Page 60 of To Catch A Rook

Aaron:If I win?

Kellan:You go free.

Kellan:If you lose, you lose your life.

Aaron:Agreed.

Aaron:I will be there for 10:00 pm. I will be alone.

The terms were set; the deal was done.

Kellan:As will I.

“Ms. Lane!”

Gabriella popped up from her perch just outside of Aaron’s private suite, her deep red curls bobbing in time with her enthusiastic smile.

I liked Gabriella. She was kind and genuine like a soft kitten, but a fierce tiger whenever someone attempted to go against her employer’s wishes. She rivaled Marty in efficiency and tact, and if Aaron downsized anytime soon, I’d snap her up faster than any of his business assets.

I returned her beaming smile with a measured one of my own. “He’s not expecting me, Gabby, but I’d like to see him, if he has the time.”

“We’ll make the time.” Her bubble-gum pink lips set into a determined line as she buzzed through the intercom.

“Ms. Lane to see you, sir.”

After a few minutes of idle chatter about Gabby’s family and a shared love of hot yoga, Aaron appeared in the double-glass doorway. A tight smile overshadowed his sunken eyes.

“Come on in.”

I followed his firm backside into the office, enjoying the way his tight gray dress pants lifted each muscular cheek. The crisp, tucked-in white dress shirt he wore lightly wrinkled along his back, hiding the landscape of honed shoulders beneath.

While my office was a bright contrast of white and glass, Aaron’s workspace was floor-to-ceiling black lacquered wood and plush dark carpeting.

“For comfort,”he’d once told me when I’d teased him about the dust mites collecting within its tufted fabric.“Dust mites are not my enemy.”

Thick blinds covered the wall of windows overlooking Carlisle’s cityscape, and only a dim light at his desk shone downwards to a pile of scattered papers.

He turned a knob next to a panel of switches, and the windows within the doorframe turned opaque, giving us complete privacy.

Aaron walked toward his desk, only fully acknowledging my presence once he’d turned around and leaned against its hulking frame.

Dark tendrils of tousled hair hung loosely behind his ears, and there was a sallow tinge to his normally deeply tanned skin.

I cocked my head, assessing him fully. Aaron Rodriguez might still command a runway and a boardroom, but he looked like shit.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

The crinkles lining his tired eyes did nothing to make him look better.

“I’ve been preoccupied,Mi Reina. Do not take my absence as a dismissal. How are you?”

Folding my arms across the silk fabric of my blouse, I mirrored his stance.

“I don’t think we need to talk about me at the moment. Have you looked in a mirror lately?”

“I’ve been busy.” He ran a large palm through his hair, dropping his caramel eyes from mine. “I have no need for mirrors.”

In the years I had known him, I had never seen Aaron as a lost little boy. Despite our recent issues, he had always been a faithful friend, self-assured and never lacking confidence while I was still building my own. He was commanding and direct, and much too literal at times.

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