Contents 12 страница

“Did I just hear what I think I heard? ” Polly’s nose scrunched up. “Ew! What the hell are they doing in there? ”

“They’re snorting coke, ” I whispered, almost more to myself than to Dez and Polly. I was completely in shock at that point. “And … and … getting their freak on. ”

“What? David and Scott? ” Dez shoved me over so she could get a look at the screen on her phone.

“Damn, bonchickawahwah, ” she giggled. “Hey, I know those two chicks. They’re the new girls. Guess now I know how they got promoted to assistant managers so quick. ”

“You’ve got to be joking, ” Polly said, but it came out as more of a question than a statement.

I shook my head. Polly squeezed in on my other side to have a look for herself.

I’d known David and Scott were a couple of sleazeballs whose behaviors were a special brand of unscrupulous at best, but I never imagined I would ever witness it for myself. For as long as I lived, I knew I would never be able to get that image out of my head. Not even if I bleached my brain, which was looking like a pretty good idea.

“Did Noah do that to his face? ” Dez asked, and I nodded with a proud smile. “Damn, I think I’m in love with that man. Don’t tell him, though, because then he’d want my body so bad, and that would be embarrassing for you and me both. ”

She went back to watching the show via the screen on her cell phone, which she’d taken from me, by the way. “Say what you want, but this is some sexy-ass shit. I’m saving this for later, ” she said, still recording.

That was disturbing to the nth degree, but so like Dez to want to add to her own personal porn collection. She liked the real stuff, none of that fake Smuttywood acting. I knew this because I’d stumbled upon her collection while looking for a decent movie to watch at her apartment one night.

We stood there for a few moments longer, because hell, what else were we supposed to do? I’d moved away from the phone because I couldn’t stand to watch any longer. And then I thought I heard a sound from the other room. Curiosity got the best of me, so I pressed my ear against the wall and listened while Polly managed to nudge her way in between me and Dez until we were tits to tits to do the same.

Someone was moaning and groaning, and then, “Yeah, you love the Big Daddy Dick, don’t you? Suck it harder, baby. I’m almost there. ” David’s smug voice was disgustingly strained right before I heard another sort of distorted howling sound that could’ve been either one of the chicks or Scott for all I knew. Either way, it made my skin crawl.

Polly looked a little green in the gills. “Oh, that is just so wrong. ”

“What are they doing now, Dez? ” I whispered across the space. Of course she was still watching, the hussy.

“Duh, ” Polly said. “They’re coming. ”

I rolled my eyes. “Not that. I mean, now. ”

“No, she’s right, ” Dez answered. “They are coming. At the same time. How’d they manage to sync that up? ” What was worse was that her brows were furrowed like it was a math problem she was trying to solve. I’d bet good money she’d go home and work on the solution to that equation later. After a moment, she said, “Okay, so Sluts-R-Us just went into the back room, which happens to be Scott’s personal bathroom. My guess is they’re going to scour some of that spunk funk off each other. Tweedledick and Tweedlecum are firing up the puff-puff-pass. ”

I sank down onto the floor and let my head fall against the thin wall that stood between me and that stupid contract. “This is going to take forever. Noah’s going to freak out and think something went wrong if I don’t get back soon. ”

“Wait a minute, hon. Don’t go getting all dramatic yet, ” Dez said, waving me over to see what was happening in the next room from her phone.

“We should probably take advantage of the time we have with them, ” Scott said, stroking his cock unabashedly until it started to harden again. As quick as that turnaround was, that coke must’ve been laced with a male enhancement drug. “Pussy like that doesn’t come along every day, you know. ”

“Hell, yeah! ” David crowed. He picked up his pants and fished his cell phone out of the pocket. “I’ll be there in a minute. I’m expecting a call from the senator, so I should probably check my messages real quick. ”

As soon as Scott had joined the twins in the bathroom, David put his phone back in his pants and rushed over to Scott’s desk. Taking another look over his shoulder, he opened one of the drawers and pulled out a manila folder. He grabbed the paper inside, placed it on the fax machine, and dialed some numbers.

“No, no, no …, ” I chanted, knowing full well that piece of paper was the contract. My contract.

Polly growled. “That bastard! ”

Said bastard stood there drumming his fingers impatiently while waiting for the machine to finish up. Once he got the receipt, he shredded it and then replaced the paper and file folder in the desk before practically skipping off into the bathroom to join the orgy no doubt already in full swing.

I hit my forehead against the wall. No way would I be able to keep him from using the contract as leverage against Noah now.

“Cheer up, Lanes, ” Dez said, a little too chipper. When I furrowed my brow at her crazy talk, she waved the phone in the air. “David Stone is in cahoots with Scott Christopher in both the drug and sex trade. It’s all right here. I think that makes for a damn good bargaining chip, don’t you? ”

In that moment, Dez was the sexiest beast I’d ever seen. If she wasn’t my best friend, I probably would’ve thrown her against the wall and shoved my tongue down her throat. She was right. We had all the proof we needed to bring David and Scott down. I wondered how well that would sit with Scott and all of his very influential clients. Not too well, I guessed.

“You should still get the original contract, ” Dez said. Since when had she become the voice of reason? “I know he’s already faxed it, but one contract floating around out there is a hell of a lot better than two. ”

Good point.

“I’m going, ” I said, reaching for the door.

“Wait a minute! ” Polly whispered harshly, putting her hand on my arm to stop me. “What if you get caught? ”

“But if I don’t go now, I might not get the chance to get the contract at all, ” I reasoned. “I’ll go inside real quick, and if I don’t hear the shower, I’ll slip back out and we’ll wait it out a little longer. ”

“Let her go, ” Dez told Polly. “We can watch from in here, and if she gets into trouble, we’ll mount up and ride to the rescue. ”

“Um, okay. ” I could hear the reluctance in Polly’s voice. “But if anything happens to you, Noah’s going to go apeshit on me, so please be careful. ”

“Of course. ” I nodded nervously and then turned the doorknob very slowly.

Once in the hallway, I tiptoed along the wall to the door to Scott’s office. I checked the handle, finding it unlocked, and then pushed the door open slowly. My ears picked up the sound of the shower running and I could hear male and female voices from the other side of the bathroom door, though I couldn’t tell which belonged to whom.

Hurrying over to Scott’s desk, I opened the bottom drawer, where I’d seen David put the folder earlier. And there it was, filed under T for Talbot. I pulled it out and flipped it open to grab the contract.

A smile like the Cheshire cat’s spread across my face once I had it in hand, then I replaced the folder and tiptoe-ran back across the room just as the shower shut off. I was careful not to make any noise when I slipped out of the door and pulled it closed behind me. Dez and Polly were already waiting for me in the hallway.

I held up the contract and Dez did the same with the phone. I swear, I was just about ready to kiss her on the mouth. With huge grins on our faces, Dez and I did our victory dance. It had been perfected over decades of friendship and really was just us shaking our butts from side to side in well-choreographed synchronization. Polly bounced up and down on her toes while giving us silent applause. And then we headed for the stairs to make our stealthy escape.

Mission accomplished. Maybe not the mission we’d set out with, but accomplished nonetheless.

Noah

All Hallows’ Eve, better known as Halloween.

Cultures from all over the world celebrated the tradition in one form or another for a great many years. Although they each had their own history, no one really knew who had started the tradition or why, though it was most typically tied to pagan roots. Regardless, it remained a day annually celebrated throughout the world, one that allowed us to party with the dead on the one night they were permitted to cross over onto the living plane. It was all smoke and mirrors, fun at the expense of spooking someone else. Given its traditions and the situation at hand, it seemed apt that the all-important board meeting would fall on October thirty-first, a day where it was acceptable to dress up as someone you were not to play tricks on the gullible.

I was not gullible. But then again, neither was David Stone.

Monday morning came quicker than I thought it would. I was nervous, hoping like hell the plan we had concocted would be a success and not somehow backfire in our faces. Either way, by the time the day was through, the fool would definitely be determined.

And to the victor would go the spoils.

Win or lose, the whole masquerade would finally be over, and Lanie and I could live our lives without the fear of someone finding out about the secret we’d been keeping.

When Lanie had arrived home with the original contract in hand, we’d immediately taken it, along with her copy and my shredded version, and burned them in the same trash can she had used to torch the lingerie. Watching the proof of our arrangement disintegrate into ash was like a weight being lifted off our shoulders. Both of our bodies seemed to relax at the same time once the fire burned out, proof of how much stress it had taken on us physically in addition to the mental and emotional turmoil. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. We had given ourselves a new beginning and we weren’t going to take it for granted. Of course, there was still the issue of the copy David had sent by fax.

Dez had been only too happy to show me the prized video from their excursion. I hadn’t known Scott was in the drug biz, but I wasn’t surprised by the fact, either. What I was surprised by was David’s involvement in the whole kit and caboodle. I’d never had an inkling, but then again, it was one of our investors who had turned me on to the auction. I supposed it made sense that David had introduced him to it in the first place. Still, David had been successful at keeping me in the dark. I was sure it had been a very lucrative business for him. Too bad he’d gotten sloppy.

And he was going to get sloppier still by attempting to expose to the board what Lanie and I had done. Talk about your double standards. Luckily for him, I was going for the mercy kill before it even got that far. He could thank the ghosts of my mother and father. They wouldn’t want me to embarrass their friend and partner, David’s father, Harrison.

And so there I was on Monday morning, moments away from the board meeting, and Lanie and I were riding my personal elevator up to my office. She had insisted on accompanying me for moral support and all that jazz, and truthfully, I was glad she was there. If, for whatever reason, shit backfired on us, we needed to be able to form a united front—or get the hell out of town in a hurry. I’d heard Alaska was really nice in the spring.

Lanie put her arms around my waist. “Nervous? ”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “Nah, just another day at the office as far as I’m concerned. I’m really hoping the board approves of my newest charitable campaign, though. ”

Lanie turned me around and looked up at me. “I’m sure they will. You worked really hard on the presentation all weekend. That can’t be all for nothing, right? ”

She smiled, and the reassurance I saw in her eyes set my mind at ease. When she looked at me like that, it gave me a renewed confidence that couldn’t be shaken. It was me and her against the world, and by God, I believed we had a damn good fighting chance.

The bell on the elevator dinged and the doors opened to show the hustle and bustle of the office before us. Employees were always on high alert when it came to board meeting days and tried to look even busier than normal. Everyone was decked out in their most professional attire, their expressions all business. A few looked up and gave me and Lanie a small smile in greeting and then went right back to work.

I let out a breath to steel my nerves. Lanie’s left hand came to rest in the crook of my arm and I looked down at it, feeling like an ass because her ring finger was bare even though we were engaged. I’d have to fix that ASAP. She was still sporting the Crawford cuff bracelet I’d given her, but it wasn’t enough. Marking her as my property back when she actually was, at least contractually, was one thing; symbolizing that she belonged to me by her own choice was something else entirely.

We stepped from the elevator and I escorted her to my office, where she would wait. Board meetings were always closed to the public, so she wouldn’t be able to sit in. Plus there was no way I was going to have her anywhere near Stone. She was cool with waiting in the wings because Polly would be there to keep her company. As my assistant, Mason would be in attendance at the meeting, and he would have his phone dialed into Polly’s so that she and Lanie could secretly overhear the entire meeting from my office.

“Everything in place? ” I asked Mason when we walked inside.

I sat Lanie in the chair behind my desk, and Polly took the one on the opposite side. Like they were planning some undercover sting operation, Mason called Polly’s phone and ran a check to make sure everything was a go.

“Yep. You ready, man? ” Mason asked me.

I nodded and looked down at Lanie. “Here goes nothing. Can I get a kiss for luck? ”

She rose to stand on the tips of her toes and tugged at the lapel on my suit jacket to pull me to her. Her lips found mine and she wrapped her arms around my neck. That kiss was chock full of words that didn’t need to be spoken. When she pulled back, she pressed her forehead to mine and looked me in the eye with certainty. “You don’t need luck, ” she told me, “but I’ll take any opportunity I can to taste your lips”—as if she didn’t have free access to them anytime she got a hankering.

“We’re meant to be together, ” she continued. “So I have no doubt in my mind that everything will fall into place. Besides, you’re Noah P. Crawford, and that name screams success. ”

“God, I love you, ” I told her, and I fucking meant it.

She smiled, triumphant. “I know, and I love you, too. ”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Mason lean over and kiss the top of Polly’s head. “Let’s go, man. Don’t want Stone to get suspicious. ”

“Knock ’em dead! ” Polly said with an encouraging smile. Our own personal cheerleader.

I kissed the tip of Lanie’s nose and turned her loose so I could grab my briefcase. With a wink, I walked out of my office, Mason close behind.

Part of our master plan was to have Mason call Mandy Peters, David’s secretary, to inform her that the meeting had been rescheduled for an hour earlier than originally planned. He’d done that this morning. David would have to rush around like a madman to get ready, but he’d do it, of course, because this was his big chance to bring me down. What he didn’t know, however, was that the earlier meeting wouldn’t include any of the actual Scarlet Lotus board members.

Mason and Polly had handled the setting up of the boardroom, instead of allowing the administrative assistant whose job it usually was to do it. It was essential to the plan that there be no interruptions. Plus we didn’t want to run the risk of someone else overhearing all our personal junk.

Once we got to the boardroom, I saw my plan B sitting in the waiting area outside the door and gave her a nod.

“He’s already inside, ” she told me.

“And our guest? ”

“Waiting in the empty office down the hall. ”

“Good. Keep your ears on in case I need you. ”

“Will do, ” she said. As I started to go inside, she stopped me. “Hey, handle that shit in there, or I will. You feel me? ”

Plan A was to confront David with all we knew and the proof that could ultimately destroy him. If that didn’t work, plan B would go into effect. There was also a plan C, but it was a last-ditch effort, a desperate move that we didn’t want to make unless it was absolutely necessary. I hoped like hell it wouldn’t come to that.

A simple nod of my head in understanding was all the exchange we needed. Turning the handle on the door, I stepped inside.

I had to hide my snicker when I saw David’s bruised and battered face, and I wondered what kind of story he’d made up to explain it away. He was already situated toward the front of the table, next to where his father, Harrison, used to—and sometimes still did—sit at its head.

Harrison had turned his control of Scarlet Lotus over to David, and although he sometimes showed up at the board meetings, it was on very rare occasions and only when something big was on the agenda. I had a sneaking suspicion David had insisted he be present for this one because he really thought he had some shit on me that might finally make him look better in his father’s eyes.

I almost felt bad for him.

Almost.

I took my seat across the table from David with Mason at my side. David, the smug bastard, shot me an I-know-something-you-don’t-know grin that looked mighty painful considering the split in his lip (courtesy of moi), but other than that, he kept his trap shut. It was probably the smartest thing he could’ve done. I, on the other hand, found it extremely difficult not to launch myself across the table and kill the fucker with my bare hands. In my mind, I kept seeing him hovering over my girl, trying to take something that didn’t belong to him, something she had no intention of giving freely. But I kept myself in check. It was time to get this shit over with for good.

His assistant was there, of course, but she shouldn’t have been. At least not for the purpose of this meeting. “Get out, Mandy. ”

She and David looked at each other and then at me before he guffawed. “Did you bump your head or something this morning, Crawford? Mandy is my assistant. She doesn’t take orders from you. ”

I gave him a stone-cold stare. “You and I need to have ourselves a little chat. You like chatting, remember? Only I don’t think you’re going to want witnesses around for this one. ”

He laughed. “Have you been smoking crack? ”

“Nope, ” I said, relaxing back in my chair. “Haven’t been snorting anything, either. ”

He flinched, although it was barely perceptible.

“Fine, Mandy can stay. How’s Izzy? ” I asked with a smirk.

There it was. The slight widening of the eyes, the straightening of his posture, and then the look away. “The board meeting didn’t get moved to an hour earlier, did it? ”

“Nope. ”

David cleared his throat and turned to Mandy. “Give us a moment. ”

Confused wasn’t even the word for the expression on Mandy’s face. I’d say clueless fit it to a T, as that was what she was most of the time, but she got up and did as she was told, like a good little assistant.

“And what about your boy? ” David asked, clearly indicating Mason’s presence.

“Mason already knows everything. He stays. ”

“How about you tell me what this everything is? ”

“Gladly. But first, do you have my contract with you? ”

He grinned and sat back. “That’s what this is all about? ”

“Wasn’t that exactly what you planned to make the board meeting all about? ”

“If you pulled this stunt to try to talk me out of it, then you’ve wasted your time and mine, ” he said. “But if you’re here to wave a little white flag and hand over your half of Scarlet Lotus in lieu of your total annihilation, I might be convinced to accept. ”

“Oh, I don’t think it’s going to go down like that at all. In fact, I think you’ll be the one handing over your shares before we’re done here. ”

“What do you know about Izzy? Better yet, how do you know about her? Have you been talking to Scott? ” He couldn’t have believed Scott Christopher would rat him out any more than I did. On the other hand, when a ship is sinking, rats tend to hop on board any flotation device they can find to save their own hide. Christopher wasn’t plan A, though.

“Show me your hand and I’ll show you mine, ” I challenged.

David sucked at his teeth as he met my stare. His fingers drummed on the table before him until finally he slid his briefcase in front of him, popped it open, and took out a single sheet of paper. After closing the briefcase, he held up the contract for me to see.

“Here you go, Crawford. Proof that my dick really is bigger than yours, ” he said with a smug grin.

I’d seen his dick when it was ramming away into my slut of an ex-girlfriend’s ass. Not even close.

“So what is it that you think you have on me? ” he asked.

“I know you’re using cocaine. ”

David chuckled, the relief in the sound revealing his nervousness about what I’d had to say. “Prove it. ”

“A mandatory drug test from the board will handle that. ”

He shrugged. “Fine, but it’s nothing more than a slap on the wrist and my promise to get help for my addiction. I’m still sitting pretty, but nice try. ”

“You tried to rape Lanie. ”

Again he shrugged. “Her word against mine, and I have proof that she’s a whore. Which means all I have to do is tell the police and the board that she told me she’d make that claim if I didn’t pay her money. Simple case of blackmail. I’m the victim. What else do you have? ”

I had plan B.

“Mason, ” I said without averting my attention from David.

Mason opened up his laptop, picked up the remote to the projector, and pushed a button. The white screen on the opposite wall lit up with the images of the video Lanie and the girls had recorded from the closet next to Scott’s office at Foreplay.

David broke off our staring contest when he heard his own voice claiming a kickboxing accident as the reason for his ugly mug. I chuckled because that shit was funny.

I looked at Mason and jerked my head toward the door. He nodded and went over to stick his head out into the waiting area. A couple of moments later he swung the door open wide, and in sauntered Dez with Scott Christopher in tow.

Scott came to an abrupt halt just inside the door, his attention immediately taken by the giant white screen playing an action-packed movie with all the right ingredients of a blockbuster: highly illegal business dealings mixed with very amateurish porno action.

Mason closed the door behind Dez because we were way past the line of inappropriate behavior in the workplace. Scarlet Lotus didn’t need sexual harassment charges on top of the scandalous activities already well under way.

David bolted out of his chair when he saw Scott. “What the hell are you doing here? ” I think it was safe to say he was surprised. And maybe even a little pissed.

If the flexing of his jaw muscles and the clenching of fists at his sides were any indication, I’d say Scott was just as stunned and every bit as pissed. The tension between the two of them was so thick it crowded in like the cramming of a dozen people into a phone booth.

Scott looked at David and then jabbed a finger in the air toward the Oscar-winning performance. “What the fuck, Stone? ”

Plan B was looking very promising.

“You tell me! I thought you said your place was secure! ”

Scott glowered at Dez, and I wasn’t about to have that shit, so I stood up and pulled her behind me. Of course, Dez wasn’t going for any of that damsel-in-distress stuff. I’d swear the chick was a dude under that skirt if it weren’t for the fact that she clearly was not.

She stepped around me and lifted her chin in defiance. “I recorded that video. Did a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself. Oh, and I quit. By the way, I’m not scared of you, so if you come after me, you better know I’ll monkey-stomp your goddamn ass. ”

Scott waved her off like she was an annoying gnat. I was pretty sure he actually did consider her to be another inconvenience, one he didn’t have time to worry about, which was a good thing. With any luck, he really would leave her alone. The same would not be true for Stone.

My guess was that Scott knew David’s arrogance was what had gotten Scott into this predicament in the first place. Scott had to remedy that right here, right now, or else be prepared to go to war with the drug dealers and influential people he was involved with. It was a given that the suppliers of his cocaine were ruthless killers when it came to protecting their commerce, but he couldn’t discount the high rollers to whom he sold not only cocaine but pussy as well. Their hands might have been baby soft and clean as a whistle, but their money allowed those same hands to stretch far and wide and hire another pair willing to get dirty for the right price.

“Do you have any idea what will happen to both of us if this gets out? Fuck that. I’m not going down with you. You better fix this shit. Pronto! ” Scott turned toward me and put his hands on his hips. “What’s he got that you want? ”

“Half of my parents’ company … and Delaine Talbot’s contract. ”

I’d never seen a person’s face turn that shade of red before.

Scott’s head did this really slow turn toward David that sort of reminded me of Linda Blair in her most infamous role. “You stole the contract? ” he yelled.

Naturally, I couldn’t have all the yelling. “I’m going to need you to keep your voice down, Christopher. There are other employees here, and the walls aren’t really all that thick. Speaking of which, I’m told yours are pretty thin as well. Might want to get that fixed, ” I said with a wink that went unnoticed because he was still glaring at David with murderous intent in his eyes.

“Oh, stop being so dramatic, ” David told him, smug as you please. “The contract is safe, and nobody is going to see it as long as Crawford hands over his half of the company. Relax. ”

I laughed. “Perhaps you missed the memo, David. ” I lifted my hand toward the screen. “Clearly, I’m in a better position than the chick getting cocaine snorted off her stomach while you stuff your clumsy fingers inside her sister’s pussy like she’s the Thanksgiving turkey at the crack house down the street. ”

David smirked. “I’m calling your bluff. We may not be best friends anymore, but we were once upon a time. I know you. You’re too sweet on that little girl to let me make a fool of her publicly. Hand over the company and destroy all the copies of this goddamn video, or I’m exposing you and her. ”

He was right. I would do anything to keep the secret of our relationship from the public eye, even if it meant watching Scarlet Lotus be run into the ground by the likes of David Stone. But I still had one more trick up my sleeve.

Plan C it was, then.

“Mason, ” I said for a second time.

Again Mason got down to business with his laptop, and the video from inside Scott’s office stopped, only to be replaced with a different scene. This one did more than make my skin crawl. It made something not altogether human take shape inside me. I couldn’t watch, but there was no escaping the sounds of the conversation that had taken place right before the assault. At first Lanie was pissed and David was smug. When she laughed at his proposal, he was the one who got pissed. And then he tried to force himself on her.

My body shook, fists clenching, jaw ticking, leg bouncing. I wanted to kill him. He was in my sights, a big fat-ass bull’s-eye practically tattooed on his already battered face. The worst part about that moment was watching him sit there expressionless while taking it all in. There wasn’t an ounce of remorse in his whole body. When Lanie screamed, I couldn’t take it anymore.