Conklin's Corruption (#3) (Conklin's Trilogy) (22 page)

  He didn’t even say goodbye to me this morning.  He always said goodbye or would kiss my head or cheek.  Most of the time he thought I was sleeping, but I almost always felt his lips and hands on me.  It was soothing and made me feel cherished knowing he took the time every morning to say a silent goodbye.

Work had been awful, and every five minutes I debated going to Tyler’s office to confront him, but I didn’t have it in me, not yet.  My irritation with his behavior was near boiling, and soon we both could get burned.

Just as I was about to open a new file for the Arena, a small knock hit my door frame.

There he was, Mr. Conflicted and Beautiful standing awkwardly with both hands on either side of the frame.  “Are you busy?”

I shook my head as I rolled to face him in my seat.  Crossing my arms, I waited patiently for him to enter my office and start talking.  Would he bring up last night?  I secretly hoped he had a massive hangover with a killer headache.

He took a seat across from me, his expression antsy.  “How has your morning been?  Have any meetings?”

I shook my head no again.  Were we really going to skirt around the elephant in the room?

He nodded, rubbing his palms against his knees, debating what to say next.

“Did you want to talk about last night,” I asked, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence. 

He blinked then looked uneasy.  “I’m sorry.”

I raised an eyebrow.  “What exactly are you sorry for?”

His eyes searched my face.  “Throwing the bottle of Jack Daniels?”

I huffed and turned back to my screen.

“Becca, come on,” he pleaded.  “I shouldn’t have gotten that drunk, I’m sorry.  It won’t happen again.  I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I swung in my chair back to face him.  “You think you scared me?  You think that’s why I’m mad?” I said in a harsh whisper.  He gaped at me.  I huffed again and stood to go close my office door. 

“Tell me what’s going on,” I demanded the second the door closed.  “You said last night your grandfather wasn’t who you thought he was, and RJ was cleaning up his mess.  What did that mean?  Does it involve Chino?”

Tyler leaned back in his chair, covering his face with his palms.

Feeling semi-guilty for acting like a complete bitch, I tried to calm down and speak to him rationally as I walked to lean on my desk in front of him.  “Please talk to me.  I can help you through this.”

Tyler lowered his hands.  “You want to know what will help me?  If you promise not to meet with Lee Chino, EVER.  No matter what he says, okay?”

His words were pleading and almost fearful.  “Okay,” I said, trying not to sound confused.  “Is he dangerous?”

Tyler cocked his head to the side while closing his eyes.  “I don’t want you talking to him, please.  Can we leave it at that?”

I glanced past him.  Why did I have to have windows surrounding my office walls to the other cubicles?

“For now,” I said under my breath.  I took a seat next to him in the other chair across from my desk.  “Can we please go get lunch together?” I asked, placing my hand over his.  We needed to spend normal time together.  If we didn’t soon, it would kill me.

He glanced downward then his eyes traveled up my body, stopping at my shoulders.  A sad expression crossed his face.  “I can’t.  I’m behind on a few things, and I won’t be back in this office until next Monday.”

My face fell.  “Next Monday?  That’s an entire week, Tyler.”

His eyes moved to my disappointed face.  “Don’t look at me like that.”  He pushed his chair back as he stood.  “I have to leave by 6:00 a.m. tomorrow to catch my flight to Chicago at 7:30 a.m.  I have a meeting at 9:30 a.m. that I still need to prep for,” he said straightening and tightening his tie.

“Tyler, I don’t want you to go,” I begged.

His back was to me now, and I could tell he was rolling his eyes as his head fell backwards.  “Becca, we’ve talked about this.  I’m going to be gone for awhile until we sort out tasks.”

I bravely walked to him, putting my hands on his shoulders, practically begging for him to turn around.  “I miss you,” I said, my voice cracking.

His shoulders slumped.  “You can come to Chicago on Friday.”  I didn’t like the clipped tone to his voice.  He reached for the door and left without saying goodbye.

Instead of having wet eyes, I was red in the face from anger.  I paced my office, floored and delirious from his harsh brush off.  Didn’t he want to see me as much as I wanted to see him? I understood he and Nathan had to figure out how to delegate responsibilities from RJ’s death, but Grand Rapids needed him too.

Too frenzied to work, I decided to skip out and take my lunch break.  I wasn’t hungry, but focused on non work related tasks.  I still needed some accessories for the wedding, but that would involve thinking positively of Tyler, and right now he was on my shit list.

By the time I got to my car and started to hear the crappy song on the radio, I knew just what I could do to fill my time.

***

Jimmy’s Garage was on the southeast side of town.  It wasn’t surrounded by city life but was more country.  There was an open space between the garage and the convenience store next to it.  It probably took me a half hour to find it.  I hadn’t been to this shop since the summer before college, the summer I spent entirely with Gage.

Parking in an open spot, I climbed out of the car, stumbling from the gravel under my heels.  I took a quick look around to see if anyone had noticed and was glad that no one was in sight.  I straightened my coral colored shift dress and fluffed my hair.  I had to wear it down.  I was paranoid for whatever reason the broad shoulder sleeve might expose the bite mark from Tyler and thought my hair might make a good second cover.

Loud metal music was blaring from the garage entrance. I saw a pair of greased up jeans behind the hood of a car. 

“Can I help you, sweetie?” a man in his early 40s asked as he approached me. 

The pair of jeans stood tall from the car, his white grimy shirt showing off strong tattoo covered biceps and shoulders.  My mouth gave a soft smile as he turned to face me.

“Bs!”  Gage smiled, pulling a rag out of his back pocket to wipe his hands.  “What are you doing here?”

The older gentleman walked to Gage, his eyes never leaving me.  I felt uncomfortable by his stare as I covered my arms as if I were cold.  “I was hoping your expertise could help an old friend out?”

Gage’s dimples appeared along with his big white teeth.  His skin was darker than normal, or maybe he was dirty.  “Anything for you, Bs.  What do you need?”

I looked at the other mechanic then back to Gage.  “My car’s out here.  Something is wrong with the CD player. I’m not sure if that’s something you usually deal with.”

The older man chuckled then looked at Gage, slapping his shoulder.  “Do your thing, slick.  I’ll be taking my lunch break.”

Gage smiled then walked over to me, holding his hand out for me to lead the way to my car.  I couldn’t help but notice the tattoos on his forearm.

“So how have you been?”  I asked, trying to make small talk. 

“Busy. My boss doesn’t give me much time off,” he smiled as he pointed his thumb behind us in the older man’s direction.  “He wants me to become his partner.  Really, I think he just wants to get in good with my mom.”

I laughed, causing Gage’s smile to widen even more.

“Surprised Stiff let you out of the city,” Gage said.

I shook my head at him.  I didn’t want Gage to know how complicated mine and Tyler’s relationship was becoming.  “He’s not that controlling,” I said.

“Does he know you’re here?” Gage asked, lifting a brow.  We reached my car and he held his hand out for my keys.  I bit my lip, and a slow sexy smile spread across his face.  “Better make this quick then, huh?” he asked, his voice laced with innuendo. 

I rolled my eyes at him, causing Gage to laugh again.  “Meet me in ramp three.”  I shook my head and followed him as he pulled the car into the garage.  Once he was parked, he rolled the window down.  “Get in and show me what’s wrong.”

I opened the door and slid into the passenger side.  “Do you want my honest opinion of what I think is wrong?”

He nodded his head.  “That would help me fix it.”

I told him about how I got a CD stuck and started to push buttons, and he laughed even harder.

“Let me get some tools and see what I can do.  Has your check engine light been on long?  This car seems too new for the light to be on.”

I glanced over the steering wheel.  I hadn’t noticed.  I shook my head no, and he rolled his eyes as he stepped out of the car, me following behind him.

“Stop acting like I’m some girly girl who doesn’t notice anything,” I said hitting his shoulder as he opened the hood.

“Those heels and that sexy dress aren’t helping prove your point,” he said quietly, his eyes shamelessly making a path down my body.

I hit his bicep.  “Stop checking me out. You could at least try to be inconspicuous.”

His eyes finally met mine then went back down to my hands that were resting on the car.  He brought his pinky to touch my ring finger, the one that had the huge diamond making itself at home.

“No longer just a boyfriend?” he asked, his smirk fading into a faint smile.

I moved my hand from his touch.  “Yeah.  We’re getting married in October.”

“Look at you Bs.  Finally getting your fairy tale,” he said kindly then began to examine my car further.

“He’s a good man, Gage.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that.  I just hope he’s everything he seems to be,” he said, fussing with different parts of the car.  “If you’re happy, then I’m happy.”

Even though he wasn’t looking at me, I knew he could sense my smile.

“You’re such a girl,” he teased.  “I’m going to take a look under your car,” he said, moving to press some buttons that started to raise the car.  I didn’t even realize he had driven it onto that kind of device.

He slid under the car then whistled.  “You sure some big bodyguard isn’t going to bust into this garage any minute and kick my ass?” he asked, his voice muffled from being under the car.

I made a questioning face as if he could see me.

Gage slid out from under the car and said, “Your car is wired so hot they’d know every time you’d changed the radio station.”

***

I blew past Cooper, completely ignoring his greeting and yanked Tyler’s office door opened.  He was on the phone when his eyes flew towards my abrupt entrance as I slammed the door shut. 

“I’ll be there tomorrow morning.  I’ll transfer you to Cooper to sort out the details,” Tyler said quickly as he reached to press the button to transfer the call.  He held up one finger for me to wait, which only fueled my fire more.

“Cooper, can you confirm the details for tomorrow with Cortez?  Thanks.”  He cautiously hung up the phone as he watched me intently.

“Do you have something to tell me?” I asked with a deep raspy voice.  My arms were crossed across my chest as I stood in front of his desk.

His eyes searched the room as though looking for an answer.  He actually looked completely dumbfounded.

“Something about my car,” I asked slowly with narrowed eyes.

Tyler blinked again.  “Becs, I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Oh?  You don’t?” I asked curiously. 

Tyler bit his lip nervously.

I slowly walked around the desk as he rolled to face me in his chair.  “So nothing rings a bell?  No installations I should know about?  Or something you
didn’t
want me to know about?”

He swallowed again then became curious himself.  “What’s wrong, Becca?” he asked with a no non-sense tone.

“You wired my car!  Why do you feel the urge to track where I’m going?” I said, trying to contain my anger.  My teeth were clenched as I waited for him to reply.

But to my surprise, he looked thrown back.  Did he not put the tracking system in the car?

“You didn’t know?” I whispered.

Tyler stood from his seat so we were almost face to face.  He was a good head taller than me, and my confidence normally faltered when he stood over me like this.

“How do you know there’s a tracking device in your car?” he asked slowly.

Uh oh.

I looked to the ground then turned to walk back to the opposite side of the desk.  “I just know.”

“Becca…”

I sighed.  “I went to get the CD player fixed.”

“And the mechanic told you your car was wired?” he asked slowly.

I nodded my head.  Maybe he wouldn’t ask which mechanic I went to.

He put his hands on his hips and cocked his head to the side.  “Why does it matter if your car is wired?”

I threw my hands in the air.  “You are overly concerned about my safety!”

“Of course I care about your safety!  With all the crazy shit that’s been happening?  How could I not be?” he shouted.