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"Bob needs you," he'd said. "He can't run the agency without a McCallum."
She'd believed him, believed she was doing Bob a favor while fulfilling her father's dream.
But now, thanks to Zack's impertinent question, she realized she wasn't happy. But Bob did need her, especially now, to get Dug-E. She couldn't flake out on him.
When this was all over and Dug-E had signed on the dotted line, maybe she'd look at a career change.
In the mean time, she'd have to get Dug-E without Zack. He'd taught her the essentials—she could ride a motorbike, she had the clothes, and she could flirt if she had to. If she really, really had to.
Sure, Zack could have helped her further, but if she wanted to keep her dignity and her heart in tact, she had to do it without him. Had to. She couldn't stand being around him knowing he wasn't interested in her beyond casual sex. She shouldn't have even allowed it to go that far. They were totally wrong together. One look at his female friends told her that. So why hadn't she told him so from the start?
Before he completely shattered her fragile heart, she needed to forget about him.
"Hey, Annie," Bob shouted from his office door. "Come here a minute." Typical Bob. No charm. But that was just the way he was, and she liked him all the more for it. He was so different to her father, and yet their partnership had worked so well. If only she'd been more like her dad, she wouldn't need Zack now.
"Zack called me," he said gruffly, not looking up from the chocolate doughnut between his fingers.
Sound casual, breath deeply. "Yeah? What for?"
"He asked if you could take the afternoon off. I said it was okay."
Probably she should tell Bob it was all over with Zack, that she didn't need him anymore. "Why?"
He glanced up and she noticed the dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week. "He's got a bright idea about taking you to a rally this afternoon."
"A rally? Like a car rally?"
"No, a protest rally. He wants to get you into the newspapers, get some rumors started about you around town. He thinks Dug-E might go for that kind of person."
She nodded and bit her lip. She should say something. She should tell him she and Zack were over. But after one look at his tired eyes, she suddenly dismissed those thoughts. Something was very, very wrong. "You okay, Bob?"
He rubbed his thumb and finger into his eyes. "Yeah. It's just been a tough few days."
"Anything wrong with Doris?"
"No, she's fine." He smiled weakly. "Don't worry. Just get Dug-E to sign this contract and everything'll be okay."
She nodded and closed the door behind her. She got as far as the empty secretarial desk outside Bob's office. She flopped into the swivel chair and nearly swiveled right off it.
She tried to steady herself and her nerves but without much success. So much for not seeing Zack again. Bob and the agency needed Dug-E to stay afloat, that much was clear. Tears stung her eyes and the beige office suddenly went blurry. Oh, hell. Bob had been her father's best friend as well as business partner. He'd given her this job out of pity and a sense of duty to the man who'd helped him start the agency over forty years ago. And now he needed her to stop his business from going under.
The weight of it all pressed down on her shoulders, and suddenly her problem with Zack seemed miniscule. As much as she wanted him, as much as it hurt knowing Zack was only interested in her for sex, she had more important things to worry about. Bob needed her and she needed Zack. She couldn't be a rebel without him. End of story. She had to shove aside any feelings she had for him and get on with business. She could definitely do that. She had to. For Bob. And her father.
***
Despite her determination to forget about the night before, when Zack picked her up that afternoon and handed her flowers, Annie's emotions were still warring. She wanted to kiss him but the urge to throw the flowers back in his face was equally overwhelming. She settled for a demure "Thanks" and put them in a vase on her desk before heading out with him.
They said nothing until they were in the Ferrari and even then, conversation was agonizingly polite.
"I take it you're still angry with me," he finally said.
"Yes. No. Okay, yes, annoyed I guess. But I'll get over it. It's no big deal."
No big deal, she repeated to convince herself.
He sighed. "Right. Good. You had me worried for a while—I thought I might be getting those flowers shoved up my nose back there."
She laughed despite herself. "Now why would I do that? And how did you know lilies are my favorite?"
"Bob told me."
Traitor. "So explain to me why we're going to a protest rally," she said, returning to their mutually safe topic of turning her into a rebel.
"Street cred. It'll get you into the papers, people will talk—especially after I mention it at Louisa's party—and you'll become an instant celebrity around town. Dug-E will hear about it and he'll think you're cool."
"Sounds ingenious but how will you get me in the papers in the first place?"
"Leave it to me."
She didn't like the way he said that. It had an ominous ring to it. "You're not going to make me do anything illegal are you?"
He laughed. "Not unless you want to. I know a couple of photographers and journalists who'll be there. I'll slip them a few dollars to take a photo of you in the crowd and to spell your name correctly. No sweat."
"But Dug-E's from out of town—do you really think he'll hear about me on the grapevine?"
"Just to be sure, we'll slide the newspaper under his hotel door and I'll get a few people to mention your name in his presence. Easy."
Yeah, easy. So why was she so nervous? Probably it had something to do with spending the entire afternoon with Mr. Cool.
Zack found a parking space close enough to City Hall that it was probably illegal. The rally had begun without them and a mass of people stood chanting and waving placards at the building.
At the office she'd changed into jeans and a T-shirt bearing the slogan Animals have rights too. Zack wore his usual black jeans and T-shirt, no slogan.
"They only had one T-shirt I suppose?" she said as he hustled her past a line of police keeping the chanting crowd under control.
"It's not my image."
"But it's mine?"
"Who knows what your image is, Babe."
Not the same as yours, that's for sure.
They moved into the thick of the crowd and quickly picked up the chant. Someone handed her a banner and she waved it with gusto over her head, managing to bump Zack in the face with it a few times. Accidentally of course.
After nearly half an hour, she'd gotten into the rhythm of the protest. It was a good cause and she was an animal lover after all. Maybe she should go to other protests—
"Oh hell!" Zack cursed. She glanced up at him, but he was looking behind them. "My car's being towed!"
Good. Served him right for driving such an arrogant car. And for sleeping with her. And for leaving right after.
"Wait here until I get this sorted out." He raced away and was quickly swallowed by the crowd.
But fifteen minutes went by and he hadn't returned. The protesters were getting edgy. The mayor hadn't appeared on the steps of City Hall as promised and they wanted his blood.
The leaders up the front started to storm the building, and like sheep, everyone followed, sweeping Annie along with them. The momentum forced people at the back to surge forward but for some reason the front of the pulsing crowd had already stopped. From her vantage point of five feet two inches Annie could see absolutely nothing. And with the crowd pressing in around her, she couldn't go anywhere.
Then chaos erupted as police on horses and on foot cut swathes through the protesters ordering them to get back. Everyone more or less did as they were told and tried to back away but the people behind hadn't heard the order and continued to push forward. What ensued was something akin to an accordion and Annie got stuck in the middle.
Later, she couldn't remember if she shrieked, but she did remember being nearly trampled by feet and hooves. Flinging her arms up to protect herself she accidentally hit someone leaning over her. Next thing she knew she was hauled to her feet by the front of her T-shirt and dragged off. When she finally dared to open her eyes, she saw it was a cop, and he wasn't amused.
He cuffed her, read her the rights she knew by heart from TV shows and practically threw her in the back of a police van.
Great. Thanks to Zack, she was going to get a police record. She'd kill him when she got her hands on him.
CHAPTER 13
"Good going," said a long-haired kid dressed in the same T-shirt as Annie. "We showed 'em."
