Page 40 of Rebel

Rebel gave me a strange look and I responded, “Yeah, I know that’s weird. You don’t have to say it.”

Not commenting on my words, he asked, “What did you and Zoe come up with?”

“I sifted through every client that made a formal complaint to my office and Zoe decided that none of them seemed angry enough to break into our office and mess it up. Then we got to thinking. Maybe it was a former employee.”

“As in Sherman or Mark, right?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t pay to rule either of them out, but I think Mark is exponentially more likely to ransack our office and destroy it. He was super pissed at being let go, and he has a terrible temper and is a shitty human being in general.”

“Were either of them awarded unemployment?”

“They both applied and were denied. A former employee only qualifies for unemployment if they lost their job through no fault of their own. Both Mark and Sherman were fired for a reason.”

“Were either of them notified of the denial on the day of the break-in?”

“Yes. Mark was notified the afternoon before the break-in. I still think if it’s either of them, it’s him. He lost a well-paying management job and like I mentioned before he’s a truly despicable person.”

“Alright, that’s the direction we’ll go in next” he responded firmly. “We’re not giving up until we know who did this and they’re behind bars.”

“Mind if we get out of here? I was kind of hoping for a romantic evening, and looking at all that evidence is killing the mood.”

Rebel grinned and came to his feet. “Sure. You want to go downstairs or lounge in my bedroom? I have a little seating area in there and a minifridge with more drinks, so I’m not just steering you towards the bed. I often chill there in the evenings rather than the living room.”

“Your room sounds great. We can crash when we get tired of talking about the break-in.”

“Oh, I’ve almost had my limit of talking about that.” I could tell by his voice that he wasn’t even joking about that.

I was right there with him. Throwing everything I just learned into a little box in the back of my head and forgetting about it for just one night sounded pretty good, right about now. Everything over the last week or so had been not only difficult but overwhelming. And learning that my mom’s best friend had been backstabbing her, and that my ex had turned out to be an asshole who violated my privacy, was more than I could deal with tonight.

That’s why when Rebel handed me another wine cooler, I gratefully accepted it and opened it right away. I tilted my head back and took a long drink. It was just what I needed to quench my thirst. When I glanced at Rebel, he was staring at me with concern etched over every square inch of his face.

“You realize that none of what happened was your fault, right?”

“Except the ex. I guess that I had poor judgment back then. I honestly thought he was a relatively nice guy. The only reason we broke up was because I went off to college.”

“Yeah, that was one of the things that caused him the most angst.”

“Well, that’s not exactly how it went. Initially we were both going to UCLA, but he didn’t get the grades. He tried to persuade me to stay in Griffinsford and attend the community college instead, but I wasn’t going to give up my opportunity.”

“You don’t have to justify to me why this asshole had it all wrong. The thing is, you had every right to break up with him for any reason or no reason. He’s now clear on the fact that you didn’t owe him shit. Please don’t give that fucker a second thought.”

“I don’t know how I could have had such poor judgment,” I told him. I was embarrassed to have been exploited by him. “He turned out to be worse than I could have imagined.”

Rebel shrugged. “Maybe he wasn’t like that in the beginning. It might be that when the two of you went your separate ways for college, his choices took him down the wrong path.”

“I guess that’s possible. I’m done talking about him, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. So what do you wanna talk about?” he said with an easy grin.

Chapter 15

Lacey

“Idon’t know, but do you know what would really make me feel better?” I said, raising my eyebrow.

“Let me guess. Snuggling up to a big scary biker who’s proven he’s willing to beat the shit out of men who take liberties without asking?”

Setting my empty bottle aside, I told him, “That’s one way of looking at it, I suppose. Another way is that I’d like to snuggle up to the man who’s been occupying all my thoughts lately, the one who is all kinds of handsome, has an amazing sense of humor, and gives the best orgasms I’ve ever had. What do you say to that?”

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