Inside Affair

by Ella Frank

  But one thing that hadn’t changed was my attitude, my determination to see this shithead hunting Xander brought down, and to do that, several things needed to happen.

  First, I needed to calm down. That was easier said than done, however, because every time I thought about the panic I’d seen on Xander’s face, I wanted to slam my fist through the nearest wall.

  Second, I needed to find out who had dropped those fucking flowers off.

  When the elevator doors opened, I stepped out and scanned the immediate area. I’d spoken to the building’s manager, Gerald, when I moved in, and he’d assured me that there were working surveillance cameras in the parking garage, lobby, and all elevators. As I crossed the marble floors, beelining it to the front desk, my eyes shifted from each of the corner cameras and I made a mental note to be sure to ask for each of those videos.

  “Hello, sir. What can I do for you today?” Marvin said with a bright smile as I approached the desk, but when he caught sight of my stoic expression, his smile faltered.

  “Yeah, hi. I’d like to speak to you, if you have a minute.”

  Marvin frowned, his big, bushy eyebrows all but colliding on his forehead. “Uh, of course. You’re staying with Xander, aren’t you?”

  I narrowed my eyes, wondering just how much Gerald had informed his staff about the reason I was here. If he wanted to keep his job, he would’ve told them jack fucking shit.

  “That’s right. And you delivered some flowers to him around twenty minutes ago. Is that right?”

  It was clear Marvin was aware there were new rules when it came to the top tenant in the building, just not all the finer details as to why.

  “Yes. That’s right. But I called up to let him know he had a delivery. It wasn’t until Xander told me to bring them up that I did.”

  Shit. That went hand in hand with the story Xander had given me. So he hadn’t been covering for the old guy. I was really going to have to get through to him just how important it was that he not trust anyone—not even Marvin. I didn’t care if he won the fucking lottery and they dropped by to bring him a check. No one was going to set foot in Xander’s apartment again until this was all over. Not unless they went through me.

  Schooling my temper the best I could, I lowered my voice to a much more congenial tone. “That’s okay. They were just so, um, nice, and Xander wanted me to ask if you remembered anything about the person who delivered them. He wanted to call the florist and leave a tip.”

  “Oh, of course.” Marvin again flashed that bright smile. “Let me see. He was a young man and very nice. Tall…maybe your height? He was thin but wore sunglasses and a cap, so I can’t tell you much about his hair. But he was clean-shaven.”

  “How young?”

  Marvin chuckled. “Everyone feels young to me.”

  “If you had to guess?”

  “Hmm, late twenties, maybe? Thirty?”

  I tapped my finger on the front desk and then glanced behind me, checking out the empty lobby. I really needed to see the surveillance video. “Would you be able to tell me if Gerald is here?” When Marvin’s eyes widened in alarm, I added, “I just remembered he asked me to come down and sign some paperwork, and I might as well kill two birds with one stone.”

  “Ah, I see. Let me call and check if he’s in his office.”

  As Marvin stepped away, I turned around and leaned back against the desk. I wanted to see this guy that had delivered the flowers. It could just be someone who worked for the florist, I supposed, and I’d be sure to follow up with that. But sometimes these assholes got cocky. Sometimes they wanted to get closer to their infatuation and took risks, and I wasn’t about to leave without at least checking it out.

  “You’re in luck, he’s here. He said to go on back. His office is through that door over there, and—”

  “I remember. I met with him when I moved in.”

  Marvin gave a brisk nod, and I headed across the lobby and pushed through the side door, making my way down to where Gerald was standing in his open doorway.

  “Detective Bailey.”

  “Gerald,” I said as I stepped inside his cramped office and he shut the door behind me.

  “What can I do for you?” As he took a seat behind his desk, I remained standing, not about to get comfortable when I wanted to track down the cameras and look at them—now.

  “You can get me this morning’s surveillance video.”

  “Why? Did something happen?”

  “Yes. One of your employees brought a flower delivery up to Xander’s this morning.” Gerald’s mouth fell open, and I nodded. “So I’m going to ask you again. Can you get me that video?”

  He all but jumped to his feet. “Yes, yes, of course. I’m so sorry this happened. I told Marvin not to—”

  “It doesn’t matter who it was,” I said, suddenly feeling protective over the old man for Xander’s sake. He might’ve fucked up, yeah. But I didn’t want the guy fired. “I just want to look at the video.”

  “Yes. I understand. Come with me.” Gerald rushed to the door and pulled it open. I followed him outside, and as we entered a small room full of electrical equipment and several TV monitors, I finally felt like I was getting somewhere.

  He sat down behind the controls, and I moved in behind him, pointing to the monitors surveying the lobby, and one which was aimed at the desk.

  “There, those four, but that one in particular. Can you rewind it? About thirty minutes ago?”

  Gerald pushed a button and nothing happened. “What in the…?”

  “What’s wrong?” I said.

  “It’s not rewinding.”

  “The feed?”

  “Yes.” Gerald moved to the wall of equipment behind me and opened up the door, then he shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

  “What?”

  Gerald looked back at me, a frown deeply etched between his brows.

  “What?”

  “The drive is gone. There’s nothing in here. There’s nothing recording. All you’re seeing is a live feed. That’s why I can’t rewind it.”

  I fucking knew it. That ballsy motherfucker had been inside the building and had been smart enough to take the one thing that would’ve proven it.

  But how had he known where to go to get the drive?

  “Don’t you have a backup?” I demanded, my annoyance boiling up inside me now that I knew he’d been so close and yet he’d somehow managed to slip away—again.

  “No, we don’t.”

  “And there’s no lock on this door. Fucking perfect.” Incompetence at its finest. “What about a camera on the hall back here?”

  “We have one, yes. But all the feeds for the day would’ve been stored on that drive.”

  Fuck! Just when I thought I would have a strong, decent lead, maybe a face, I had nothing. This was great, just fucking great. If I could get a break sometime soon, that would be amazing.

  “I don’t want anyone calling up to, or coming into, Xander’s place until I tell you otherwise,” I barked. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “And for fuck’s sake, buy a new tape or drive or whatever the fuck this asshole stole back in there, just in case he comes back.” I pulled open the door, and as it slammed against the wall, I stormed out of the security room muttering, “Motherfucker.”

  BY THE TIME I stepped off the elevator into Xander’s place, I’d made sure I’d calmed down. It wouldn’t do him any good to see me in a rage, and the last thing I wanted to do was spook him further.

  In fact, I was hoping he was knocked out cold and was getting a bit of rest. That way I could take a second to process all of this and decide what to do next.

  The florist was at the top of the list. I wanted to call them up and check to see if anyone worked for them that matched the description Marvin had given me. If that was a no, then I wanted to know who called the order in and who came to pick it up. If I could get an answer on either one of those things, I had a feeling I’d
finally get somewhere.

  But first things first: I needed to check on Xander. As I made my way down the hall, I was hyperaware of just how quiet it was up here. Not a sound could be heard throughout the house, and that gave me hope he was currently visiting la-la land.

  I stopped outside his door and softly knocked, and when there was no response, I decided there was no harm in checking to make sure he was safely tucked in bed.

  I pushed open the door a crack and looked inside, and just as I made out his form beneath the covers, Xander sat up and looked my way.

  “Hey,” he said, his voice a little drowsy from napping, and just as I was about to tell him I’d come back later, Xander added, “Come in.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked, but found myself stepping inside and shutting the door. “I just wanted to check on you, but you should rest.”

  Xander gave a tight smile and then rubbed a hand over his weary face. “It’s okay. I’m finding it hard to drift off. Too much going on up here.” He tapped the side of his head. “Did you find out anything?”

  I heard the question, I knew I did. But my eyes had fallen to all the naked skin on display, as he sat there with a sheet draped across his lap.

  “Sean?”

  “Huh?” My eyes flew back to his.

  “Did you find out anything?”

  I grimaced. “We can talk about that—”

  “Now, Sean. I want to talk about it now.”

  “Okay.” I walked across the room to stand at the foot of his bed, and I would’ve been lying if I’d said that seeing him there didn’t make my palms sweat and my pulse beat a little faster. “The hard drive is gone.”

  Xander stared at me blankly, and I shoved my hands in the pockets of my jeans in case they did something stupid like start to shake.

  Shit. Here he was trying to get serious information out of me, and all I could focus on was how good he looked half-naked and sleep-sexy.

  Focus, Sean. Focus. “The security system for the hotel uses hard drives to record the video. It stores up to a month’s worth of footage. The one that would’ve had today’s video? It’s gone.”

  “Gone? I…I don’t understand. What do you mean gone? Isn’t the room where it’s kept monitored or something?”

  “Not very fucking well. It seems whoever this fucker is knew how, or when, he could get back there with no one noticing.”

  “So this guy is smart? Great.”

  Xander shoved back the covers and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and I was more than a little relieved that he was wearing those loose grey pants.

  “I felt slightly better thinking he was just some crackpot with a fixation. But he’s smart, Sean. He’s dismantling surveillance videos now?”

  Xander shot to his feet, and as he did he lost his balance, because he started to pitch forward. Before I could think twice about it, I was around the mattress and up the two stairs of the platform bed reaching for him.

  “Whoa, careful there.” As Xander clutched at my arms and steadied himself, he looked up into my eyes, and the worry there made my heart ache for him. “You listen to me. I want you to get back in bed, close your eyes, and forget about this for a few more hours.”

  “But—”

  “Shh.” I pressed a finger against his lips. “You already called Marcus, I assume?”

  Xander nodded.

  “Good. Then I want you to get back in bed and rest. When was the last time you got a really good sleep?”

  Xander blinked, and when I lowered my hand, he said, “The night before I turned up on your doorstep.”

  I chuckled. “I’m going to try to not take that too personally.”

  Xander tried for a half-smile, but failed.

  “You’re exhausted. Get in bed, Xander.”

  As I continued to hold on to him, Xander stared up at me with an expression I couldn’t quite decipher, then he straightened, and I let him go.

  “I’m going to go and sit over there by your cozy fireplace and keep an eye on you, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  As I walked over to his seating area, I could feel his eyes on me almost as vividly as his hands had just been. I took a seat and stretched my legs out in front of me. As I watched him climb back into bed, I had the intense desire to lie down beside him.

  Instead of doing that, however, I watched Xander turn to his side, prop his hands up under his cheek, and level his eyes on me, as he drifted back off to sleep and left me sitting there with about a hundred and one questions as to why I suddenly wanted to hold him instead of watch over him from afar.

  31

  Xander

  MY FEET SLAPPED against the pavement and my heart pounded out an accompanying rhythm as I ran full speed down the road. The sun had just set, and as the night closed in, all signs of life vanished from sight.

  With my legs pumping and my chest heaving, I glanced over my shoulder, searching for that which was chasing me. But as I scanned the shadows for the one causing such panic, all I saw was a vast void.

  That couldn’t be right. There was something back there, something hunting me. But as my eyes strained against the never-ending stretch of darkness that seemed to be closing in, I felt my terror intensify.

  Run, my mind chanted. Run, and don’t stop.

  And just as I turned to bolt, a hand grabbed my wrist and—

  “Xander? Xander?”

  Sean’s voice yanked me out of my nightmare, and as I gripped the duvet and jackknifed up in bed, my eyes darted around a room filled with shadows. It was late, much later than when I’d first gotten into bed, and when Sean sat down on the mattress beside me, I slowly began to make out his silhouette.

  Somewhere between now and when I’d fallen asleep, Sean had removed his shirt, and as my mind registered that alarming piece of information, he reached for my face.

  “It’s okay. You’re okay,” he said, his voice a velvety baritone that did nothing to ease my already thumping heart.

  My eyes flicked around the room again, but when Sean brushed his thumb across my cheek, my attention came back to him.

  “Hey there.” The twinkling lights from the surrounding buildings caught on his face, and the concern swirling in those dark blue eyes made me tremble. “How you doing?”

  I had no idea. The only thing I knew with one hundred percent certainty was how close, and how very naked, Sean seemed to be right now.

  “That must’ve been some dream.”

  I blinked and knew that if I didn’t say something soon he would likely think I was losing it. “More like a nightmare.”

  “Wanna talk about it?”

  “No.”

  He rubbed his thumb gently over the back of my hand, and I couldn’t believe how such a simple gesture was so comforting. There was no awkwardness like at the beginning of all of this. Instead, it felt natural. It felt…right.

  “I’m not sure I’ve said this yet,” I said, and licked at my lower lip. “But thank you for being here.”

  His lips quirked. “In your bedroom?”

  “Uh, I meant my house, but I guess right now my bedroom too.”

  Sean winked at me, and my heart tripped over itself. Jesus, when did he develop the ability to make it do that?

  “Bet you never thought you’d say that, huh?”

  I never thought a lot of things. Like how good his hand would feel holding mine, or how sexy he would look sitting on my bed. But instead of saying any of that, I resorted to our usual behavior and shoved him in the arm.

  Sean laughed, seemingly unaffected by my touch.

  “I’m serious,” he said. “You need me, and for that reason alone, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

  I nodded, and it wasn’t until Sean placed a hand over mine that I realized I’d been trailing my fingers up and down his bicep.

  “Sorry,” I muttered, and went to pull my hand free. But Sean’s fingers tightened, keeping mine in place.

  “Don’t be. I like it.”

  “Sean
…”

  “Xander.”

  Damn. My name on his tongue sounded better than anything I’d heard in weeks. So damn good that I forgot what I’d been going to say.

  “Why don’t you move over?” he suggested, and when I just stared at him like he was speaking another language, he added, “Lie back down and close your eyes. Maybe you’ll get some more sleep if I’m here beside you.”

  Doubtful. Highly, highly doubtful. But not having any better ideas, I did what he said. I shifted across my mattress, the sheets on the empty side of the bed cool as they slid over my warm skin, and when Sean pulled back the covers, my head snapped in his direction.

  “What are you doing?”

  Sean looked down at the bed, and then back to me. “I’m getting under the covers.”

  “Um…”

  A sly grin curved Sean’s lips, but instead of wanting to slap him for it, I had a sudden urge to kiss him instead.

  “Don’t tell me you’re shy about having a man in your bed. I have a list that says otherwise.” I narrowed my eyes as Sean stood and climbed into the spot I’d just vacated. “Hmm, you warmed it up for me.”

  Okay, if my body could remember that it was Sean getting into bed beside me sometime soon, that would be really helpful.

  “You know, the first night I was here and you showed me this room, I imagined how these sheets would feel against me.”

  Was he kidding right now?

  “They looked so expensive and silky.”

  They were both those things. But to hear Sean talking about it as he lay down and placed his head where mine had just been… My confused body was threatening to embarrass me.

  “And man, I was right. They feel fucking amazing. Xander? Did you fall asleep over there?”

  “No. Not asleep.”

  I heard the sheets rustle, and then the mattress dipped down, and as I turned my head on the pillow I could make out the strong lines of Sean’s profile.

  “So, you wanna talk about it now?”

  Talk about…

  “That must’ve been some nightmare.”

  Oh, right.

  “You were breathing really hard, like you were running a marathon. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out who you were running from.”