“Declan Dark.”
“Shit. Is that the truth?” Randy shook his head. “Man, my son is gonna love this when I tell him. He thinks Declan Dark is Batman or something. Like Elon Musk but cooler. He’s got his hand in all sorts of ventures. Max says he’s going to invent some magic pill so we’re all superhuman or something.”
I leaned forward in the seat, my stomach fluttering with something I couldn’t quite pinpoint. I’d researched the guy, but this topic hadn’t come up.
“Where did he hear this?” I asked.
Randy shrugged. “A magazine? I don’t know. He’s—my son—has a neurological disorder and he’s always reading up on stem cells and transplants and all that. Dark’s father researched stuff like that but once Dark took over he started pushing that type of research.”
I sat back in my seat, and Randy smiled at me in the rearview mirror.
“That’s interesting,” I told him.
“It is. But there’s only so much science talk you can handle at the breakfast table, you know?”
I smiled. “I get it.”
It was the same with my dad. He’d get all excited about some discovery or project and drone on and on about it and I just wanted to go collect bugs from the backyard.
“You like coffee, Randy?” I asked, feeling a kinship with this man even though I barely knew him.
“Love it. Survive off of it. Stuff from home tastes like water, though,” he said, his voice affable, nevertheless. “My wife says once we’re rich, we’ll get the finest coffee beans from Columbia or wherever and live like kings. Till then, it’s the generic ground stuff.”
“Mind if we stop at that place on the corner?” I asked, pointing. “It’s on me.”
“No problem.”
Randy pulled over and I ran inside with both of our orders. When I came back, Randy was humming along to Taylor Swift on the radio, and I swore I couldn’t like this guy more.
When I passed him his cup and he took a sip, he closed his eyes just briefly. “If I tune out that churning noise the car sometimes makes and picture myself sitting in some Tuscan villa drinking this…it’s almost like I’m there.”
With a grin, I said, “That’s some good coffee then.”
“Not bad at all. Thanks. Royal, is it?”
I grimaced. Shit. I should remember to put Samantha on anything that has to do with work. But Randy seemed harmless. And he didn’t have anything to do with this.
He was just a nice guy who got me where I needed to go with a smile.
“Right,” I said. “But you can call me Ro.”
“Will do. Off to work then?”
“Yep.”
He pulled out to the street once more, humming again to another song I remember hearing on one of Xander’s many playlists.
“Randy?” I asked.
“Yep?”
“Do you work every morning?”
“Driving people to and from with these fancy wheels? Sure do. But only until one, then I get to my other job.”
“You have two jobs?”
He laughed. “Medical bills.”
Right. His son. God, I wondered how bad it was.
“So if I put in a standing request for you to come and take me to work every morning, is that okay? Do you do stuff like that?”
“Technically, you can’t do that through Uber, but we could probably work something out. Same time, same place?” he asked.
“Every day, Monday through Friday.”
“Not a problem. You show up, you pay, I’m here for you.”
Good. I kind of liked the idea of riding to work with the same guy every morning. Better than trying to make small talk with someone I’d rather tune out.
And I liked Randy. More, I wanted to help him. I couldn’t imagine having a sick kid and two jobs just to make ends meet.
And since I was a paid intern now, money I was technically earning because I’d be playing spy, I had extra cash. Which meant extra tips for Randy.
He dropped me off outside the building with another happy smile.
“See you later, Ro,” he said with a wave.
“See you.”
I took my coffee inside and started toward the security desk. I wondered how long it was going to take until I got used to coming in here and riding up those several dozen floors to get to Dark’s plush office. Then again, this could be the day he had me working in the basement. Or somewhere else. He couldn’t always find menial tasks for me to do.
The security guard gave me a nod before I reached the desk. “You’re clear to go on up, Miss Thompson.”
“Oh.” I smiled. “Thanks.”
I didn’t even have a permanent badge yet. But I had filled out my paper for Tim—and planned on telling him I was moving out of my place this week so I’d have a new address for him soon.
I was hoping he’d forget and leave me alone about it. Besides, I was just supposed to be working here for the summer, right? I didn’t need an address. I didn’t even need a paycheck, but I certainly wasn’t going to tell anyone that.
On the way up, I adjusted the pin on my lapel. Seconds later, I got a text from Xander.
Looks good. All other cameras up and running. Good luck uncovering all the deep, DARK, secrets.
He put a few smiley faces on it, making me roll my eyes.
Funny, I texted back. See you tonight.
The closer I got to the top floor, the more nervous I got. It was one thing to plan this all out in my head, but another thing to employ my sneaky—or maybe not so sneaky—tactics on a grown man.
Who was well-educated. Who intimidated me.
The part of me who wanted to uncover his secrets also wanted to keep my distance from him because it made it easier to focus, to
