Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
“This have to do with that errand you ran the other night?”
He nods once.
I look ahead at the blinking lights of cars as we slow for a traffic light.
“Let me know when your plans are confirmed. And if you need my help…” I let that drop.
He glances at me. “Appreciate that, but Hugo and I will handle this one. Looking forward to it, in fact.”
I see how his jaw tightens, how his eyes narrow as he says it.
“I pity the man,” I say.
He gives a short smile.
Twenty minutes later we’re at the house where the party is being held. I climb out, open the back door for Melissa.
Axel lights up a cigarette and leans against the hood of the car.
Melissa eyes the cars parked along the drive as we walk to the front door. The men nod when they recognize me and noise swells when they open the front doors.
There must be two-hundred people in here.
We stand in the foyer for a moment and I take it in, scanning everyone on this floor and those I can see upstairs. I check my watch just as a man I recognize comes to my side. I don’t know his name, but his boss is the one I’m here for.
“Mr. MacLeod,” he says. “I’ll show you to the study.”
“I know where it is. Give me a minute,” I tell him, and turn to Melissa.
She looks so completely out of place here. Maybe not to the casual observer because it’s not that she doesn’t fit in physically. It’s in her eyes, they’ve taken on the same look they sometimes do with me when she’s creeping into her shell.
“Let’s get you a drink,” I say, walking her to one of the bars. “What would you like?”
“Vodka tonic, please,” she says.
I order and tip the bartender as she takes her drink. We walk to a quieter corner.
“I need ten minutes. Then we can leave.”
She looks up at me. “I’m fine,” she says. “You don’t have to babysit me.”
“Axel will be in any minute.”
She smiles. “I think I’d rather be alone than make small talk with Axel, but thanks.”
I nod and walk through the crowded room to the study which is at the far end of the last hallway. Scanning the room as I do, I note the man who’s already got his eye on Melissa.
“Hawk,” comes the gruff voice of James Douglas as one of the men guarding the office door opens it and the smell of freshly lit cigars pours into the hallway.
I enter, take in the older man behind his enormous desk. He’s my father’s age. And my father’s enemy. Which in a right world, would make him my enemy. But in my world, he is my ally. Not friend. No. I don’t make that mistake. But at this moment, our goals are aligned. They won’t be for long, but right now, I need this bastard.
“What happened on the vote?” I ask as the door is closed behind me. “How the fuck did we lose our advantage?”
15
Melissa
I hate parties. I always have.
I pretty much always feel awkward and can never figure out how people stand there and make small talk for hours.
There are easily two-hundred people here. Men and women and enough perfume and hair spray to smother you.
I notice how when Hawk walks away, people seem to part to clear his path. The way they look at him, men and women both, I know everyone knows who he is. I wonder if he notices how watched he is. If he cares.
As soon as he’s gone, I find eyes turn to me. The men appear curious. The women, something else.
I drink my vodka and try not to make eye contact with anyone as I walk along the perimeter of the room, looking for a bathroom or someplace to disappear into for the next ten minutes.
When Axel walks inside, I’m at the far end and I don’t think he sees me when he scans the room. He stands off to the side, his face impassive and closed. I’m guessing he’d like to make small talk with me about as much as I’d like to make it with him.
The thought makes me smile and when I get to the next drink station, I put my empty glass down and order another.
The bartender hands it to me and I slip backward into a shadowy part of the room where I can watch but not feel so exposed.
Although I’m not wearing a watch, I know it’s past the ten minutes Hawk said he’d be gone when I order my third drink, this time just the tonic. We haven’t eaten yet and I’m already feeling the two I’ve had.
I slip back into my corner but I’m not alone for long. A few moments later, a man, young, maybe just a year or two older than me, comes to stand beside me.