Page 11 of Pretty Little Thing

“I don’t have a few days—” He stops, snapping his lips shut as he realizes he’s raising his voice again.

I exhale hard. “Alex, what exactly are you not telling me?”

He waves a hand. “Don’t worry about it.”

Don’t worry about it.The ultimate deflector. Alex’s default setting.

Alex reads my concern. “Look, man, I have this under control.”

“Yeah, you’re looking real stable right now, Alex.”

He ignores it. “I promised I’d handle the details and I’ll handle the details. You just focus on getting the client list. Okay?”

“I am focused on getting it. I just don’t think your buyer realizes how difficult it is to access a CEO’s private computer software.”

“I never said it’d be easy.” He points at me. “In fact, I said it wouldn’t be, but you still volunteered. Remember?”

“I remember. I also remember you telling me it’d all be worth it.”

“It will all be worth it,”he says, clearly not giving a shit about his volume again. “I gave you my word that I would make it all worth it. Do you trust me?”

I shift in my seat. “Yeah, Alex. I do. Calm the fuck down.”

He takes a breath. “I’m sorry, I just…” He taps the table with his thumb. “I feel like I’ve let you down.”

I shake my head. “You haven’t let me down. No one’s let anybody down.”

“Your life isn’t what it should be and that’s my fault.” He lets out a chuckle and glares into his empty coffee mug. “It’s always been my fault. I’m gonna make it up to you.”

I sigh, moving on. “Give me another few days,” I tell him. “I’ll get the client list. Just tell your guy I’ll do my best. All right?”

“How long we talking here? Can you get it tomorrow night?” he asks, a glimmer of hope in his voice.

“No, I work tomorrow night.”

“It’s an office temp job, man. Why the fuck do you have to be there on a Monday night?”

“Not that job. My other job.”

He grunts with amusement. “The gym or the sex dungeon?”

I snort. “It’s not a dungeon.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, what do you call it?”

“I call it work,” I say. “Work is work.”

“Hey.” He taps the table, smiling wide. “We finish this job and you won’t even need to work. The two of us will never have to work a day in our lives ever again. Eh? How’s that sound?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “It sounds pretty good.”

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