Page 19 of My Beautiful Sin

“Hey!”

I turn, then find myself engulfed in Tracy’s hug.

“It’s great to see you,” Tracy says, stepping back. She wears her hair in a close-cropped afro which accentuates her high cheekbones. “What’s up?”

“What’s up is that you have an admirer,” I say. “I’m here with Lamar. He wanted to pop in.”

“Oh.” A smile tugs at her mouth. “Well, that’s nice, isn’t it?”

I consider warning her. Telling her that Lamar never seems to gets serious. But I keep quiet. After all, I’m the last person who should be giving dating advice. Besides, every time Lamar makes a comment about my relationship with Devlin, it just pisses me off. “Have you guys been seeing a lot of each other?” I ask instead, as Devlin’s assistant, Anna, hurries toward us.

Tracy shakes her head. “We see each other around our building, but not that much. Our schedules are pretty different. But,” she adds with a lilt in her voice, “we’ve been doing a lot of texting. He’s sweet.”

“Yeah,” I say honestly. “He is.”

“Are you talking about Lamar?” Anna asks. “I saw him upstairs. He was coming up as I was coming down.”

I frown, wondering why he didn’t pop into the first floor men’s room. Not that it matters, and the thought leaves my head as Anna reaches out to take my hands. She’s a stunning redhead, with vivid blue eyes and perfectly clear skin. It’s a rare combination—the hair and the eyes—a fact I’d learned when I did a piece on recessive genes my first year at The Spall. Rare or not, the bottom line is that Anna turns heads, and I’d been jealous as shit the first time I saw her at Devlin’s side.

Now that I know they’re just friends, I’ve grown to like her. But I still look like a short, plain kid playing dress up next to her curvy, movie star looks.

“I’m so glad to see you. I was going to call you today and tell you how happy I am. Devlin told me you two worked things out. I’m thrilled for you both. I was so worried,” she adds, stepping back and looking me up and down. “But here you are, glowing.”

I laugh, embarrassed. I’ve never been great at being in the spotlight. “I’m not.”

“You are,” Tracy says, and I reluctantly concede the point.

As an intern, Tracy’s new at the DSF, and not in Devlin’s circle of friends. Anna, however, has known him since childhood, and is perfectly aware that he used to be Alex Leto, aka Alejandro Lopez. What I don’t know is if she or Ronan know the truth about who killed Peter. Probably not—why would they? It’s not as if Devlin would have wanted to advertise the truth back when he was still Alex. Or why he’d feel the need to spill his secrets later when he founded the DSF. Tamra knows—but that’s because she was like a surrogate mom to him, and he told her the whole story after the fact.

“—way down.”

“Sorry?” I look up, realizing that I’d zoned out and entirely missed something Anna was saying.

“I said he was in the middle of something when Paul buzzed. But he should be down any—oh, there he is. Perfect timing.”

“For both of us,” Tracy adds, leaning over to whisper in my ear.

I don’t know what she means until I turn and see Devlin descending the stairs with Lamar right beside him. Devlin’s in a gray suit with a pale blue shirt. His hair is swept back from his face, and the dark rim of the glasses he wears as additional camouflage only make him look even more the corporate warrior.

Warrior, indeed, I think. His posture is tense, his mouth set firm, his every move precise. He’s moving with Lamar, but they’re not talking, and the air between them seems to shimmer with meaning.

I don’t know what happened between the two of them, but I can read the room easily enough.

And what I see tells me that Devlin is pissed as hell.

Chapter Eight

When Devlin and Lamar reach the main floor, Lamar extends his hand to shake. But Devlin is already on the move, and he simply brushes Lamar’s shoulder in a silent indication that it’s time for them to come join us. I can’t tell if it’s an intentional slight, or if he didn’t see Lamar’s hand in the moment. I hope it’s the latter, but I fear it’s the former.

When they reach us, Tracy moves forward to meet Lamar, so I don’t have the chance to ask him what that was all about. Devlin comes straight toward me as Anna melts away, presumably to go back upstairs and take her place at the command center for Devlin’s office.

I move back, further away from Lamar and Tracy, then whisper, “What the hell?”

His voice is tight as he says, “Your friend had a message to deliver.”

“Oh?”

“If I hurt you, he’s going to squeeze the life out of me.”