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The silence remains for a minute more. Spence’s stare is hot and dangerous, burning my skin with warning, but then he drops his chin and gives us all the permission we’re going to get.
Libby lets out a deep breath, twists the door handle, then pushes through and brings me into a whole other space of silence.
The boardroom is large, has a table that seats twenty or so people, and a massive smart board on the wall that remains switched off and void of information. The room is bland, clean, and will not give away any of their secrets.
Four people sit at one end of the table. Kane and Jay sit side by side with hard faces and angry stares. Jess sits on Kane’s left, and Sophia on Jay’s right.
I totally fucked up when I hit on Sophia.
The guys watch us with grinding jaws, rolling muscles, and hard eyes. But the women watch us with curious gazes. They’re not worried about danger; they know the Bishops will take care of anything that needs to be taken care of, so they relax where the guys can’t, and try to figure us out despite our lack of words.
“Kane.” Libby releases my hand and walks forward to take Kane’s. “Jay. Thanks for seeing us.”
Jay sits back when Libby drops her hands in her pockets. He appears at ease – sort of. He lifts a leg and rests his ankle on the other. He plays with something between his fingers, a fidget spinner of some sort, and watches us under heavy brows made heavier by a beanie.
Kane isn’t fidgeting at all. He sits, ready to explode, silently watching Libby as she steps into my side and rests her hand on my hip. He lifts a brow at her ease, or perhaps it’s at her comfort in announcing who she’s with.
That comfort helps me too. She says she’s not on anyone’s side, but she didn’t rush in here with big smiles and welcoming hugs. She’s standing beside me, touching me, whispering her thoughts to me.
“Theo Griffin is back in our office,” Kane begins. “Yesterday, you were arrogant and hitting on Soph. Today you stand with the chick cop. I can’t say I understand your angle. You thought owning Soph would benefit you somehow, but she’s not for sale.” He lifts a brow. “So you acquired a cop instead?”
Libby’s body tenses against mine as the very thing she didn’t want to happen, happens.
“She’s not for sale.” I came in here planning to be my silent self, to let them talk their way around to what needed to be said, but I can’t let them think poorly of Libby. “I don’t own her, I didn’t acquire her, I didn’t buy her. She’s just an old friend of mine who decided I wasn’t a total prick.”
“I’m yet to be convinced,” Jay growls. “How does Libby Tate, chick cop of our small town, know Theo Griffin? How is she yourold friend,when I’m almost certain you’ve never set foot in this town before now?”
“I haven’t.” I take a step forward, nod toward a couple chairs tucked against the table, and when Kane agrees, I pull one out and help Lib sit. The Bishops watch us with dark eyes that speak of danger, a promise to take us out if we move too fast.
I pull the chair out beside Lib, drop down, then I sit back and fold my ankle over my knee. “I’ve never been to this town before this visit.”
“When did you arrive?” Jay asks.
“Little over a week ago.”
He nods. “So you met her nine days ago and consider that old friends?”
Libby shakes her head. “G–” She chokes on what I’m certain was going to be the name she once knew me as, and instead swallows down her nerves. “Um… Theo and I met when we were children. A very long time ago.”
“You met Theo Griffin when he was just a child?” Sophia watches us with narrowed eyes. She has a laptop open in front of her, but her hands remain in Jay’s lap for a moment. Jess is her opposite in some ways. She’s the light to Soph’s dark, the innocent to Soph’s narrowed gaze. She’s also heavily pregnant, and instead of laying her hands in Kane’s lap, she rubs gentle circles against the side of her stomach while she watches us. “You’re gonna have to get to the reason you came in yesterday thinking I could be bought,” Soph continues. “I’ve tried to run you, Griffin. I’ve searched everywhere; she says she met you as a boy, but I can’t seem to find any existence of a child Theo. And I looked.”
“You’re not a brainless bimbo.” I study her dark eyes and let my nerves slide away when she grins. “You play the bimbo bit well. Why do you do that?”
“Probably the same reason you thought touching me would get you the information you want. Why, Theo Griffin, did you come into Checkmate looking for information? You could have Googled us.”
“This has to be more than business,” Kane inserts quietly. “We buy Griffin systems, yes, but we’re small-fry. We’re just one of a million accounts you have. I can’t figure out why the head of this international, multi-billion-dollar company has made a personal call to a ten-staff mini security company. And call me a cynic, but I feel like your answer is going to piss me off.”
“Why does looking at you make my stomach tingle?” Soph asks. “I look at your face, and my heart gallops.”
“Sophia!” Jay turns on her. “Are you fucking serious right now?”
“I didn’t say I was gonna suck his dick, Jay. Jesus, calm your shit.”
“You wanna admit in a business meeting that another man makes your heart do weird shit, and you expect me to be okay with that?”
“Yes, because I’m not saying I’m gonna fuck him. I’m saying that he’s attractive, and that there’s something there that makes me–”
“I think you’re hot as fuck, Officer Tate.” Jay turns to us with a scowl. “Your body is banging, your legs are sexy, your face isn’t normally as bad as it is today, and your hair is long enough to grab onto.” He turns to Sophia. “I’m not saying I’m gonna fuck her, just that she’s attractive and does things to my heart when I look at her.”
