by L. A. Fiore
“So what do you do Alexis?”
“I’m an aspiring actress, but to pay the bills I wait tables.”
“Really.” The lascivious innuendo in that one word was not lost on me.
So typical, he had already skipped to the end of the evening since now he thought I was easy; his eyes were practically glazing over because he was already visualizing me on my knees. I couldn’t even say it was men in general because the men in my life weren’t as shallow as this one, but in the dating pool I found myself, I grew tired of the self-important asses who sized a person up after only a few sentences, especially since they were usually wrong.
For the next hour we made small talk but Tom seemed to be getting more and more restless. When he shifted in his seat for the tenth time, my gaze moved to his lap and the hard on he sported. He caught me and grinned.
“Want to help me out with that?”
With a knife? Absolutely. Instead I looked at him through my lashes. “What do you have in mind?”
He leaned closer and whispered. “Take my cock in your mouth and later I’ll return the favor.”
I almost laughed, out loud, because…gross. “Okay. You go to the men’s room and I’ll meet you there.”
He was up and halfway across the club when Janie caught my eye; she was as impressed with Robert as I was with Tom. She whispered something to Robert and he too disappeared in a flash.
“What did you say to him?” I asked as we walked briskly toward the exit.
“You don’t want to know. I’ve never met anyone so boring in my life. I almost smacked myself to stay awake, was tempted to smack him to shut him up. What a windbag.”
“Tom suggested I take his cock in my mouth and he’d return the favor later.”
Janie stopped walking, her mouth dropping open. “He did not.”
“Oh he did. As soon as he learned I was an aspiring actress, he was ready for a ride.”
“Asshole.”
We had just stepped outside when a big, fancy car pulled up to the curb and the driver climbed out. I nearly stumbled over my own feet because the driver was the pale-hair guy from my youth. When he opened the door, it was for Carter Stein. He had a woman on his arm, who looked like a Victoria Secret model, as the two strolled into the club. The driver turned for the driver’s side, but stopped when his pale eyes met mine. For a good minute I was unable to move because I had the terrible feeling he remembered exactly who I was. He grinned, that same creepy one he had given me as a kid, before he climbed into the car and drove off.
“Mia, do you know him?”
Janie’s voice snapped me out of the panic attack that seemed imminent. “No.”
Unnerved by more than his familiar stare, seeing him with Carter Stein had suspicion replacing panic since the only times I had ever seen my dad rattled was when one of those men had been near.
A cab pulled up and Janie and I climbed in. She was closer so after seeing her home, the cab took me to Tickled Ivories. Paying the cabbie, I headed inside because I needed to tell Cole about pale-hair and Stein; remembered how adamant he and Dad had both been about the danger they posed. It was still pretty early, only after ten, as I made my way to Cole’s office. I knocked, but as I had a habit of doing, I didn’t wait before I stepped in. I didn’t see him at first since he wasn’t at his desk, but then I noticed a door I hadn’t noticed before. It was slightly open, the mirror on the wall showed Cole. His eyes were closed; his face harsh, but not in anger, and then I saw the red hair of the woman who knelt in front of him. Jealousy ripped through me even as my heart cracked open, knowing I’d put it all out there for him and this was what he wanted. Despite the ache burning in my chest, I couldn’t tear my eyes from his face. Unlike our moment, his features were hard even on the cusp of orgasm. Watching him, possession filled me because I wanted it to be me on my knees, me bringing him pleasure. His features changed only slightly when his orgasm moved through him. It hurt watching him, knowing I had offered him so much more and he turned it away. In the next second, his eyes opened and his focus sliced to mine in the mirror.
I left, walked out as fast as my unsteady legs would carry me as anger warred with heartache. Maybe it was unfair of me to be angry. I had no claim on Cole but, even as I thought that, I knew it was bullshit. I had a claim on him, the same one he had on me, one that had started the day Dad had brought him into my life.
I hadn’t even made it to the back door of the club before a strong hand wrapped around my arm, pulling me back against his muscled chest. “What are you doing here?” His words felt like a whip, accusation dripping from them.
Trying to get a handle on my thoughts, when they were so scattered, wasn’t happening. “It's nothing.”
Turning me to him, I couldn’t meet his hard stare. “Why are you here?”
Belligerence burned through me, “I didn’t realize I needed a reason. Foolish me, I thought we were friends. Don’t worry, I won’t come again.”
I pulled away from him and feeling a bit childish I called to him from over my shoulder. “Next time you might want to flip the lock, unless of course you like people watching.”
His grip on my arm this time was almost painful. “I should put you over my knee.”
Jerking free of his hold, I put distance between us for fear of doing something I’d later regret.
“I wouldn’t need to flip the lock if people actually waited to be invited in.”
That stung.
“Do you even know her? Never mind.” My valiant effort to keep the tears at bay, failed; a big, fat tear rolled down my cheek. “I guess I should thank you. Saying the words, even meaning them, doesn’t count when you’re still harboring hope.”
Confusion swept his expression, his voice questioning. “Mia?”
“He loved you. I know you know that, but maybe not how much. He thought of you as a son.” I turned and walked to my apartment; my eyes burning with tears that I still fought to keep from falling. Stopping at the back door to my building, I unlocked it but instead of going in, I glanced back to see that Cole hadn’t moved, his focus completely on me. “I’m glad it was you watching over me and I had hoped that we could still be friends. We aren’t friends though, and haven’t been for a long time. And honestly, I don’t want to be your friend. I want what I can’t have and so I release you from your vow to my dad. I can’t move on if you’re constantly there and since I can’t seem to let you go, I need you to let me go.”
I didn’t wait for his response, the tears falling as soon as the door shut behind me. Tomorrow I was calling a Realtor and putting my apartment on the market. I might be going home, but I was moving on too; it was time for me to do more than speak the words.
“Are you sure about this?” Aunt Dee asked while we sat in the kitchen of my childhood home. In the two weeks since I released Cole of the burden my dad had put on him, I had moved back home.
“Yes. This is home, this is where I belong.”
“What did the Realtor say about your apartment?”
“She’s certain she’ll find a buyer because the location is prime.”
“I didn’t want to influence your decision, but I think your dad would love that you were taking over the place.”
“Me too.”
I hadn’t shared with Aunt Dee what I had learned about Dad’s death, wasn’t going to because if it all turned out to be nothing, making her feel as I did wasn’t right. But I was curious about Carter Stein and the pale-hair man, especially after seeing them together.
“What do you know about Carter Stein?”
“Not much. He’s a neighborhood kid that hit it big. Why?”
“Just curious. I saw him a couple of weeks ago and it reminded me of the time he came into Dad’s garage.”
“Really? Carter was at the garage? I guess that’s not surprising considering how fast he bought the garage when Dylan put it up for sale.”
Knowing now that pale-hair worked for Stein had all the pieces just slipping into plac
e like a puzzle. Pale-hair attempted to intimidate Dad by paying too much attention to me. Intimidating was one thing, murder was another, but was it possible that Carter got impatient waiting for Dad to come around to selling him the garage and had something to do with his death? As much as I tried to talk myself out of that possibility, I couldn’t.
Aunt Dee left after dinner and I spent some time Googling Carter Stein. Had I not been entertaining the idea that he had a hand in my dad’s death, I’d admire him. He came from nothing, literally had no family, no money, moved in and out of foster homes and now he was the richest man in the city. He might also be a murdering psycho.
As tempting as it was to contact Bruce about Stein, he had influence and I didn’t imagine a civil servant would be really keen on digging into a man as powerful as Stein. However, I did know of someone who was arrogant, entitled and loved to control his universe. Maybe Kevin could do a little digging. As much as I didn’t want to talk with him, I actually had a need for a private investigator because I wanted to know more about Carter and his connection to my dad. Reaching for my phone, I called Kevin.
“Mia, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you again. Are you okay?”
“I want to hire you.”
“What?”
“I’d like to hire you to look into Carter Stein and his connection to my dad.”
Silence, so profound it was uncomfortable. When Kevin spoke again, I heard a bit of fear in his voice. “Carter Stein? Do you know who that is?”
“Yeah, the man who bought my dad’s garage.”
“Maybe you should go to the police.”
“Are you not up to the job?”
His next words were clipped with anger, exactly as I intended when I tossed down the gauntlet with my remark. “You know that I am.”
“Good.” Now that he’d accepted, some of my anger left me. Despite what I might think of Kevin, he had actually been looking out for me when he shared what he knew about my dad’s death. “I’m sorry I reacted as I did when you told me about my dad. I was in shock; I still am if I’m being completely honest. If there’s merit to what that man said, I need to know who took my dad from me.”
“And you think Stein could be involved?”
“It’s a possibility.”
His voiced softened. “I’ll look into him, his associates, and get back to you when I find something.”
“Thank you, Kevin.”
But he had already hung up.
Dropping my phone on my desk, panic welled in me because if something bad had happened to Dad and Stein was behind it, I wasn’t acting very smart by sticking my nose into it. Though it would have made far less sense to contact the police. Kevin was a PI and a really good one if his clothes, car and house were any indication. He also appreciated who Stein was so he wouldn’t be stupid in his investigation and bring unwanted attention to himself and by extension me. Dad wouldn’t have let it rest, if something happened to someone he loved, he wouldn’t have stopped until he knew everything and as Aunt Dee often said, I was the spitting image of my dad.
“Mia my office.”
Dragging my feet into my boss’s office, I just knew I was about to have a bunch of work dropped on me. I actually didn’t really mind because staying busy kept me from thinking about all the craziness that seemed to be my life now. If I really let myself ponder my dad, Cole, Kevin, my move home, I think I might go insane. Staying busy was good, healthy.
My boss stood in front of the window, his back to me though he knew damn well I had entered since he was the one to summon me. He clearly didn’t see the need to greet me. I was so sick of arrogant men.
“You wanted to see me.” Yes and I said that with attitude because why the hell not?
When Freddie boy did turn toward me, I took a sick kind of delight in seeing him flustered. Working off his tie and undoing the top button of his shirt, he looked like a man struggling for air.
“Are you okay?” Did he have asthma? Where was his inhaler?
“There’s going to be several big projects crossing my desk in the next few weeks. I’m going to need you on point for them which means you’ll be putting in some long hours. I’m telling you this now so you clear your calendar because it is not an option, your attendance.”
“Okay.”
“These accounts are also very high profile and so you can’t talk about them. Can you do that?”
Right because there was nothing more stimulating than discussing the finessing of numbers I did for a living. What a turn on.
“Yes. Of course.”
“Good. I’ll let you know when I’ll need you.”
Dismissed, just like that. It was like a game of hot potato, pass off the assignments as fast as possible. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t pass them back to the asshole.
For the rest of the day, I worked on the few assignments I had pending so that when the new workload came, I wouldn’t be overwhelmed. I was just finishing for the night when my phone rang. It was Kevin and despite myself I felt both curiosity and dread.
“Kevin, hi.”
“Mia. Have you had dinner?”
Oh no, we weren’t going to fall back into that pattern. “I’ve plans tonight. Have you information already?”
“No, just thought you might like a night out. You must be feeling a bit overwhelmed. You know, if you’d like, I have that cabin in the mountains. We could go for a long weekend, take in some skiing. Some quiet, reflective time to get your mind off everything is just what you need.”
On the surface, it sounded like a very nice offer; however, Kevin knew I didn’t ski and the fact that he thought he knew how I needed to deal with the craziness that was my life right now better than I was Kevin to a tee. I had no intention of going down the street with him, let alone to a quiet, remote cabin in the woods. Just the thought of it made my skin crawl. The work my boss dropped on me today turned into a blessing, so I wasn’t completely lying to Kevin with my reply.
“I’ve got a few assignments coming soon and need to be available, so I’m keeping my schedule free.”
“You change your mind, call me.”
“I’ll do that Kevin. Thanks.”
“I’ll be in touch about Stein.”
As was his way, he hung up without another word.
Several weeks had passed with no contact from Dylan and since he wasn’t returning my calls, I stopped by one night unannounced for a visit. It was only Thursday night and yet the sight of him shocked me, he was drunk.
“Mia, what a surprise. Come in.”
Stepping into his house, shock turned to befuddlement because the place was a mess. Dylan had never been a neat freak but his place now was a sty. “Is everything okay, Dylan?”
“Great, couldn’t be better.” He settled on his sofa, the Jack bottle in reaching distance. He reeked.
“When was the last time you took a shower?”
“Don’t know.”
“Dyl, get a shower and I’ll clean this place up.”
He took a whiff under his arm, “Damn I smell.”
He stood so fast he nearly lost his balance and tumbled forward onto the coffee table. In the next minute, he yanked off his tee and dropped his pants and, to my horror, I discovered he was going commando. Sober, Dylan never would have done that in front of me, drunk I guess he didn’t care. The sight of the man I thought of as an uncle stark naked was going to leave a scar. Therapy, I’d need some. Grabbing his discarded clothes for the wash, I diverted my eyes from his retreating form but not before I noticed the spider tat he had on his upper thigh and part of his ass, really life-like too. Definitely would need that therapy.
While he showered, I cleaned his house and cooked him a hot meal from things I found in his pantry. I switched out the Jack for water before I settled across from him in the kitchen.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” But now that the buzz was fading, he couldn’t give me eye contact.
“Dylan, something is wrong so sp
ill.”
“I miss your dad, I miss the shop. I didn’t realize how much I needed both in my life.”
Reaching for his hand, I leaned closer. “You have me and Aunt Dee, you know that right?”
He squeezed my hand; a slight smile appeared on his lips. “I know.”
“I’m guessing you aren’t liking the new job?”
“It’s all right, but not the same.” His head jerked up so fast it startled me. “I loved your dad. He was like a brother. You know that right?”
“Of course.”
“Sometimes we hurt the ones we love the most.”
“Dylan.”
“I’m tired. Thank you for dinner and cleaning.”
“Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah, I just need to sleep it off.”
“I’ll visit again soon and bring Aunt Dee.”
“Okay.”
He walked me to the door and hesitated a second before pulling me into his arms and holding me close. “He was a good man, your dad. Honored to call him friend.”
“He felt the same.”
He had no reply to that, but it was the look of devastation that gained my full attention. What was going on with him? “Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t look okay.”
“Better than I deserve, believe me.”
Before I could respond, he kissed my head and then closed the door firmly in my face. What the hell had that been all about?
At Aunt Dee’s later, I shared with her my visit with Dylan and she was as perplexed as me.
“People handle grief differently and Dylan didn’t just lose his friend, but his business too. I suppose sinking low isn’t unheard of, but we’ll have to keep our eyes on him. It’s been almost a year since Mace died, he should be snapping back.”
“Agreed. We’ll have to drop by often to make sure he’s adjusting.”
“You still happy you decided to move home?”
“I am. I feel Dad there, but in a good way. I miss him.”
“Me too.”