CHAPTER 6
Lucas
Sometimes, I admired Aldrich. He was cunning when it came to what he wanted. In some ways, I replicated this behavior. Hell, I surpassed it. Made it seem like his acts were insignificant compared to what I was capable of.
But none of that stopped me from hating him. We met at an early hour in the Dahlia District. He spent more time here than he did in his own home; perhaps to bury the loneliness, or to pick a new victim. His second wife was dead; why not seduce one of the servers?
Aldrich wanted Haley. Had pursued her since she had been old enough to work at the Dahlia District. And yet a gut instinct told me that she had done more in a few mere nights with me, than they had done in years.
Funny, wasn’t it? You could have billions of dollars. But you couldn’t buy what you wanted.
Though there was one thing. Aldrich and Haley had used knives. I had no interest in weapons of that sort. I wanted to feel her whimper and cry in my bare hands, feel her quake as I struck her ass. Knives brought a distance between bodies and minds. I needed to feel her body beg for release.
One of the servers, a woman I didn’t recognize, offered to get us drinks from the bar. We ordered top-shelf whiskey, neat. When she returned, Aldrich lifted his drink, eyeing it in the light. I sipped.
“Tell me about the academy,” I said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. For a half of a second, I wondered if I had exposed Haley, giving away her secrets, making her weaker in his eyes. There were only so many academies in Cresting Heights.
But when she had mentioned the white van earlier, I knew.
“Don’t play dumb,” I said. “Tell me what you know.”
“Apparently as much as you.” He downed his drink. “The bitch is tight-lipped. That she even knew where the academy was, was shocking to me.”
“Perhaps a drug deal.” I knew this to be false now, but I wanted to mislead him.
“With the students?” He shook his head. “My guess is a sister.” He pinched his lip. “Not sure, though. Maybe one of the teachers loaned her money.”
A sister? She had been with that teenager, arguing about boys and ice cream, but they hadn’t looked alike. But that didn’t rule out the possibility.
“My vote is for the teacher,” I said. Again, to misdirect Aldrich.
“It would figure that the little bitch is using her mouth to get more money.”
The way he spoke like that made me clench my fists.
But revenge was sweeter when it was well played. I had to move carefully. Make every action count. Catch him by surprise.
“Have you ever had her mouth?” I asked.
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I am telling you. She is wound tighter than a clam deep in the Pacific. Worse than any woman I have ever met. Especially here. They all know what’s expected in those rooms. She’s the only one that follows Dahlia’s rules.”
“So you’ve done nothing?” I asked.
He groaned. “You’re making me realize how stupid this bet was in the first place. Perhaps we can amend the prize?”
Was he backing down already? “I thought you were a man of your word,” I said.
“You’re right,” he said. “I am. But I would hate to leave you jobless. You can run your half of the company for me. With a pay cut, of course.”
If I were any less of who I was, I would have felt guilty for using Haley. But she was one piece in a puzzle. Nothing more than an instrument for me to use. I shook my head.
And yet she was intriguing. The fact that she liked what I did to her, increased my curiosity.
A pair of servers came to join us, and when one of them took Aldrich off to one of the stages, I turned to the server.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I know you’re waiting for Haley. She’ll be out in a bit. I’ll stay with you until then.”
