Page 26 of Desire Me
In under a minute he was stepping out into the calming reception area that served as gatekeeper to JCL’s main floor. Lori, their head administrator, gave him a wry grin that belied her accompanying wink—the grin said she’d heard Dain was on the warpath to find him; the wink was her form of encouragement. He flashed his trademark smile that made even immune Lori blush, and hurried down the hall.
When he swung through the door into his team lead’s office, he caught Dain in mid tirade.
“Used company resources to stalk a defenseless woman! Misrepresented yourselves to a former client—”
“We didn’t misrepresent ourselves,” Saint cut in before Dain could continue chewing out King and Elliot, both of whom stood impassively in front of their team lead’s heavy desk. “Ilied, Dain. Me. No one else.” He slid the door closed and moved to stand beside his teammates.
“I did go along with it,” King put in mildly like a dumbass.
“Shut the fuck up, bro.”
“Yes,” Dain growled, leaning over his desk, fists planted on the hard surface. “Shut the fuck up.”
Elliot raised her hand like a seven-year-old schoolgirl instead of the deadly assassin she was. “Do I have to shut the fuck up?”
“Yes!”
She grinned at the surround-sound answer all three of them gave her, completely unrepentant. “Just clarifying.”
“Dain,” Saint cut in again, probably at his own peril, ignoring the rising flash of anger deepening the already dark tone of Dain’s skin. “What did you tell Agozi?”
That brought his friend up short. A long moment passed. Saint watched as Dain visibly reined himself in. Finally, “I backed your play; what the fuck do you think I did? And I’m not fucking happy about it.”
Saint could tell.
“I lied to a very important client to keep him from going over my head and having you fired,” his team lead was saying, “so tell me what the hell is going on. Why exactly did I put my ass on the line?”
Saint hesitated. “Can I talk to you privately?”
“You mean about the situation you’ve dragged every single one of us into?” Elliott offered cheerfully. She was getting far too much enjoyment out of this.
“Shut—”
She raised a hand, cutting the three of them off. “The fuck up. I know.” She grinned, again unrepentant. “But you know it’s true.”
She wasn’t wrong. He had to give her that. So he did, nodding her way before he took a deep breath and tried to put into words the check holding him back. “I don’t want anyone viewing Rae…”
“Differently?” Elliot asked. “Trust me, I won’t. Or I won’t view her as anything more than a casualty of your man-whorish ways.” She winked. “Seriously, though, Rae is a grown woman, and your dick isn’t some magic wand that can make her act against her will, bro. None of us are gonna judge her if she wanted a one-night stand.” She paused. “Her judgment in picking you to sleep with, maybe, but not for having sex.”
Saint shot his teammate the bird.
All she did was laugh. “Love you too.”
“Can we get back on topic, please?”
Dain’s words were still angry, but Elliot’s antics had brought the heat level down a couple of degrees. She’d done what he normally tried to do but couldn’t right now. Saint made a mental note to thank her later.
“Since everyone but me seems to know what you’ve gotten yourself into, Saint, why don’t you bring me up to speed?”
“Yes, sir.” Saint didn’t pull out thesiroften—they were an informal team with a loosely established hierarchy that no one felt the need to rub in—but he wanted Dain to know he respected him. Or remind him of the fact, since he had no doubt his team lead and friend already knew. But Dain had covered for him at the risk of his own position, his own reputation, and that couldn’t go unacknowledged.
He gestured for them all to sit, then began the story. “I met Rae the night we went to Big Daddy’s.” His teammates listened as he outlined the events of the past few days, leading up to and including what Remi Agozi had told them last night and the doctor’s prognosis this morning. When he finished, they all sat in the aftermath, absorbing what had happened, what Rae had been put through. When he broke the silence, Dain said quietly, “Two questions.”
Saint squared his shoulders.
“You’re sure she didn’t reveal anything about her past or her current situation to you that night? Think hard, Saint. The slightest clue could mean the difference between keeping her safe and being too blind to see the threat when it appears.”
But Saint was shaking his head before the words left Dain’s mouth. “I’ve been over every detail of that night in my head, over and over—every expression, every word.”Every touch.“King and I have run through it repeatedly, searching for clues to find her. I’ve got nothing.”
