CHISELED (A BAD BOY ROMANCE) (6 page)

Chapter Eleven

BRADEN

“That girl is
completely and totally out of her mind.”

“She’s not out of
her mind, she’s just been through a really traumatic experience that she’s
trying to make sense of. It hasn’t even been a week, I’d say she’s doing pretty
damn good.”

Troy shook his
head. “Yeah, well, her traumatic experience is threatening to expose you and
that’s not good for anyone.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned
against my desk. “So, what are we going to do?”

I pulled a folder out
from underneath him and pushed him away. “We aren’t going to do anything, I’m
going to take care of this myself.” I pulled up the security video from the
traffic cam by the police station.

“The last time you
said that you hired the woman to work here!”

“Did you need
something?” I barked.

I was a little
sick and tired of everyone trying to tell me what the hell I should and
shouldn’t do. It seemed like people were starting to forget just who was in
charge of things around here.

Troy swallowed. “It’s
about the guy from last night.”

I huffed. “What
about him?”

“He’s in the
hospital.”

The vision of me
kicking the guy in the stomach flashed through my mind. I had followed him back
to his apartment after he dropped his girlfriend off at her house, or should I
say shoved her out of the car looking all bloody and messy. I guess he had
gotten a little angry on the way home and used her face as a bunching bag.

“Good. He should
be.”

“No. It’s… it’s
not looking good. He might not make it.”

I snapped my head
up. “Don’t be stupid, of course he will make it.”

Troy looked
uncomfortable. “It doesn’t… it doesn’t look good. He’s lost a lot of blood.” He
paused, studying my face. “What the hell happened in there, man?”

“He was fine when
I left.” I sat back. “He was moving around, talking.”

“Maybe you got
carried away…”

“I said he was
fine, I meant it.”

Troy held his
hands up. “Okay, okay, I believe you but, Braden, this kind of changes things.
You weren’t rescuing someone; he was home alone. It looks like a home invasion.
If he dies… there is going to be an investigation.”

“He’s not going to
die.” I said it more to myself than to Troy.

“But if he does…”
Troy inched closer to me. “I think, I think we should dial things back for now,
just until this whole thing is resolved. We should stay under the radar, and
then when this whole mess is cleared up you can go back to saving the city.”

“You want me to
give it up?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“No! No! Just… for
now.”

I stood up and
pushed a stack of papers onto the floor. They went flying in every direction.
“I’m not giving up anything. I’m not going to let innocent people die just
because some douchebag who spent most of his life beating the shit out of woman
is lying in a bed somewhere.”

“Braden, you
aren’t listening to me. I…”

“I don’t have to
listen to you!” I reminded him. “I don’t have to listen to anyone. You guys
have to listen to me or have you forgotten who started this whole thing in the
first place?” I kicked my desk chair across the room and it landed with a thud
against the wall.

I could feel my
body starting to pump my anger more and more.

“Look, I’m just
trying…”

“I know what
you’re trying to do and I’m telling you to knock it off.” I walked over to the
window and looked down at the city below me. Thousands of people milling around
beneath me, who knew how many of them would be terrorized or have unthinkable
things happen to them in the next week. Misery didn’t discriminate and Troy was
trying to make me leave them, he was trying to make me give them up.

“But…”

“No. I’m going to
keep doing what I have been doing and I’m going to go to dinner tonight and
handle this whole mess with the girl just like I handle everything.” I let my
eyes get lost in the sea of people below me. “Now get the hell out of my
office.”

“Braden…”

“I said get the
hell out.”

A second later I
heard the door shut.

When were people
going to learn to not challenge me?

***

ADDISON

Braden Nash seemed
abnormally intense tonight. I knew it was weird for me to make such an assumption
since I had really only met him a few days ago. But still, something about him
was… too intense. He sat across from me, looking at the view of the city being
chaotic behind me.

“So many people,”
he mumbled.

I titled my head
to the side. “Excuse me?”

He locked his eyes
on me, surprised. “There’s so many people in this city.”

He made me feel
like he had forgotten I was there completely. I turned around and followed his
gaze anyway. “Yeah, all searching for something, some dream they never knew was
anywhere near in reach.”

He chuckled.
“Dreams that will probably never come true.”

“Kind of cynical,
don’t you think?”

He shrugged. “Not
really.” He leaned forward and took a sip of his drink, allowing his eyes to
drift down to my chest in the process. He licked his lips as he took in my
exposed flesh.

Pretty sure I
turned as red as a tomato.

He always made me
feel like he was taking my clothes off in his mind. Which was ridiculous,
someone like Braden Nash would never be interested in me. I was a nobody in his
world and in his eyes.

A business dinner
didn’t change that.

Then why did
you wear such a revealing dress?
A voice asked me in the back of my mind
but I pushed it away. I could want to look sexy for myself, I didn’t need an
excuse to look good. Besides this was the most expensive restaurant I had ever
been to, it deserved a little class.

He landed back on
my face. “So, the article?”

“The article?” I
repeated, puzzled.

“The article you
want me to print on Superman.”

“Superman?”

Braden nodded.
“Yeah, was he wearing his cape?”

I threw the napkin
that was on my lap down on the table and pushed my chair back. “Look, if you
aren’t even going to take this serious then I’m just going to leave right now.”
I stood up, trying to prove how serious I was.

“Sit down.”

Something about
his voice made me obey. I didn’t want to piss him off. The thought of
disobeying him was one that scared me. It occurred to me that it was something
that probably wouldn’t go over well with him.

“Why did you wear
that dress?” He demanded. “It’s way too revealing. If you belonged to me I
would never let you out of the house looking like that. It gives off the wrong
message.”

If I belonged to
him… what was he talking about? In what world would I ever belong to him? Just
the sentence was enough to thrill my entire body for some odd reason. “I’ve
never had any complaints before.”

“That’s because
everyone who’s probably seen it only had the intention of getting you out of it
and fast.” He looked furious by this. “For such a smart young woman you seem to
make a lot of stupid choices.”

Did that mean he
hadn’t thought about getting me out of it?

Of course he
hasn’t, Addison. You’re his assistant.

“I do not!”

He leaned forward and
placed one of his hands in front of the other, exposing a different watch than
earlier “Look, Addison, I had ever intention of coming here and humoring you, I
really did but I’ve had kind of an frustrating day so I’m just going to get
right to the point here.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” He
leaned back and sighed. “You have to let this whole thing go, okay? I read the
E-mail you sent us before I even knew you were the same woman I was considering
giving a job and you know what I thought?”

I gulped. “That
you were curious?”

He shook his head.
“No. That you sounded like a complete nut. No one is going to publish a story
about a man who breaks into houses saving woman from rapists, especially not
one in a mask and a broken voice. You want to know why? Because no man fucking
exists, Addison.” He downed the rest of his scotch and tossed the empty glass
so far across the table that it almost fell to the floor and shattered.

“Yes, he does,
he…”

He pounded his
fist down on the table and the silver wear rattled against one another. “No, he
fucking doesn’t. This isn’t a movie, okay? It’s real life and I can’t have a
crazy woman working for me, running around telling people stories about
characters she invented in her mind.”

I could feel the
tears starting to form behind my eyes. Why was he being so damn mean to me?
“But, I just… I was just trying to find the man who saved my life, Mr. Nash.”

His eyes lit up
for a second. “Say that again.”

“What?”

He rubbed his lips
together. “My name.”

What the hell was
wrong with him?

“Mr. Nash…”

A light came over
his eyes but he shook his head after a second and it went away. “You don’t need
to find him because he’s a fragment of your imagination, maybe you read about
him somewhere or dreamed about him one night but he’s inside of you, Addison,
you saved yourself, that’s the reality here.”

I shook my head
and bit my lip to stop myself from losing it. I wasn’t going to cry in front of
him, no matter what, I wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction. “No, I… I
couldn’t have… could I of?” Suddenly I didn’t feel so sure. Somehow, he had a
way of making me feel like his word was God or something.

But… I had been so
sure.

His voice softened
just a little bit but the same sternness was behind it. “You did, Addison,
there’s no maybe about it. And I get it, you just went through something I
would wish upon no one and while I sympathize with you, I still have a business
to run and I can’t have a loose cannon running around the office telling fairy
tales.”

I looked away from
him. I was too ashamed to face him. This whole thing was so humiliating and he
didn’t even seem to have any empathy for my feelings, for the situation as a
whole.

“You’re going to
have to decide, Addison, do you want to have a career or do you want to have
this fantasy you’ve invented to help yourself cope with someone breaking into
your apartment and attacking you? The decision is yours but you need to make it
and fast.”

I felt about as
big as a stone. What the hell was the matter with me? Was it possible that he
was right? That the whole entire thing was just a fragment of my imagination? I
guess I could have taken my fears out by creating a character that didn’t
really exist. But had I? It had felt so damn real.

“But the glove…”

He chuckled.
“Right, the mystery glove you suddenly can’t find. Was it ever really there to
begin with?”

“I don’t… I’m not
sure.” Suddenly I felt so lost and crazy.

“Addison?” He
sounded like a master talking to his servant.

I shook my head.
“I guess… I guess I could have imagined it all.”

He nodded. “I think
you’re a nice girl, Addison, I really do. I want you… I think you could have a
very bright future here if you just set the dramatics aside.” His eyes traveled
up and down my body again.

My legs felt like
they were on fire.

What was happening
to me?

My phone started
buzzing next to me on the table. I glanced at it then back at Braden. It was
weird but I already felt like he controlled me, felt like I needed his
permission or something before I could make a single move.

“It’s rude to pick
up the phone during dinner.”

I hit the reject
button but it just started ringing again.

“Oh, just pick it
up,” he growled. The waiter set down another drink in front of him and he
downed it in one gulp. “Pick it up, I said,” he demanded. “Now.”

I jumped and
glanced down at the screen. I didn’t even recognize the number but Braden was
looking at me eagerly so I clicked the answer button anyway. “Hello?”

“Let me talk to
Braden.” A woman snapped on the other end of the line.

“What? Who is
this?”

“I said but Braden
on the damn phone.”

I looked down at
the receiver confused. “It’s… it’s for you.”

Braden sighed then
grabbed the phone out of my hand and hit the end button. It started buzzing in
his hand right away and he reached over tossing it into the ice bucket in the
middle of the table.

“Hey!” I grabbed
it out of the tin and worked fast to wipe it off. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t have time
for my sister or Troy, they are just going to keep calling and I’m busy
avoiding them.” He downed the drink in front of him just as fast as the others.
Apparently men like Braden Nash didn’t have to wait long for drinks.

“Why are you
avoiding them?” I tried to hit the button on my phone and after a few seconds
the screen came to life but it took about six tries to slide the screen lock
off. Great.

“Because they’re
annoying, I don’t feel like listening to them, especially when the have no idea
what they’re talking about.” He glanced around and shoved his empty glass off
the table. “Where the fuck is the waiter?”

“What is wrong
with you tonight?” I asked him softly. “You’re being different… you’re being
scary and… and dangerous.” I gulped after I say the last part. He had really
started to worry me.

“Yeah? And do you
like that, Addison?” He leaned closer to me. “Do you like when I’m dangerous
and intense? I mean that’s part of the thrill of it all, isn’t it?” The waiter
had bought him a new drink and started to clean up the glass now shattered on
the floor without a word. “Leave it,” Braden snapped and he scurried away.

I’d had enough. I
shook my head and pushed up from the table.