“Apparently so.” Cappy Don’s response was gruff. “Ever since I asked you to bring her in—slowly, I believe I said, with a sprinkling of clues, not a goddamn dump truck full of our most valued intelligence—you’ve taken several unauthorized steps.”
“They were steps that needed taking. Sir,” he added hastily.
Cappy Don leaned forward, the movement undeniably threatening in nature. A menacing light flashed in his cold, dark eyes. It was then Oliver knew just how far he’d pushed the captain. “They were risks that could’ve fucked everything.” He glanced at Molly. “Sorry.”
Molly rolled her eyes. “Please. I dated this jerk.” She hitched her chin toward Oliver. “I’ve heard much worse.”
“You’ve said much worse,” Oliver countered, unable to keep the touch of bitterness from his tone. He screwed up, but to gang up on him was totally unfair.
The captain’s hard stare didn’t waver. “You promised if I let you in on this task force, there’d be no more rogue bullshit. I saved your ass back in Jonesboro, stuck my neck out to keep you on the job. Instead of letting you face disciplinary action, I brought you in, put you on my team, and gave you the most important job in the whole damn investigation. We had a deal, Pierce.”
“Cap, give me some credit here.” He felt he had guilt pouring from every hole he had. “Every time I’ve acted, I’ve done it within the bounds of reasonable odds of success and walked away with valuable information.” He pointed to the mushroom figurine, perched next to his report. “That’s no coincidence.”
“Oh? And if Easton Arnell notices his little trinket is missing? And Brendan reports seeing you in his office?”
Oliver almost broke cover. Almost admitted he knew Brendan wouldn’t do that, because Brendan had outed himself. But Cappy Don didn’t appear to be acting. He looked genuinely panicked at the thought, which gave Oliver pause. Maybe Brendan wasn’t in on the investigation...but that didn’t make sense, either. How would he have known the e-mail was significant? He tucked Brendan’s involvement away for later study.
“I’ll admit I took it. I’ll tell him I wanted to sketch it as a gift for Mr. Arnell. I’ll say Brendan is the one who told me about the mushroom. They’d buy that story. Brendan might even play along, just to avoid the shadow of doubt. Trust me, I’ve got the dopey nice guy routine down.”
“Now, why doesn’t that surprise me,” Molly said drily.
An intense wave of dislike rolled over Oliver. He’d be hard-pressed to recall what had ever drawn him to Molly in the first place. Definitely not her sense of humor.
“If you’re going to make jokes, try to make them funny.” He went back to ignoring her and turned an imploring face to Cappy Don. “The methods were touch and go, but you can’t deny my results. I’ve got a personal item linking Mr. Arnell to the drug ring, we have an exact location in Capital Acres to investigate, which was always a needle-in-a-haystack situation, and Kay is as good as recruited once you agree to meet with her. I don’t have to tell you how many doors she can open. She has direct, unquestionable access to Amos’s labs, the accounting floor, where files are stored, and Capital Acres itself. She’s the only way I’ll get back in.”
He planned to absolutely ignore what Brendan had told Kay about taking care of the greenhouses. Until word came from Cappy Don himself, Oliver would continue to do everything he could to gain access. Especially now that he had a solid bead on what he was looking for. Or rather, where he was looking.
Cappy Don’s lips were pressed together so hard, the skin around them turned white. Oliver could tell the man was torn between protocol and results. “You seem to have an answer for everything. Tell me, what’s your plan when rumors start flying about you and Kay?”
“Rumors? There are no rumors. With the e-mail deleted, no one in the building knows about the kiss.” Oliver had carefully kept mum on how, exactly, Kay had come by the e-mail.
“Oh?” His bushy eyebrows rose a mile. “Tallulah Hadley and Rowan O’Connor don’t have friends in accounting? And Brit Lars, the receptionist, doesn’t sell secrets for gourmet coffee? Such as you and Kay leaving together last Friday?”
“I, uh...” Oliver sat back in the chair and rubbed his chin. He hadn’t thought about maintaining appearances. “I’m her assistant. I went out with Roscoe all the time.”
“Ever get caught sucking Roscoe’s face?”
Oliver sighed at the unforeseen complication. “Can’t say I ever had the pleasure.”
Cappy Don didn’t smile. “Any attention is bad attention, Pierce. You’re supposed to be nobody, a fly on the damn wall. You and Kay becoming the latest hot topic is definitely not helping the cause.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, Cap. Maybe it doesn’t hurt, either.” Oliver didn’t miss Molly’s second eye roll or her pinched lips. “I’m just saying, a hot woman in a thong bikini has a better chance of picking your pocket than an average Joe in a pair of khakis. Why? Because you’re not looking at her hands. And you don’t mind if she comes close.”
The captain blinked at Oliver. “Misdirection. You think if people are watching you and Kay, they aren’t watching you and Kay? Where’s the logic in that?”
Molly stood up suddenly. Her eyes were hooded, her jaw locked. “Leave it to you to bring sex into this, Oli. You know you don’t need an excuse to get it on with the little girl.”
The spiteful tone and the unveiled reference that an attraction to Kay was somehow creepy and scandalous because of her size made Oliver see red. “I get if you’re jealous, Molly—”
“I’m not jealous, you idiot!” Her hands fisted at her sides, and her face flushed red. “I can live with what happened between us, because that’s personal. But you’re taking my one refuge, my job, and trying to make it painful and unbearable.” She cast a desperate glance at Cappy Don and grabbed for her purse. “I don’t think I can do this.”
She fled from the captain’s office without another word, leaving Oliver struck dumb by the outburst, and Cappy Don wearing a mask of disappointment bordering on contempt.
“What?” Oliver demanded. “What do you want me to do? Go back in time and fix shit? I’m not trying to do anything to Molly. That’s ridiculous.”
The captain shrugged. “You’re not trying not to.”
Oliver gritted his teeth. “I’m doing my job. I can’t operate around Molly’s feelings. Or my own. If letting people believe rumors gives me greater access, I say let them fly. No one will question Kay dragging me along everywhere she goes. Places like Capital Acres and the top floor of Free Leaf. Hell, Kay doesn’t even need to know we’re playing that angle, unless she hears the rumors herself.”
Finally, Cappy Don fell back into his chair in defeat. He rubbed both hands over his haggard face. “You really do have an answer for everything.”
“You pay me to.”
“I know. Tell Kay on Monday to expect instructions soon. You’re out of the loop on this one, kid.”
“What? Why?”
Cappy Don rose from his desk, the signal the meeting was over. “I want to talk to Kay Bing. Not her mouthpiece.”
* * * *
Kay wasn’t prepared for the gloomy atmosphere that greeted her inside Neve’s loft. The curtains were drawn, the lights turned down. There was hardly evidence of human habitation. Just the lump on the huge white sectional sofa.
A mound of blankets guided her to where Neve lay huddled, hiding from the world. Discarded granola bar wrappers and empty Dr. Pepper cans littered the floor, which made Kay cover her mouth to stop a startled gasp from escaping. From the state of things, she couldn’t hire Neve if she wanted to. But not choosing her seemed equally as cruel. Like kicking her while she was down. Kay gently shook her shoulder.
Neve pulled the blanket down from her face. She couldn’t even manage her hallmark glare. She gazed at Kay in an empty way that made Kay’s stomach feel weird. She stilled when she saw the mascara smears beneath Neve’s amber eyes,
so old the black stuff was coming off in flakes.
“Neve,” she breathed, wedging herself next to Neve and brushing back strands of hair from her friend’s face. “What happened?”
Neve buried her face again. For a long time, Kay sat there, unsure of what to do. Probably leave. If Neve wanted to talk, she’d have gotten in touch. Kay rose to leave when the memory of Oliver at the café yesterday sprung to the forefront of her mind. Oliver, holding her hand and reminding her of the girl who’d once brandished a loaded gun to save the life of a couple of dogs. That girl was fearless. That girl wasn’t afraid to take charge, and she definitely wasn’t afraid of a surly Neve Harper.
Kay gripped the blanket and wrenched the entire thing from Neve’s body. She was curled into herself, like a cat. She even sprang up and hissed at Kay, grabbing for the blanket. Kay danced out of reach. “You want the blanket? Start talking.”
Okay, maybe she was a little afraid. Neve’s face contorted into a mask of rage, but behind it Kay recognized the telltale signs of pain. Real pain.
She waited for Neve to get herself under control. When it felt safe, Kay sat next to her and spread the blanket over both their laps. “I’m not leaving here without an explanation.”
Neve’s lip curled. “You didn’t call, and I didn’t invite you. Tell me what you’re here for, Kay. We both know you want something. Can’t remember the last time you stopped by without a reason.”
Kay scanned Neve’s face, wondering at the acid in her tone. She’d do them both a disservice by lying. She swallowed, prepared to find herself unceremoniously booted to the curb. “I came to tell you to your face that I’m asking Seraphina to be my interior design liaison for a spa I’m working on. I know you’d do the job if I asked. But I’m afraid my team will be so mesmerized by your presence, they’ll forget I exist. It’ll be my work, but in everyone’s mind, it’ll have been you leading the project. This is my one shot to make a name for myself at Free Leaf Concepts. I can’t afford to let you end up with the credit. I’m sorry, Neve.”
Neve’s stony expression made Kay’s heart falter in her chest. “My famous personality strikes again. Amazing. I didn’t even have to be in the room this time.”
Kay narrowed her eyes. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself for two seconds. What happened? You can take your problems out on me all day if you want. I’m made of some pretty thick stuff.”
“Oh, ho! Look at you. Remembering who you are finally? Isn’t that swell.”
“Keep it coming. Be as nasty as you want. I’m not going anywhere.”
Neve jerked and stared at Kay with an intensity that was frightening. And then the unthinkable: tears brimmed the bottom of Neve’s wide-open eyes, then fell and rolled down her cheeks. All the pain Kay had seen beneath the surface rose up, washing over Neve’s anger in a cleansing tide. “That,” she said through trembling lips, “is all I needed to hear Duke say. I know he can handle me. But will he always want to?”
Kay’s heart contracted. Neve’s refusal to set a date for the wedding or move in with Duke...“You were testing him?”
Neve brushed the tears from her cheeks and looked away. “Not on purpose.” She sniffed. “I couldn’t help myself. I just kept pushing and pushing. Testing the boundaries. Seeing how far I could go before he had enough. But now, he thinks I don’t want to marry him. He canceled everything. He said to let him know when I decide what I want.”
“Oh, Neve.” Kay scooted closer and wrapped her arm around her mentor’s shaking shoulders. “He wants you to prove that you want this. And all along, that’s all you’ve wanted from him. You two are impossible.” Kay held her while she cried.
It took most of the afternoon, plus liberal amounts of threats and cajoling, to convince Neve to lie down in her bed and rest. Kay cleaned up the trash, took Darcy the Pit, Neve’s rescued pit bull, for a walk, and washed the dishes piled in the sink. Once she started, she couldn’t seem to stop. She found cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink and set to work, losing herself in the mindless activity.
An hour passed before there was a knock on the door. The tap was so quiet, she almost didn’t hear it over the swish of her rag as she polished Neve’s giant glass coffee table.
Kay had a moment of uncertainty when she opened the door to reveal Duke.
He was as darkly handsome as ever. He hadn’t grown back his long beard, but kept a five o’clock shadow over his dimples. His dark blue eyes were lined with enviably long lashes, and his long, black rock-n-roll hair was tied back in a low ponytail. “Hi, Kay. You’re not Neve.”
Kay didn’t move to let him enter. “I’m certainly not. To be Neve, I’d have to be recovering from a mental breakdown, brought on by a broken heart, courtesy of a boy who doesn’t seem to know me at all.” It took seeing him to realize how angry she was.
She glanced over her shoulder, made sure no sounds were coming from Neve’s bedroom, and stepped outside into the hallway, closing the door behind her. She ignored Duke’s attempt to speak. She poked him in the chest. He was tall, so she felt a little ridiculous, like a child scolding a parent. But her emotions were true enough. As was Duke’s failure. “Did you forget who you fell in love with?”
“No—”
“Did you expect her to grow puppy tails where her claws used to be? You didn’t change her, Duke. She didn’t become someone different because you love her. She just wanted you to prove you could handle her, for better or for worse, otherwise those vows would never mean anything to her. All you showed her was how right she was. I’m not saying she’s easy to love. But you’re in or you’re out, Duke. You can’t change your mind when she stops playing nice. It’s not fair. You love her for who she is—all of her—or you don’t.”
“I know.”
Kay shook her head. “I’ve already said the things she was waiting to hear from you. You missed your moment.”
Duke met Kay’s gaze and held it. He didn’t try to hide the guilt singing from his face. But there was hardness there, too. “Kay, please. You know I’m not afraid of Neve’s bite. Or her bark. But she kept getting worse. She’s been virtually hostile the last week. I thought...shit.” He ran a hand over his hair and stared at the floor. “I thought she was regretting everything.”
Kay’s anger dialed back to a simmer. “Duke, I don’t doubt you love her. But can you live with her? Forever? As she is? She’s always going to be abrasive, demanding, even unkind, because sometimes the truth isn’t nice. And we’ve got to have someone in our lives willing to tell us the truth.”
His dark blue gaze turned earnest. “I can’t live without her. But I can’t stand to have her hate me, while I’m over here begging her to move in with me and set a damn date, already. Aren’t there other ways to test a guy’s devotion?”
“Think about it. She’s used to being a novelty for men. They like her until they see the worst of her, or until she turns that brutal honesty on them. Because of that, she’s been driving them away her whole life. It’s what she does. She’s waiting for you to decide she isn’t worth it, because in the end, they always do. Better to force the issue now than to figure it out later, after she’s made her entire life about you.”
It was Duke’s turn to display some temper. Where Neve was flash bombs and violent explosions, Duke was a steady burn. “I’ve been Neve’s enemy. I’ve seen her at her absolute worst, and bore the full weight of her terrifying arsenal of insults. If I had doubts, I wouldn’t be standing at her door, prepared once again to battle it out with the queen of smack talk just to convince her to marry me. You can’t blame a guy for drawing a line. But I’m hardly giving up. Neve can do this little dance the rest of our lives if that’s what she wants. But she needs to know it’s not enough to get rid of me. She’ll have to do better than that.”
Kay bit her lip. “You came to talk to Neve, didn’t you? Convince her?”
Unsmiling, Duke made an affirmative noise. “Only there’s a tiny person blocking my way.”
Feeling somewhat abashed, yet proud of herself for standing up for her friend, Kay stepped aside. “I should probably leave, anyway, before I start dusting the rafters.” She stepped around him, ignoring his momentarily confused expression, and started toward the elevator. “And Duke? Prepare yourself. You know how to deal with a pissed off Neve. But you’ve never dealt with what’s waiting inside that loft. Good luck.”
It took Kay fifteen minutes to get home on the city bus. She could probably walk to the Governor’s Mansion district in less time than that, but the evening commute in the relative safety of a crowded bus had become part of her winding down ritual.
The bus dropped her two blocks from her Victorian-style three-level house. It was about ten times more house than any one girl needed, but need had never factored into the equation. The place had been falling apart when she bought it three years ago. Most of it was still in pretty bad shape. Self-renovations weren’t anything like paid jobs. Supplies cost money and repairs took time. Daddy had tried to talk her into a chic studio apartment like Seraphina’s, and then a stylish midtown loft like Neve’s.
But no, not Kay. She’d dreamed of living in one of the historic Governor’s Mansion homes all her life. So, when her parents offered to co-sign on a mortgage, she didn’t hold back fighting to get exactly what she wanted.
No kids, no pets, no boyfriend, owner of a manor in one of Little Rock’s most iconic neighborhoods, and absolute creative control over the renovations. Her dream, and she was living it.
Sometimes, on a bad day, just walking up the wide steps flanked by big white pillars, and doing a lap on the five-foot-deep wrap-around deck was enough to restore Kay’s spirits. Or she’d go through each level of the house, up the ornate walnut staircase, peeping into the rooms, touching the original fixtures, and wondering at the things her house must’ve seen. Then she’d eyeball the plans she had drawn out and taped to the doors. She’d be lucky to complete the house in this decade, but when she was done, the old manor would be a stunner. Themed guest rooms, a full library, a media room—the list went on.
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