Charity's Passion (10 page)

Justin quietly steps out of the background and scares the shit out of everyone. Senator Lewis pushes himself so far back into his chair that I’m afraid he might pop out the back of it. John Roberts knows Justin has always preferred to hang back at these meetings, listening instead of talking, so even he looks surprised. There is such an air of fury around Justin that I even get nervous and I’m miles away watching over hidden security cameras.

“What specifically do you want to know?” He barks. “You want to know if there’s a plan? Yes, there is. But if you want to know the details of that plan you’re going to be disappointed. You don’t need to know, none of you need to know what it is. In the past you’ve always trusted me to get the job done, and I’ve always delivered even though you had no idea how it got accomplished. You’re going to have to do that here.”

Several of them including John Roberts nod in agreement. They are happy to have this in Justin’s hands. The others still look worried.

“Mr. Collins, I mean no disrespect,” Franco says, “but I think some of us are just terrified about this situation, and if we knew what was being done maybe it would help.”

Justin turns toward Franco, and Franco leans back in fear, shutting his mouth with a loud snap. “No, you wouldn’t feel better,” Justin growls. “No matter what you know or don’t know, you won’t feel better, so I think its better that you don’t know so there’s less chance Marker finds out what the plan is.”

“You think one of us would help him?” Senator Lewis asks. I’m completely surprised he was able to find his voice in Justin’s presence.

“What do you all really want to know? I think each of you is just worried about your own ass and you just don’t have the balls to say so—but you should. There’s nothing wrong with that. Be honest with each other, with yourself, and you’ll get a better answer without all the dancing around shit,” Justin says very boldly. “Are you really concerned about the job at hand right now, or are you afraid and you want to know how I’m going to keep you all safe?”

“I want to be safe,” Austin admits. “I agree that’s probably what each of us wants.”

Justin visibly appreciates Austin’s honesty. “Good, and that’s just what I’m doing by not telling you anything—keeping you safe. Senator, you’re not even on his list right now. This is not about the presidency or the politics now; it’s not even about the group, not for Marker. This is about revenge. He wants me, John Roberts, and Arthur Shea. Anyone else that is in any danger, it’s only if you can get him to us. By not telling you the plan, I’m keeping you safe. If he thinks for a second that any of you knows what I’m thinking, then he will come for you.”

Finally they are silent.

“We’re not leaving any of you unsafe,” Justin says. “You should know that. You’re all being protected, even if you can’t see it. Beyond that I don’t want you to know any more, and neither do you. We’ll know if you’re in danger, probably before you do if it comes to that.”

He has them. Lena and I can both see it. Justin has gotten them all to understand using the one thing they all care about, their own asses.

“So what do we do?” Cattie asks in a firm voice that sounds much more collected than any of the men.

“Exactly what you’ve been doing. Don’t change a thing. If you start acting different, Marker will wonder why—and so will I,” Justin answers.

“So you do suspect one of us?” Lewis asks in a very small voice.

“Not at the moment, but if you go off track, I’ll have to wonder why,”

There is no double meaning with Justin, and they appreciate that.

“Just stay on course,” he continues. “Keep working on getting the nomination, all of you. I’ll take care of Marker, and when it’s done you’ll want the Senator here to be on track, otherwise it’s all a waste.”

Justin steps closer to Senator Lewis. I think he’s just toying with him now, enjoying the fear he creates in him. It makes me want to laugh.

“Cheer up, Senator. If you don’t get yourself killed—you’re going to be President
.”

J
ohn Legend is belting out “
All of Me
” as I stare into Justin’s eyes and dream about the future we want to have. Suddenly I hear him in my head asking my father permission to marry me. There goes my stomach all over again. I get it out of my mind sometimes, but eventually it creeps back in to torture me, tormenting my severe impatience. His eyes tell me he wants me, that I should be his love and wife forever. When Justin looks at me this deeply the world fades away and I’m devoured by his overpowering presence.

“All of me, loves all of you,” the song says. God damn right it does.

Around the bar, the men Trisha had nicknamed The Four Guys are all sitting in their normal places, proving that the Grill hasn’t changed much at all in these months. Tommy is there with them. My heart softened when I saw him as we came in a little while ago. He still sees Melissa sometimes; they each know it isn’t going to be a thing for them, but they get along so well that it’s a God damn shame. Theirs is certainly more interest on his side, it’s Melissa that doesn’t feel the passion and I commend her for not allowing them to fall into something that isn’t right, that would never last. One good change the Grill did manage was the owner finally fired his niece that had replaced Trisha. Her limitless bumbling had cost him thousands in broken items and returned meals until he couldn’t take it anymore. He managed a quiet apology to Trisha one night when no one was watching.

But right now, none of that even exists; it has all slipped away behind Justin’s love. I don’t understand what he does to me, not at all. There’s a power in his stare that he knows how to use over me. I will do anything for him right now, but mostly I want him to do something for me. I want him to ask the damn question I know is in his head. He’s thinking it right now, I’m sure of it, and I wonder if he can taste it on the end of his tongue. It’s dancing there, twisting and writhing, daring him to say it.

SAY IT!

The door opens and Terrence Davis walks in alone. Lena isn’t with him, but Terrence looks glad to see us. His caramel-colored skin accentuates his beautiful eyes and smile while crossing the room. His muscular legs carry him across the long, busy space in only a few steps before he is grabbing a chair at our table.

I don’t know why, but it pops in my head that Lena had told me about the eagle tattoo across his back.

Lucky bitch!

Not luckier than me, of course, but still lucky.

Needless to say, Justin’s attention is no longer devoted to me and the moment we’d been sharing is gone—for now. We were waiting on both of them, Lena and Terrence, so the emotions from moments ago were all destined to be short-lived.

Terrence can see the question in my face. “She’s on her way,” he tells me easily before I even ask.

“Terrence asked us to be early,” Justin admits to me. I had no idea, and I’m curious as hell.

Terrence appears less than comfortable. “I want this to stay between us,” he says quickly, getting to his point while he has time.

Justin agrees, so I follow suit.

“I need to hire Panther again,” he tells us.

Justin looks almost as confused as I do for the moment. “For Davis Construction?” he asks.

Terrence nods. Davis Construction is his newest company, and like everything Terrence does, it is not small at all. This was no twenty man team doing upgrades and building houses; Davis Construction is one of the five largest in the tri-state with five offices and over fifteen-hundred employees. We weren’t aware, though, that he was having any trouble.

Even more strange, why is he keeping it from Lena?

“No matter what, Terrence, the answer is yes, but why the secrecy?” Justin asks.

Terrence readies himself. “I know we can’t keep Lena in the dark, she’ll have to be part of the onboarding, but I don’t want her to know the truth. There’s no reason for her to worry, which she would if she knew. You—you need to know what you’re really looking for, and what we’re up against.”

My nerves are ringing, and I know Justin is feeling the same. I think it’s amplified because it involves Lena on some level, and keeping anything from her is
not
going to be easy.

“What she should know is that I suspect some of my management staff of corporate spying and selling information. I’m being consistently underbid for the last six months and it’s well past coincidence,” he says.

“And what is the truth?” I ask sternly.

“That I’m pretty sure I know who is paying my staff and why; I just need to know who’s involved so I can stop it before someone else ends up dead,” he tells us without any sense of joking in his voice.

Justin’s face tells me that he completely understands now. “One of the families?” He asks, even though it sounds more like a statement than a question.

Terrence nods again. “Yeah. Two of my smaller competitors recently merged and everyone in the industry knows it was not friendly. One was pressured and absorbed by the other when their finances were nearly crushed. Now I know how they did it—from the inside. They formed a company just larger than mine during that acquisition, and now they’re after me. Offers were made to buy me out.” Terrence scoffs, “They were hardly real offers, so low-balled it was insulting—“

“And then the out bidding began,” I finish for him.

“Right,” Terrence growls angrily. “It’s a message. I can take the shit offer, less than a third of my company’s worth, or I can watch my company drop until that offer makes sense or the company completely folds.”

“That isn’t so outrageous,” Justin adds with a shrug. “It’s business.”

“Normally, I’d agree with you,” Terrence says, “but they’re putting a rush on the deal. We’re being crushed from the field now; injuries, accidents, and already four fatal incidents in a month. These guys had families,
kids
!”

I can see something in his face, not fear, something angrier than that.

He continues, “It made me curious, so I did a little checking. The same things happened to the last company they bought, and they weren’t the first. All the growth they’ve had, it’s all been acquisitions. They haven’t earned a single contract and there’s a string of deaths dangling on the line behind them, including some of the executives from the companies they’ve bought out.” Terrence works to calm himself after hearing the excitement in his own voice. “I don’t want to fuck with these people, but I need a way out before anyone else gets hurt. If I can find out who in my company is actually working against me maybe I can get them out before they hurt anyone else; maybe I can move these people onto an easier target. And I don’t want Lena worrying while I get this done.”

I know Justin will help, of course he will.

“We’ll tell her it’s financial,” Justin says. “She’ll think it’s the same as the last company of yours we worked on.” Justin laughs lightly. “She’ll probably think you’re a bit of an ass that you keep hiring staff that steals from you.”

Terrence smiles a bit.

“We can keep her out of it,” I add. “I’ll tell her I’m taking care of it so that her emotions don’t get in the way of the work. She won’t like it, but she’ll buy it.”

Both of them agree.

“When she gets here, we’ll let her know we’ve been talking and that we think there’s an issue. We’ll set up a meeting at our office tomorrow to get the contract all done. You have a guy you trust in your IT?” Justin asks.

"I do," Terrence says.

“Bring him,” Justin orders. “He can get us into your system easier and we’ll start pushing agents tomorrow. Make sure this guy keeps his mouth shut.”

“Absolutely,” Terrence agrees. “He’s been with me for several companies now. I trust him completely.”

Our waitress comes over to see if Terrence wants to order a drink and we put our conversation to bed until Lena finally arrives. It wasn’t too much longer when she pulls the door open and struts in looking confident and in charge. Her eyes settle on Terrence and her smile erupts. I'm watching Justin, looking to see if he would notice the love and adoration passing between them as they meet each other's glance. The soft grin on his face tells me that he does.

Lena slinks her way to our table and Terrence stands to greet her. His arms folds around the small of her back as they lean into each other for a quick kiss hello. Their lips press together ever so gently and it makes me miss Justin’s mouth. The love between the two of them is every bit as strong as what Justin and I feel for each other. It’s real and tangible, radiating from them and filling the air around us all.

After she sits and orders a drink we let Terrence explain that he’s been seeing some losses in his company again and that we’ve agreed to onboard them and help him find out who's responsible. We get the whole thing past her without a hitch. I realize this would never have usually worked on her, not in a million years. It’s her love for Terrence that is blinding her, and not unknowingly. Lena welcomes the blindness. After a life of grabbing every detail and nuance out of a situation, she wants and needs to be done and she lets it go so easily in his presence.