He scoffed.
“And I’ve made copies. Several of them.”
He crossed his arms, his face grim. “Of course you have.”
“They’ll stay hidden if you leave me and mine alone.”
“Or what?” He leaned forward, his hands bracing on the armrests of my chair. He was all up in my personal space. And he smelled so good.
“Or I will put all your business on the internet, send it to all the major papers in the state. It will be on the city council website and any other place I can think of.”
His breath fanned my face. His eyes darkened to a rich amber gold. “How do I know you won’t do that anyway?”
“You don’t.” Having him this close made me nervous. I licked my lips and fought the urge to push him away. And draw him closer. The soft cashmere of his sweater brushed against my hand.
His gaze lowered to my lips and stayed there.
“You’ll just have to take my word for it,” I said.
He pushed off the chair and straightened. “How much?” He walked back behind the desk and sat down.
“How much what?”
“How much is your silence going to cost me?” He was all business now. Gone was the angry sexy expression. In its place was a cold professional businessman making a deal.
“I’ve already told you. You leave me and my family and my friends and all my acquaintances and anyone I’ve ever met or talked to alone, and you’ll never hear from me again.”
“One hundred thousand?” he asked, acting as if I hadn’t spoken.
“I just want to know we’re safe.”
“One fifty?”
“Do we have a deal or not?”
“What’s your price, Rose?”
I stood up and leaned across his desk. Why could this man have me hot and bothered one minute then just plain hot the next? “I told you. I want your assurance that we’ll all be safe. No more kidnappings. No more threats. Do you understand me? You will leave us the hell alone, and never,” I pointed my finger at him, “never mention the name of my nephew again.”
He looked at me in silence for several seconds. “Deal.” He stood and held out his hand for me to shake. I ignored it.
I picked up my bag and walked out of his office, my head held high.
I stalked to the front door, past Henry and Cold Eyes, who shot daggers at me. Noticing the bruise on his Adam’s apple, I smiled at him sweetly and gave a finger wave.
Keeping my posture stiff like only my mother’s daughter can, I walked to my car and opened the passenger door. On the seat was the backpack. I pulled out the textbook that had sustained the least amount of damage from the break-in.
“We already checked the bag. The files weren’t in there,” Henry said from behind me.
“No offense, Henry, but you’re not exactly a brain trust.” I flipped my accounting book open to the section I had painstakingly hollowed out with a utility knife earlier that morning. Inside were the folded pages I had stolen and the USB drives. I’d done the same thing to the Tolkien book I’d taken from Ax’s backpack. I flipped it open and removed the hard drive.
I handed them all to Sullivan who looked at me impassively. His gaze never left my face. “Henry, go inside.”
Henry scowled at me before returning to the house.
“I expect you to keep your word,” I said.
He smiled. “I expect you do.”
“I’m not bullshitting, Sullivan.”
“It’s been a very interesting experience meeting you, Rose.”
“One I don’t wish to repeat.” I slammed the door and my garbage bag window rippled, then I walked around to the driver’s side. My keys were hanging from the ignition. Without looking back, I got in the car and drove away.
Once I got on the highway, I took a deep, deep breath. My hands trembled so hard, I had to pull over to the side of the road and count backwards from one hundred to keep from sobbing with relief.
It was finally over. His last words hadn’t been encouraging, but nothing I could do about it now. I just wanted my life back. I wanted to go back to class and hear Janelle bitch about her ex, Asshat. I wanted to see what crazy outfit Roxy would wear next. I wanted to hear about Axton’s defeat of alien warriors from his latest video game. I wanted Jacks to tell me the funny thing Scotty just said. I wanted normalcy.
When I felt steadier, I drove to the college. In the IT office, Eric was in his usual spot and Steve occupied the corner, deeply engrossed in some crazy code bouncing across his screen. But Axton’s seat was empty. My heart sank to my stomach.
“Where is he?” I heard the panicked edge to my voice.
“Hey, Rose,” Eric said. “He’s in the restroom.” He stood from his chair and moved toward me. “Are you okay? You look like you’re going to faint.” He placed a hand on my arm and gently moved me toward an empty chair.
Steve hovered behind him with a water bottle in his hand. “Here, drink this.”
I gave him a grateful smile and twisted off the lid, taking a long drink.
“Just breathe.” Eric patted my back.
Axton came through the door, his gaze taking in the scene. “What’s wrong? Rose, you okay?” He bent down in front of me, placing a hand on my knee.
I burst into tears. Axton pulled me into a hug and I clung to him. I buried my face in his neck and sobbed. I couldn’t quit. The tears kept coming, along with little hiccups.
Axton soothed me. “It’s okay, Rose. It’s okay.”
Finally, the tears tapered off. Eric squatted next to me and handed me a tissue. Steve held the water bottle I must have dropped at some point and rubbed my back.
I dabbed at my eyes with the tissue and tried to delicately blow my nose. Poor Axton’s T-shirt was drenched. “Sorry,” I said.
“No worries.” He flashed his goofy grin. “What’s a little snot between friends?”
I laughed a little. “I really missed you.”
“I missed you, too. You’re my hero, Rose.” He kissed my forehead.
“Stop.”
“No touchy feely stuff. We’ll set her off again,” Eric said.
Steve offered me the water bottle. I took it and drained it.
“All better?” Eric smiled.
“Yeah. Thanks.” I looked back at Ax. “So, you’re not fired?”
“Took my urine test this morning.”
“Good. And by the way, I think it’s all settled. This Sullivan thing.”
Eric frowned. “Did he contact you?”
“I went to see him. At his house.”
Gasps all around.
“Rose, what did you do that for?” Axton ran a hand through his swirly, shaggy hair, making it stand on end. “And why didn’t you tell us you were going?”
“I didn’t want anyone to stop me.”
“That was a really dumb thing to do, Rose,” Steve said.
“I returned his files and told him it would all go public if he didn’t leave me and mine alone.”
Eric smiled. “You and yours, huh?”
I blushed. “You know what I mean. My friends and family are off limits if he wants all that stuff to stay buried.”
“Did he believe you?” Eric asked.
“I hope so.”
