Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 66330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
“You jump, I jump,” he said. “I’d say that makes you the boss.”
“I haven’t seen you around as much lately,” I said. “I thought maybe Kim had gotten tired of paying you guys for nothing.”
“She did. But then there started being something.” His voice was still rough around the edges, but there was an apologetic note underlining the gravelly tones. I was starting to get a bad feeling about where this conversation was headed.
“Something,” I repeated. “Something like what?”
He looked down at the lemon rinds floating in his water, his mouth tugging down. “Come on, boss. You know what.”
I’d always prided myself on my ability to read people, but now I prayed that that was all bullshit, that I was as perceptive as a fence post. Because what I was reading in the sideways glance he sent me was that he knew all about Lily. Which meant Kim was going to know all about Lily. Which meant…
My stomach turned. The peace I’d felt only minutes ago turned inside out. Kim had signed the NDA in exchange for the final payment, but this wasn’t information she’d take to the press or put in a book. It was information she’d pour into Halley’s ear like poison.
I had a few hands to play now. First, I bluffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He sighed, and his breath skidded across the bar. “The girl, man. The blonde. Your daughter’s pal. The one you took to Giardo’s.”
“Lily?” I tried to laugh. “That’s just my daughter’s friend.”
He winced, like he was embarrassed for me. “There are pictures. The two of you leaving a club together, pulling her into the dark doorway. Leaving Giardo’s hand in hand. More than I can count of her getting on your private elevator after work and leaving in the morning. An interesting one of her this morning wearing what I’m guessing is your shirt.”
Pictures he’d taken, I was sure, but he was careful not to include that part. I felt, strangely, like he felt enormously guilty for what he was doing. Which gave me hope that the next hand I laid down would end the game.
“It isn’t what it looks like,” I said quietly. “It was just a few times.”
Another sideways glance that told me the lie hadn’t worked. “There’s also a woman named Victoria. Claims Lily told her everything.”
I was sure that was a lie. Kim had set this up somehow, but damned if I knew how. Although I guessed I’d made it pretty fucking easy once I let my guard down. “You were there all along,” I said.
“Just doing my job.” But his gaze fell from mine.
“Why now? You’ve had these pictures for a while.”
He shrugged. “She owed me some money. She finally settled up.”
She’d settled up with the fucking lump sum I’d given her in exchange for the NDA.
“If you give this to Kim, it’s going to destroy my daughter,” I said, my voice even lower. “Do you have kids?”
“Yeah, I do,” he said, and then with a little wince of sympathy. “But I don’t fuck their friends, so I can’t say I know exactly how you’re feeling.”
He didn’t serve the words with any particular malice, just fact. I had a feeling he’d admit to any manner of fuckups, but in this, his hands were clean and mine were dirty, and those were just the facts. I only had one more hand. “I’ll pay you,” I said, my voice so quiet that his eyes flickered up to mine questioningly. I repeated it. “I’ll pay you. Whatever you ask.”
The man was wearing sneakers that had to be older than Halley. It didn’t look like he’d had a decent haircut this decade. Not to be an asshole, but I thought that was my trump card. I’d give him a hundred thousand dollars, and he’d tell Kim I was a choir boy.
So when he shook his head, I was dumbfounded.
“What’s she paying you?” I pressed. “I’ll double it. Fuck, I’ll triple it. You know I’m good for it. You’ve seen where I live.”
If circumstances had been any less serious, I’d have hated myself for the words coming out of my mouth. But they were serious. And I was willing to do anything.
He smiled a little, that half-embarrassed smile, like even he thought I was making an ass of myself. “Yeah, boss. I’ve seen where you live. Listen though, that has nothing to do with this or that. I’m contracted, and that’s all there is to it. I just wanted to give you fair warning of what was coming. Give you a chance to, you know…” he spun his straw in his water.
“Spin it?” I guessed, watching the liquid swirl. It reminded me of the water in the toilet going down the drain, which was an apt metaphor for what was happening to my life right now.