Page 20 of The Company We Keep

“That’s all I have for you for now, Mr. Wrenshall,” she said as they wound down the meeting.

“Just Dust, if you please.”

“I’m going to talk to Carrow next. He might want you to meet the rest of The Company, or he might want a meeting with you,” she said. “Or — who knows? Maybe I’ll get back to the penthouse and he’ll no longer be interested.”

Dust’s stomach fell at the possibility. To get so close…

“Either way, we’ll have an answer to you quickly. We don’t tend to let things marinate for very long.”

“I appreciate that very much,” Dust said, meaning it. She extended her hand again to seal the meeting with ahandshake. Dust took it but didn’t shake — held her there gently and caught her dark brown eyes with his own.

“They teach you in high school leadership courses — you’re always supposed to ask for the job at the end of an interview,” he said, trying to project the lie that he was fearless even in this moment. “I don’t know if the same rules apply here, but for what it’s worth?I want this.Badly.”

The slowest smile spread across her face, playing like the sheen of an oil slick on water.

It was as if he’d just said the magic words.

She squeezed his hand once and dropped it.

“We’ll be in touch.”

Dust had word from Emerson less than an hour after he left the pink glare of the pet shop back room: Carrow would meet with him the next day.

Warningsirens blared in Carrow's head when he saw Dustin Wrenshall for the first time — but for none of the reasons they ought to.

The young man entered Kamarra 60 seconds before his meeting with Las Abras' most powerful crime boss was slated to begin. Carrow picked him out easily from his vantage point in the back booth. His partner Leta hadn't told him what the potential new member looked like, but there was something about the stranger that seemed to make it impossible that he'd be anyone else.

He knew just where to go, ignoring the hostess who approached him and striding back towards the booth. Dust had obviously gotten acquainted with the restaurant that the crew used as their outside base of operations well before that evening, and Carrow marked the first tally in his mental "yes" column.

AsDust approached, something distinctly unpleasant crept up Carrow's spine. The young man's square jaw was set at a determined angle, his hair close-cropped, clothes sophisticated and understated.

Everything about his appearance and his manner was perfectly groomed — the confidence in his approach balanced with deference to Carrow, eyes steady but not challenging as he walked up.

It had been years since A.R. Carrow hadwanted someonewithout ever hearing the first word out of their mouth. As he watched Dust approach, the feeling that rose in his gut was almost unrecognizable at first.

A throb ofwant.

He had not wanted for anything in ages.

Billionaires very rarely desired something they could not immediately have. And those billionaires like Carrow — not bound by the law or any code but their own — were essentially limitless when it came to slaking their thirsts.

To wantwas a novel state of being. He’d almost forgotten what it felt like.

It was intoxicating.

This is bad,he thought to himself quickly. Want made him reckless. Want kneaded the edges of his judgment until they were dull and malleable.Fuck me,he thought.

"Have a seat, Mr. Wrenshall," Carrow said, once the young demolitions expert was within earshot. He trusted his poker face, even as his heart jackhammered. Dustin was trim, broad at the shoulders and narrow at the waist — and radiatingsomething.

Ambition, maybe... Maybe curiosity. It came off of him like heat waves off of pavement, almost visible if you knew how to see it.

Carrow eyed him as he sat, doing his damnedest to read that invisible set of data being transmitted by the way Dustcut his eyes and smiled, by the curve of his spine under the worn-in leather jacket. He was young — younger than Leta had led him to believe.

Dust allowed himself to be examined, not challenging him, not moving to start a conversation. Just sitting.

Finally, he looked to Carrow with a question on his face. He raised an eyebrow slightly in a silent expression of, “What now?”He looked almost… amused.

"You'll have a drink?" Carrow offered.

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