Sloane (16 page)

“I’m saying you should stay with me.”

I yawned. Oh, man. My entire jaw hurt. Too much teeth
clenching. “Axel, I can’t stay with you. You bring out the worst in
me.”

“I’m going to be good from now on,” he said, grabbing
my hands. “I promise. No more blow. I’m not going to do any, and
I’m not going to let you do any. Not until we get Leigh back,
okay?”

I pulled my hands away. “Yeah, but if I stay here,
you’re going to expect me to sleep with you.”

“No.” He shook his head. “You slept in this room
tonight, didn’t you? We’re both adults. We can keep this
professional.”

I groaned. “I don’t know, Axel. If I go back to get
my stuff—”

“That’s already done,” he said. “I had someone go and
pick it up. I got your hotel key out of your purse, and I had my
driver bring everything here.”

My eyes widened. “But I have
guns
.”

“My driver used to work for the mob,” said Axel.
“Trust me, it’s no big deal. Anyway, it’s all set.” He kissed me on
the forehead.

I furrowed my brow.

“I got breakfast.” He gestured out of the room. “So,
if you’re hungry, come on out. But if you want to take a shower
first, that’s fine.”

What the hell had just happened?

He started for the door. “Oh, and if you snort some
water up your nose, it’ll help with the burning feeling.”

* * *

After eating breakfast, I went back to bed. I slept
another two hours. By the time I woke up, it was early evening.
Axel was already up and about. He was way too cheery in my opinion,
because I still kind of felt like crap. But I guessed that he was
used to living this way. Staying up all night. Sleeping all day. I
ate some of the leftover breakfast stuff, which was cold, but still
scrumptious. Axel had ordered it in from someplace, and I made a
mental note to get him to tell me where.

He was full of plans for our night out to get the
interns drunk and get the secret location of the lab. He’d already
gotten me more clothes for going out. Another dress—this one a sage
green color. And he was already dressed in a brown suit. He had a
plaid, maroon scarf instead of a tie. Again, we were dressed in
complementary colors. I was beginning to think that somewhere deep
down, Axel was part girl. Or maybe he’d just picked up all of this
kind of stuff from his model mother.

I told him it didn’t matter what I was wearing,
because the interns wouldn’t see me. If they saw him there with
another girl, then they wouldn’t open up as easily to him.

He scoffed at this, because he said that any time you
were in the position to be seen by someone else, appearance
mattered. And then he grinned. “Besides, it’s fun dressing you
up.”

Which made me blush.

But I decided not to worry too much about my
attraction to Axel. It was horrible, and I needed to squelch it,
but we were focusing on the mission now, so it didn’t matter. Once
I got through this, I’d deal with being drawn to him. For now, I’d
ignore it.

I dug through my suitcase until I found my Bluetooth
earpiece.

“What’s that?” said Axel.

“It’s how I’m going to hear what’s going on and coach
you to ask the right questions,” I said. “See this thing goes in
your ear, and then it’s basically invisible. And this thing goes
inside your shirt.”

“Do you have one of those because you used to be an
assassin?”

“Sort of,” I said. “You can buy them online. But I
bought it because I used to be an assassin.”

He grinned.

“I’m really glad I brought it,” I said. “This will
actually be the first time I’ve had a chance to use it, but I knew
it was going to come in handy someday. Griffin thought I was taking
too long to pack for Boston, but when we break him out, I’m going
to tell him it was a good idea that I took all this time looking
for this, because I used it to save his
ass
.”

“So…” said Axel, “do I have to take off my clothes
for you to put that on me?”

I rolled my eyes. “I thought we were going to be
professional.”

* * *

I sat on the other side of the bar, watching Axel
with one of the girls. She was the third girl we’d talked to
tonight. Most of the interns at Costello Labs were freaking
clueless. They might have heard of the lab, but they had no idea
where it was. All of them had been quite interested in Axel,
however, who was really in rare form.

He was gorgeous, I realized, as I watched him from
across the bar. He had delicate features that were almost elfin,
but he was so self-assured that he oozed masculinity. I was pretty
sure that any girl would be powerless against his charm. She’d
spill all her secrets.

This girl, however, was playing it pretty coy.

Despite Axel’s attempts to get her to drink faster,
she was sipping at the margarita he’d bought her. She was obviously
interested in him. I could see from the way her body was angled
towards him, from the fact that she kept blushing after he
complimented her.

And he was doing that a lot.

It was actually starting to annoy me.

“So, you’ve probably got everyone in that whole place
wrapped around your little finger,” Axel purred at the girl, whose
name was Julia.

She giggled, blushing again. “I’m only an
intern.”

“Yeah, but you’re obviously really intelligent. And
from the way you’re talking, I bet you’re very talented. It’s
pretty clear you know what you’re doing.”

She took a sip of her drink, embarrassed but enjoying
the praise.

“And on top of that,” Axel said, his voice dropping
an octave, “you’re so gorgeous. With all that going for you, I bet
they let you move all over that place. I bet you know all its
secrets.”

The girl looked down at the table. “Well, if I knew
secrets, I couldn’t say anything about them, now could I? Then they
wouldn’t be secrets.”

Oh, that was a sign. She was admitting that she knew
about secret things going on at Costello Labs. I spoke into the
tiny microphone on my lapel. It went straight into Axel’s ear. “She
knows. Push her.”

Axel didn’t even acknowledge that he’d heard me,
which was good. A lot of people have trouble keeping up a
conversation with another person’s voice in their ear. But not
Axel. He was a pro at this sort of thing. He’d barely needed any
coaching. Took to it like a duck to water.

His lips curved into a smile. “Well, but if you don’t
say anything about them, how am I supposed to know if you actually
do
know secrets.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You’re the one who said I
knew them.”

He leaned forward and ran his fingers over her
arm.

She shuddered, visibly affected.

“So,” he urged, “do you or don’t you?”

She closed her eyes. “I might know some things.”

Axel’s fingers traveled further up her arm.

Did he have to have his hands all over her like
that?

She opened her eyes. “But I can’t tell you anything.
Why are you so interested in my internship, anyway?”

He ran his tongue over his lower lip.

Geez, his lips were so perfect.

“I’m interested in everything about you,” he
whispered. “There’s something about you. I don’t know what it is,
but you intrigue me.”

Did he really just say that? Was that not the same
freaking line he’d used on me? I gritted my teeth.

The girl was obviously eating it up. Of course she
was. I knew exactly what it felt like to have him looking at you
like that, focusing his deep, soulful eyes on you like you were the
only important thing in the universe.

“Well…” She leaned closer. “Sometimes, they let me go
to this other lab they have.” She looked around, as if to make sure
that no one was listening. “You wouldn’t believe this place. You
wouldn’t believe the kinds of things they’re doing there.”

Axel brushed the back of his knuckles over her jaw.
“Try me.”

She grinned at him. “It’s all kinds of crazy
experimental stuff. With…” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Human
test subjects. But most people who work in Costello Labs don’t even
know where this place is. I was really lucky to even be taken
there.”

“I doubt it was luck,” breathed Axel. “It’s like I
said, you’ve got the whole place wrapped around your finger. I’ve
barely known you for half an hour, and I’d already let you anywhere
you wanted to go.”

She flushed again. “Do you really mean that?”

“I don’t lie,” he said. “Honesty is very important to
me.”

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, he never used lines. Right.
He was a broken record. I couldn’t believe I’d let that bastard
kiss me more than once. I couldn’t believe I’d nearly slept with
him.

All I wanted was for him to get that girl to give up
the location of the lab. After that, I was never going to speak to
him again.

He stroked her hair. “So, where is it? Where’s this
secret lab?”

She tittered. “Why do you want to know?”

“Maybe we could go there. I think it would be very…
exciting to see all the things you’re talking about.”

“Oh, we could never get in,” she said. “It’s outside
of the city, down Albemarle Road, pretty much the only thing down
there. But I don’t have the security clearance to get in.”

He dropped his hand. “Well, that’s too bad.” He
glanced over at me quickly, questions in his eyes.

“Yeah,” I said through clenched teeth. “We got
it.”

The girl looked startled that he wasn’t touching her
anymore. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

He smiled at her. “No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about
that, love.”

I glowered at the both of them. “You can stop talking
to her now. Or if you want to take her home with you, since she’s
so intriguing, be my guest.” I yanked off my own earpiece and mike.
I wasn’t watching this anymore.

I could see Axel furrow his eyebrows. He touched his
ear, and then he turned to look at me.

But I wasn’t sticking around. I got off my
barstool.

He got up too. I saw him lean over to talk to the
girl, their heads close.

Fuck this. I got out my purse and threw down a few
dollars to pay for my drink. Straightening my shoulders, I stalked
across the room towards the door.

Once there, I threw it open and stepped out into the
night air. It was brisk and chilly, so I started to walk. If I
moved quickly, I’d warm up. My footsteps echoed over the sidewalk,
and my breath came out in short gasps.

“Sloane?” I heard Axel’s voice behind me.

I sped up, going even faster. But I was wearing high
heels, and there was a limit at how quickly I could walk.

He caught up to me pretty quickly. He grabbed me by
the arm and turned me to face him. “Is something wrong?”

I let out a bitter laugh. “No, Axel, everything’s
great.”

“Because I’m pretty sure that I just did exactly what
you wanted me to do there. Didn’t I?”

“You were perfect.” I turned and started walking
again.

He ran to catch up to me. “Then, you want to explain
to me why you’re pissed?”

“I’m not. I’m totally okay.”

He grabbed me again. Forced me to stop walking. “Hold
on a second.”

My pulse was racing. “Let go of me.”

“Did I do it wrong? You’re the one who said I should
flirt with interns, but I gotta tell you, I’m not actually very
good at flirting. I generally ignore girls and just sleep with
whichever one is more persistent at trying to get my
attention.”

“Oh, right,” I said. “You expect me to believe
that?”

“It’s the truth. I told you, I don’t lie.”

“That’s just what you told that girl in there.”

He let out an exasperated noise. “Well, I
had
to lie to her.”

I shook him off. “Everything about you is a lie.
Everything you said to me was a lie. I saw how you were with her.
You were the same way you were with me. All that crap about me
being different—”

“You
are
different,” he said. “That’s how I
did it. I pretended I was talking to you. You’re the only person
I’ve ever really
tried
to flirt with.”

“Fuck you,” I said. “Fuck you, I don’t believe you.”
I started walking again.

This time, he didn’t come after me. “Sloane?”

I flipped him off and kept walking.

“Sloane, don’t go.” There was something in his voice.
Something desperate.

I didn’t think I’d ever heard him sound desperate
before. But I didn’t stop. I needed to get away from him. I’d
needed to get away from him from the moment he’d appeared in my
life.

My heels clicked against the sidewalk, echoing
through the darkness.

I should never have tried to get his help. After all,
it hadn’t amounted to anything, had it? I hadn’t gotten anything
from Armstrong.

Well, I guessed that Axel had just helped me get the
location of the secret lab, but that didn’t mean anything. He was
still a liar and a jerk. He’d played me, and I’d fallen right into
his hands.

I doubled my pace, walking even faster.

Suddenly, I heard a car engine behind me. I expected
that it would move past me on the street, but it wasn’t doing that.
It was right at my ear, just behind me. I couldn’t figure out why
the car wasn’t going normal speed, so I turned around.

It was Axel’s town car. It pulled up parallel to me,
and the window to the backseat rolled down. He looked out at me.
“Hey. I know you’re mad, but will you at least let me give you a
ride back to my apartment?”

“Leave me alone,” I said.

His face twisted in confusion. “Why?”

“Because… because you lied to me.”

“I swear to God that I didn’t.”

I kept moving. “You said that I was different than
everyone else. You said that I was intriguing and that you couldn’t
stop thinking about me. But you made all that up. You’re talking
sweet so that I’ll sleep with you.”

The car kept pace with me.