The Singles (31 page)

“Calm down and—”

“Don’t tell me to keep calm! Don’t you dare tell me a damn thing other than what your real reason for calling me was.”

The veins in his neck straining against his skin, he lowered his face, offering me a better view of the bright red handprint on the left side of his cheek. I was glad I put it there. It matched the smack in the face that was dealt to me when I figured out he was the person whose call had started all this.

“You disguised your voice. You tricked me.” Clearing my throat, I added, “And please don’t say it was for my own good. If that were the case, you would have come right to me.”

“I can explain everything,” he said roughly, stalking toward me. He hooked his hand under my arm and pulled me toward the couch, fending off my angry shoves the entire time. “Let me explain!”

Nausea gripped me. Turning away from him, I slammed down, holding my fist to my mouth as he paced the narrow space between where I sat and the coffee table. I counted his steps. Listened to his growls of frustration. But I wasn’t ready to meet his eyes, not yet.

“I didn’t want you to find out this way,” he told me at last.

“How the hell did you want me to figure it out, then? Does Pen know?” I wanted to believe my best friend hadn’t been involved with this, but I’d reached the point where nothing surprised me.

“Of course she doesn’t know!” He let out a flustered curse. “I figured you’d come to me when you found what that woman was hiding. Dammit, Gemma, I thought you’d ask for
my
help.”

“When you called, did you really think Margaret had screwed me over? Or were you making a wild guess.”

“I knew it was a possibility. But I knew for sure there was something going on at that company. ”

The emptiness in the laugh shoving up from my throat scared me. “Congrats, then. You called one right.” Abruptly, another thought hit me, and I jumped off the couch, planting my feet apart. “That call came from Emerson & Taylor. How the hell did you manage to make that one happen?”

“I had a—” His green eyes plunged to the floor between our feet, and I tapped my bare toes impatiently on the laminate. “I had a source who worked at the company.”

“A source?” I snorted. “And why couldn’t that person get you what you needed? When you weren’t one hundred percent positive any of this pertained to me, why didn’t you use your source to dig for information?”

“When that person couldn’t get things taken care of like I needed, I thought of you.”

I scoured my brain, thinking of everyone I’d met so far who might have helped Linc. When I stared up at him pleadingly, my arms outstretched, he sank down on the ottoman and shielded his eyes with his hand.

“Stella Marchand.”

“Stella?” I wheezed. The woman who’d been my friend. The woman who’d taken me out for drinks, who had met me for lunch numerous times. “The next thing you’re going to tell me is that Oliver Manning is your new partner, right?”

It wouldn’t shock me.

“I can’t go into details about Stella, but I can tell you she didn’t want to hurt you. I take full responsibility for what I did to you, but I knew you and my sister would wiggle your way in and figure out what I kept missing. I really hoped you’d find answers for yourself, Gemma.”

“That’s disgusting,” I hissed. “That you would use Pen and me to do your job.” Biting the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood, I stepped around him and grabbed my phone from my purse.

“What are you doing?”

I turned my back to him, focusing on the green light on my cable box as I waited for Pen to pick up. When she answered on the second ring, her voice cheery, I immediately interrupted. “You should come home.”

“Nothing’s wrong, is there?”

“Your brother is here,” I said, “And he knows
everything
.”

She sucked in a breath. “God, Gemma! You told him?”

“He knew all along.” I tossed a furious stare over my shoulder at Linc, who was still on my ottoman looking like
he
was just deceived. “Just get here so you can ask him yourself.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Linc said quietly when I hung up.

“Did you expect me to keep it from her?” Tossing my phone onto the couch, I scrubbed my hands over my face, wishing this were just a nightmare I’d swiftly awaken from. When I dropped my arms to my sides, though, Linc was still there.

And I was still livid.

“What do you need from me?” I asked.

“What?”

I paced from the armchair to the ottoman, letting my head fall back so my eyes faced the ceiling. “You sent me here to dig around in Margaret’s life, so what is it you want to know? I can give you plenty. Do you want to start with how she forged my father’s will? Or how she’s been skimming money from the company and charities for the last fourteen years? Or—”

“I already know all that. I’ve—” He paused and curled his lip guiltily. “There are surveillance microphones in here. I put them in last month.”

Recoiling, I bit the tip of my tongue. I wanted him out of my apartment. And the quickest way to do that would be to get him to come out with exactly what he required from me—how much longer he needed me to be his puppet.

“Tell me what you want me to do.”

Clearing his throat, he looked me up and down. “I want you to get a confession from Margaret.”

“Is this a confession about what she did to me?”

“No, but it’s a start. We’ll get everything else out of her once we have her in custody.”

“When this is done, we’re through,” I said, starting toward my bedroom. “And get your fucking surveillance microphones out of my house.”

*

W
hen my phone rang an hour later, and I saw it was Oliver, I slipped into my shoes and grabbed my purse. Pen and Linc’s argument had reached the point where I was sure the neighbors were calling our landlord to complain. Not that I planned on stopping her. As hypocritical as it sounded, I couldn’t even bear to hear Linc’s voice at the moment. If he had approached me and asked for help, I would have done anything he wanted in a heartbeat, but the way he went about it made my chest ache.

He’d been like a brother to me. At least, that’s what I let myself believe.

Shutting my apartment door, I answered Oliver’s call and held the phone between my shoulder and ear. “I didn’t expect you to call so soon,” I answered nervously. Jogging down the stairs at the end of the hall, I headed for the lobby. “Are you still there?”

“I was thinking about you, Li—
Gemma
.” Oliver was momentarily silent before his low growl made me shiver. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I denied, twisting my head to either side to convince myself.

“I’m looking right at you. And you look like you’ve been crying.”

When I whipped my head up, my blond ponytail flew around my face. There he was, crossing the carpeted lobby steadily with a frown on his bronze face. I met him half way, immediately offering an excuse. 

“It was a ... family argument. Nothing to worry about,” I said lamely, gasping when he held my chin between his thumb and forefinger.

He chuckled, and though it might have been somewhat sarcastic, that sound was the best thing I’d heard all day. It brought a touch of warmth to the coldness that had weighed me down for the last hour and a half.

“There are so many places I could take what you just said about family, but none would be appropriate, considering how badly I want you right now.” Sucking in his cheeks, he tilted his head and examined my face. “Come with me.”

Yes,
I thought.
I’ll go with you anywhere.
“Should I change?” When I looked down at my jeans and white V-neck I’d changed into after arguing with Linc, Oliver shook his head.

“We don’t have to get out the car. I just haven’t been able to get you out of my head, and I needed to be near you.”

His hand firmly pressed to the small of my back, he escorted me to his Viper, which was parked illegally in front of the building. As we walked, I slid closer to him to fight off the slight chill of the early December night, and the fingers touching my back moved around to grip my hip possessively.

It was a touch that had me wanting more, and I was reluctant when we parted to get into the car.

For the first few minutes of the drive, he was content to focus solely on the road, so I stayed quiet too. With all the thoughts assaulting my mind—Margaret’s impending downfall, Linc’s deception, and the possibility that Oliver’s ex-girlfriend might be my sister—it wasn’t hard to keep my mouth closed. Finally, he broke the calm.

“I’m not sorry for what happened last night.” He skimmed his tongue over his teeth. “If I could do it again, I would’ve spent the rest of the night with my cock buried in you. Your body was made for me ... which given our circumstances, is a problem.”

Problem or not, I felt his hand on my leg, and I pressed my thighs together, trapping his fingers in place. “I’m not sorry either.” He squeezed his hand an inch higher, coming dangerously close to my center, and I sucked in a breath. “But you’re still angry with me—even after last night.”

“I am.”

“But you refuse to go to Margaret,” I whispered. “With all the information you have on me, you refuse to go to your mother.”

“I cared about your father and I care about you.“ Watching me closely, he turned the Viper down a narrow street. “I wish the only thing I wanted from you was what’s right here—” His fingers pumped my sex through my jeans, and moisture flooded my mouth. “—but sadly, it’s not.”

“How do you do it?” I murmured.

“What?”

Turning to the window, my breath fogged up the glass as I stared at the seaside rushing by. “I was angry—furious out of my goddamn mind—and then you came in and touched me, and all I could think about was you. I should still be flying off the handle right now, and all I want are your hands on my body. You make me want things I shouldn’t want.”

You’ve made me fall for you
, I added silently.

“Looks like we have the same effect on each other, beautiful.” Several second passed, and he asked gently. “Why were you crying today?”

“Because someone I thought I knew hurt me.” In the window, I saw his reflection, feeling my chest twist at his ironic smirk. “I found out who ... made the call that sent me here.”

“And it was someone you knew?”

“The FBI is on to your mother,” I said, ignoring his question. I heard him shift toward me. “And they want me to help.”

He frowned. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I trust you.” Saying that felt so messed up, but it was the truth. A horribly sad truth that hit me right where it hurt the most. “I
trust
you, Oliver.”

Focusing his light blue eyes straight ahead, he drove his Viper into one of the Venice Beach private lots and turned off the ignition. “You’ve got a lot of faith in me.”

“You’re the only person in my life besides Pen who hasn’t fucked me over yet.” When his eyebrows came together, I realized he had no idea who Pen was since she’d introduced herself by her middle name, and I hated myself for deceiving him over and over. “She’s my best friend.”

Unsnapping his seatbelt, he faced me, reaching up to tangle his hand in my blond hair. “I’m not going to tell you not to go after my mother.” His mouth inched closer to mind, catching my breath. “If she’s done everything you said, I—”

“She has,” I said firmly.

“Then I’m not going to tell you to back down.” Our noses skimmed. “Get your closure, Gemma.”

“But what about—”

Before I could continue, before I could ask him what would happen to him—to us—he stopped me with his lips. The contact was agonizing, a crashing of mouths that penetrated my mind and my body. I gripped the back of his neck, feeling his muscles tauten beneath my fingertips, and I invited him in.

Invited him to have all of me.

When he pulled away, his hands were still in my hair, and I refused to let go of him. “Get your closure,” he told me once more, his breath heavy, his blue eyes darkening. “Get your closure and take everything that belongs to you.”

But as we sat there mesmerized by each other, the knots twisting in the pit of my stomach told me that closure meant losing him completely.

*

W
hen I walked through the doors at Emerson & Taylor Monday morning, greeting Carl at the security desk and trying not to stare too hard at the photo of Mom in the lobby, I knew my days as Lizzie Connelly were gradually coming to a close. I knew too much now—and the person who’d pushed me into this was also aware of everything. Now, it was only a matter of time.

And I was ready for that day to come.

As I finished up my lunch shortly after noon, a knock on my door interrupted me. I rolled my chair over to answer it, but it opened slowly, and my expression hardened when Stella tiptoed in.

“Can I help you?” I said through a tight smile.

Her shoulders quaked. “I wanted to come by and personally say I’m sorry, Lizzie.”

“I understand.” But of course I didn’t. Since Linc had refused to detail the extent of Stella’s involvement in this giant charade, I was left in the dark. “If you’ll excuse me, I have—”

My office phone rang. Grateful for the intrusion, I plucked it off the hook and held it to my ear. “Emerson & Taylor, Lizzie—”

“Ms. Connelly, I need you in my office right now,” Margaret snapped, hanging up immediately.

“Of course, I’m on my way right now,” I said to the dial tone. Standing up, I straightened the hem of my crewneck sweater. “Sorry, but we’ll have to do this later,” I told Stella, the irritation in my voice faltering.

Even though I didn’t know her exact role in Linc’s plans, I couldn’t be cruel to her. Not when there was a possibility he’d used her too.

“Email me if you want to speak.” She paused at the door, the regret overflowing on her features punching me in the stomach. “I really am sorry.”

I watched her walk away, inhaling and exhaling. Once I gathered my bearings, I marched into Margaret’s office to find her in the process of loading her briefcase, her motions jerky and quick.

Where the hell was she going?

“Clear out my schedule for the rest of the afternoon.” She didn’t look up to acknowledge me. “I had a change of plans and won’t be in the office until much later this evening.”