“Radley!”he said, like he was calling to her at a party.“Miss me yet?Don’t answer that.I know you miss me.I heard there was crying and wailing on the plane.”
“Uh huh, in your dreams maybe.I’d fire whoever told you that.”
“It was Mieux.”
“Another thing I don’t believe.She’s smarter than to share secrets with the likes of you, blabbermouth.”
“Vagabond.”
“Asshole.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” he said, a smile in his voice.
“Not on your life,” she said.“Exit only.You know what happens when you try to get on at an off-ramp?”
“Santa puts you on the naughty list?”
“I remove your ability to penetrate anything ever again.How does that sound, Hotshot?”
“Like a felony.”
“Two minutes in a courtroom with you and any judge will take my side.Just like Mieux.She knows the score.I’m the one handing out the schedule and to-do list.”
“I’m the one handing out the paychecks.Yours and hers.”
“Oh, there’s no way you pay me enough for what I do for you.And Brooker pays Mieux.The agency.If you don’t settle your account with them, that’s your problem, not Mieux’s.Roxie likes Mieux too and views of her streams are hitting record high numbers.We’ll avail ourselves of that megaphone if you start screwing women over.”
“I will screw a woman over anything she chooses, the couch, the desk, the patio table, the upstairs banister.You remember that night?”Oh, he was infuriating, but fuck, he turned her on.“What happens to Huddle Hope if you decimate Mosaic for sport?”
“Mosaic wouldn’t go down over a single unpaid contract.But we don’t need Mosaic.We’re partnered with Lola’s Liberty and right now, we’re their only beneficiary.We’re the only contract they have.Their focus is ours.I feel good about our chances.Johann doesn’t like you.He’d be happy to say goodbye to you.”
“Johann doesn’t like you either.”
Fair point.One she couldn’t argue with because the doctor butted heads with everyone.
“Franco called me,” she said.“While I was in the air.He gave me a video tour of his London pad.Very nice.He invited me to visit in person.I’ll need a few vacation days, weeks, maybe.It’ll be better to see it up close, personal, you know?Right in there, all the way.”
“If you leave the country, they might not let you back in.Scratch that, they won’t let you back in.Good luck fighting Homeland on that one.I told you I work with the DOD, didn’t I?I know people.”He sighed.“The loyal employee is too busy anyway.He has to make a good impression on his new coworkers.”
Rolling to her back, she pushed her hair from her forehead.“It didn’t escape my notice that the two men you sent overseas were the same two who wanted to shtup me, or I wanted to shtup.”
“Gotta pick up that game, Radley.You want it, you’ve gotta make it happen or it passes you by.And you know me, there’s no point in playing with you if you don’t see me winning.I like the glory.I bask in the glory.Thank you for noticing.”
“Playing with me?You’re not winning.You don’t know what to do with yourself without me.Are you all sad and lonely, baby?”
“No, I figured you’d need a pick me up.Being so far away from my cock can’t be easy on you.”
“And you thought hearing your voice would help?Wrong again, Hotshot.It only reminds me you’re not here and I really need someone to bring me—”
Her door opened.No knock or call.It just opened, and a server came in with wine on a tray.
The guy laid it out in front of her, filled the glass, then disappeared without a word.
“You were saying?”
“I’m not impressed,” she said.“Have you been watching me this whole time?You’ve probably hacked security.”
“I don’t need to hack it.We all have access to each other’s security,” he said.“Though I wouldn’t mind a video.There’s no camera in the apartment I can access until you open up your laptop, so…”
