I need your help to do it,” I explained.
“What’s the plan?” she asked. She went into the kitchen and poured herself a drink.
“I used a personal favor to keep Sally’s arrest off the record for the time being. Sally calls Victor on the satellite phone and tells him she changed her mind and wants to go with him. Hopefully she manages to persuade him to allow her to fly in.”
Dangerous jellyfish swam through the waters at night, so we would have to either go during the day, which left us vulnerable to being
seen, or go at night and land the plane on the beach, which could also leave us wide open. Either way, Victor would be able to have some sort of attack ready. But, if he already expected a plane to land, then we could get much closer before he recognized us.
“Wait…you’re still helping Sally?” she asked incredulously. “Why? She’s just going to drag you down with her!”
“Sally doesn’t deserve to do time for Victor’s crimes! They’ll make a scapegoat out of her. This is as much for me as it is her. If Victor isn’t arrested, then my business’ name will never be properly cleared!”
I watch Danisha closely as she mulled over what I said.
“I’m doing this for you—not for her,” she said finally.
“I know,” I said quickly.
“So what do I do?”
“Hopefully nothing more than sit in the plane. You’re going to pretend to be Sally…” I paused waiting to see Danisha’s reaction, but she stared at me impassively, “and I’ll dress as your pilot. I’ll jump out of the plane and get the drop on Victor, then we go home.”
“Oh, so it’s that simple? Well, then, I can’t wait! Let’s go now, shall we?” Danisha said sarcastically.
I knew I was asking Danisha a lot, but I didn’t understand this vicious response from her. I thought at the very least she would see the personal need for putting Victor in jail—he could just as easily come after her as well at some point later on.
“Danisha, I can’t help but feel that I’ve done something to upset you…beyond what I’ve asked you to do for me tonight,” I said slowly.
Danisha threw her hands up in the air exasperatedly. “Jesus, Adrian! I thought you came here to apologize for helping someone who betrayed me—and you! Instead, you came here to ask me to help her, too! And I agreed!!” she shouted
“If you’re so upset about this, then why are you helping me?” I was utterly perplexed.
“Because I still love you!” Danisha blurted out. She clapped a hand over her mouth.
I stared at her. I had made multiple mentions of my desire to be with Danisha, but she had rebuffed all of them. If she still loved me, why didn’t she want to be with me?
Hang Em' Up: A Bad Boy Sports Pregnancy Romance Page 89