Page 10 of Implode

Her eyes grow like dinner plates. “Wow. This has never happened to me before.” Her energy is high and expressed through her bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Swoon. You are the most romantic person I have ever met.”

What?No. I shake my head in disagreement. I hand her over one thousand dollars that I just got out of the ATM before coming here. “Don’t let her think that this is a charity thing. Make it believable, understood?”

“Consider it done,” the worker says, looking down at the wad of cash. Her eyes are dreamy like she is witnessing some grandiose gesture from a romantic film. It’s not like that at all. I just want Claire to have a better start at a life away from me. She’s pissed off, and although she won’t ever know the money came from me, at least I can feel better knowing I did something to help her out—and maybe stop feeling like I’m a total douche. I will settle for just being a partial one.

I turn and leave the store, waiting in my car for Claire to exit. She smiles brightly and talks to the worker who hands her a slip of paper. I hope it’s a delivery slip, or we both just wasted forty-five minutes of our lives.

I wait until Claire is safely inside her car and pulling out of the parking spot before leaving. Not feeling like going home, I drive over to the Entice offices. I go through the motions of parking, riding the elevator, and greeting the receptionist at her desk. It feels weird being back here after avoiding the place for weeks. I check my office for my package arrivals and get to work at replacing all of the security features with better, updated ones. Until I actually take the steps to dissolve the company, I want to tighten up the security and ensure that my privacy is tamper-proof.

I am so in the zone of working that I do not even notice that I skipped dinner and that I have three missed calls from Tyler. I pull up the number and hit call.

“Hey, thought you should know that Claire is on a date with some dude,” he says in greeting. “He kinda looks like you too. Less smug though. And a bit more feminine.”

I scrunch up my face at his unnecessary descriptions. “It’s off the books.”

“Wow, I’m shocked you aren’t trying to smash something,” he teases. “Is this what we should call progress?”

“I will if he touches her.”

“Just want me to watch and wait?”

“Yes, and I need a way of wiring money into Claire’s account without her growing suspicious. She obviously needs the cash flow if she is this desperate to avoid the protections of the agency and do things off the record. Seems unsafe and careless, if you ask me.” I know she has student loans to pay for, and there is no good way to help her out without her noticing.

“Pretty sure no matter what you do, you’re going to look like a stalker.”

I rub a hand over my face. “Yeah, I know.” I just can’t keep her out of my head.

Tyler and I barely know each other and yet he is comfortable enough to talk to me this way. It is probably because he is damn good at his job and doesn’t really need my money. He really just likes the work. Asher did a great job bringing us together, even though both of them are smart-asses and probably eating all of this up. Asher can put together the pieces, and Tyler was only with me for a day before realizing my level of insanity. I think he may be only sticking around to watch me crash and burn—repeatedly.

Every time I close my eyes at night, I see her face. When I wake in the morning, I reach for her. Even in my dreams, she is with me. I keep slipping further and further into a state of crazy as more time passes. It is only a matter of time until the entire outside world learns about my one weakness. It is Claire Nettles. I just hope I can brace myself in time for any backlash for breaking her heart.

“Anything else, boss?”

Tyler knows I hate when he refers to me as that, because to me we are equals in the field. “Keep eyes on her and inform me if I need to intervene.”

“I am proud of you.”

I furrow my brow and lean back into my leather chair. “Why?”

“Delaying the war.”

“There’s not going to be a war,” I scoff.

“Let’s hope there won’t be a war,” he corrects.

“Bye, Tyler. Do your job.”

It takes several more hours to get everything completely updated at Entice. Losing myself in work is a great coping mechanism for me. The years post-Tara are a bit of a blur because I would drown in overtime hours.

I shake off the feeling that maybe my dedication to work wasn’t really worth it in the end. I mean, I have a cushioned bank account that allows me to live a luxurious lifestyle. However, going back to an empty apartment now seems lonely, because I know what it felt like when Claire was basically living there with me. My place that I used for basically just sleeping and working out became a place for watching movies, making food together, and creating memories in just a short amount of time.

That’s the power that Claire has. She can change the ordinary to extraordinary. She can make something that seems mundane become a new forever memory.

She is going to make someone very—

I can’t even think it.

I check Claire’s tracker and see that her designated dot is hovering over an apartment complex a few blocks away from the loft she stayed in with Blake and his roommate. I pack up my stuff, set the necessary security features, and make my way to the parking garage. I start the engine and head over to Claire’s new apartment to check out the building.

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