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Had the air conditioning stopped working?
Warmth consumed her, heating her cheeks, and they were likely a bright red. She probably had three-point-five seconds to get her body under control before Kyle lifted his head from the papers he was examining.
Eveline gazed out the window and thought of the ocean in the far distance, but not on a bright sunny day like today. No, she imagined the sky was gray. Dark heavy clouds rolling in from the heavens. The ocean covered in whitecaps as the wind whipped over the surface. She imagined the moment when she stood on the hard-packed sand, and the waves crashed over her legs. The cold water stinging against her flesh.
It worked.
Slowly her body cooled to a normal temperature, and her cheeks didn’t seem as hot as seconds ago.
“This is interesting, but I’m not sure what it all means.” There was nothing in Kyle’s tone to suggest that he’d seen the way her body had reacted, thank goodness.
“What do you see?” she asked instead of explaining what she thought was happening. Kyle’s insight was what she wanted.
“I see a lot of jobs and an escalation of services provided. Nothing too unusual. We’ve done similar when requested by the client. When they want us to provide them with extra services. We don’t generally go to them. They come to us.”
Eveline’s stomach dropped. Did they do the same as Gerald? Did they pay someone to rough up their clients as well?
Could she have been wrong about him and Alliez?
“Why do they come to you wanting more?” she blurted, unable to stop the question from bursting out.
Kyle’s eyes narrowed, and if the walls were up before, there was no mistaking that they were sky high with the key thrown away from the padlocks.
“Why do you want to know?” he countered.
A sigh rippled through her. She hadn’t imagined it was going to be this hard. Although she should’ve, considering the way he’d kicked her ass out of his bed when she’d told him who she worked for.
“Check the thumb drive,” Eveline said instead of answering his question.
Kyle leaned back in his chair as if putting distance between him and the thumb drive. “I don’t need to. This meeting is done. There’s nothing in these papers.” He pointed to the stack on his desk. “Please take everything and leave.”
Anger welled to life, her skin tingled with it, and she stood, pushing the chair back. “You can’t see past your blindness to what is plain as day on those papers. Even I, a non-security expert, could see it. Is this how you treat all your clients when they come to you for help? Or am I just the lucky one?” Too enraged to even think about staying, she stomped toward the door, glancing over her shoulder, noting that Kyle had remained in his chair, pose relaxed. “Here I thought you were more ethical than Gerald, but clearly I’m wrong. You’re just as bad.”
With that parting shot, Eveline opened the door and strode down the hallway, not stopping to say anything to the receptionist. The need to get out was greater than the desire to be polite.
Now what did she do?
Chapter Three
Ox stared at the space where Eveline had stood and accused him of being unethical like her asshole boss.
Unethical.
The word bounced around his mind like a pinball. What the hell was she talking about?
What have I missed?
He picked up the papers she’d left behind and flicked through them again. Had he been so convinced that her reasons for visiting him was because she was about to set him up?
Feed him misinformation that he’d swallow hook, line, and sinker then be led into a trap that would bring the downfall of Alliez Security?
Ox wouldn’t put it past Gerald Morkham to do something like that. Eveline hadn’t been wrong when she’d said that Gerald’s business practices were questionable. He’d heard from former clients that Gerald had promised one thing and then hadn’t delivered on what he’d assured them he could do.
“You good, man?” Angel stood in the doorway.
He hadn’t even been looking at the papers in hand. He’d just been holding them still staring into space. “Not sure.”
Fuck.
