Page 44 of Dirty Little Secrets
I pause with my hand on the door handle blinking back fresh tears. “Yes?”
“Don’t ever come into my office without knocking first.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “It won’t happen again.”
23
My phone buzzes, and a notification pops up from an unknown number.
Unknown:Meet me.
I don’t have to ask to know who it is. It’s Brent, wanting an update. This will be the third time I’ve met up with him since I moved here about a year ago, and every time, I dread it. He wants information, but he also wants to make sure my body belongs to him in all the ways it doesn’t.
I shudder from the thought of his hands touching me. The smell of cigars and whiskey I’ve managed to replace with Xaiden’s scent.
But again, I remind myself that sex with Xaiden doesn’t mean anything. Red is the part of me no one can know about. Nori is the woman no one truly sees.
I run the program again, letting it trace, collect information, but after three minutes, I hit another wall.
“Damn it. He’s good,” I mutter.
Is there anything this man isn’t good at? I’ve tried to see if they have a separate room where he codes, but all there is, is the run-of-the-mill server for the building’s computers andinternet. No one would be stupid enough to code there or leave it vulnerable without security. However he’s doing it, he’s good. Too good. But I can’t give up. My freedom depends on it.
Brent asked me for this last thing, and my debt with the club is paid. Get the information on the security program Drazen runs for his clients—with all the manifests—and I’m free. Is there a chance he’s lying? Maybe. But it was the only way he would let me leave Seattle, and Landon was my ticket. I hoped he could be someone I could learn to like, but his claws showed by the third month of living with him.
There was no way I could leave—not after I got the job he promised me. Brent was happy everything was going as planned, and for the time being, I was happy I wasn’t in Seattle. Getting to climb outside your cage is better than being locked inside it.
I grab my phone and type out a reply before he gets pissed off. With Brent, anything sets him off.
Nori:I’ll be there in fifteen.
I grab my stuff, walk around my desk, and pause in front of Xaiden’s door, but it’s quiet. I didn’t see him come back after I had lunch in the breakroom, and I didn’t see him leave for the day. I assumed he didn’t come back. There’s nothing on his schedule on a Friday night. The app’s been quiet all week. Maybe X thinks I needed a break because he took me harder than the first time.
Maybe he got bored.
When the Uber driver drops me off at the meet-up spot, Brent is waiting against the building with his foot bent on the brick wall. The sun has set, and the glow from the streetlights reflects in the puddles formed in the potholes of the street.
“You lookin’ mighty fine in that skirt, Norianna.”
I hate when he calls me by my full name. He does it to get under my skin.
“It’s for work.”
He chuckles low and pushes off the wall. His boots thud on the pavement as he gets closer. I can smell the leather from his jacket and the sweet scent of whiskey from the pores of his skin. Ever since I was sixteen, he’s worn his favorite drink like cologne, and I hate it. There is nothing about Brent I like. Some women at the club think I’m crazy. It’s not that he’s bad looking. Brent has the hot biker thing going for him. Tattoos, leather, and a pretty face. But no soul, just Satan’s lapdog on a crotch rocket.
I look around him, knowing we are alone in the dark alley. “Where’s your bike?”
He smiles. “Around.”
I sigh. “Evasive as always.”
“Never tell anyone how you arrived or when you’re leaving.”
“It’s how they know where you are.”
“That’s right.”
I shiver when the wind picks up, biting at my skin.
