Page 9 of Rush of Jealousy

“You are the one who blatantly asked!”

“Yeah,” she agrees, “but I expected you to keep it all hush-hush.”

I give a shrug. “Seems necessary to state so you can see how everything went from amazing to a shit show in a matter of days.”

“Oh, good point.”

“I snooped through Graham’s closet and work desk and discovered that he was manipulating me by sending me creepy texts and pictures to try to convince me to quit Entice. He is worried over my safety because his sister, Penny, was drugged a year ago, and he has made it his personal mission to try to find out how. Oh, and Dominic may be our boss for the sake of keeping things simple. However, Graham is really the owner and head of the agency. He calls the shots and uses Dominic as a cover. They are good friends.”

“What? No shit.”

“Yup. But it’s not common knowledge nor should be. So, between the lies and the blackmail and the inability to let me live my life the way I choose to live it, I confronted the bastard. Publicly and without reservation. Oh, and there were at least a dozen witnesses.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes. I let my crazy out.”

Claire makes a horrified face. “Do I need to get bail money?”

I let out a single laugh. “If Graham doesn’t back off and continues to suck up all the oxygen that surrounds me…then yes.”

“Well, what’s next? Where do you go from here? As much as I hate Graham right now for breaking your beautiful heart, I can’t help but agree with him that you are in danger. We all are. Agency girls are getting drugged, and that is terrifying.”

“Well, in true asshole fashion, Graham—effective today—laid me off.”

Claire groans.

“He doesn’t want me involved with Mark,” I explain, “nor does he want me involved in pursuing the mystery of the drugging incidents.”

“I don’t want you involved either, Angie.”

“I’ve spent the last four years trying to rebuild my life from the ashes of my past. I’ll not back down from this. I’m going to—”

“Let the police handle it?”

“Like they handled finding justice for James?”

“This isn’t the same thing. They are not all the same. You are trying to draw a correlation between two unrelated cases.”

“Fine, so be it. But I refuse to sit back and allow myself to get scared or complacent with what is going on.”

“How many people do you think know Graham is the man running Entice?”

“I doubt many outsiders. I don’t want you to ruin his cover. I am not looking for revenge. I just want to move on.” I sigh. “But this time without him.”

“He is not going to allow that, Angie. He is obsessed with you. You should have seen him at the hospital while you were there after open mic night. He went completely crazy on the entire ICU floor’s staff members. It was as if I was watching a movie in 3D. And that security system that is now installed out front? That was his doing. I mean, he hired some of his men, but who do you think orchestrated it all?”

I noticed the new code box and stronger deadbolt when I came home. I just never expected Graham to go through the efforts so promptly. Does the man ever sleep? Or get tired of ordering everyone around?

“I actually thought you put it up after all the recent events happening in our area.”

“Nope. It was all Graham’s idea. He even had all the locks upgraded and rekeyed. Granted, I am glad he did it. This once crime-free row of townhouses has now become the scene for vandalism and chases. Even your car was tampered with,” she reminds me.

I guess she is right. Having the extra added safety features is not a bad thing. I just wish Graham would ask first. Instead, he just does what he wants, when he wants it.

“Here, give me your phone, and I can install the app that you can use to activate or deactivate the system without being home.”

As Claire works on my phone, I go into the kitchen and grab a glass of ice water. My body aches from the stress of the day, and I just want to go to sleep before my dull headache turns into a throbbing migraine. I meander back into the living room and take my phone out of Claire’s outstretched hand.

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