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“Sir?” He laughs slightly.
“Whatever works for you.”
He smirks, annoyingly amused. “Yes, ma’am.”
He starts toward the door, following Stuart out. “Oh, and detective.” He turns to face me again, waiting expectantly as I level him with a serious look. “If you betray me and prove my mistrust, I will kill you.”
He nods. “Understood.”
Once the door is closed and I’m once again alone, I take a deep breath. This is a bad idea. How stupid do I have to be to hire a cop?Ex-cop, apparently. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, that’s what this is about. If this is some tactic by the force or even a disgruntled ex-employee trying to get back in good with his superiors, I will be better placed to ensure he doesn’t succeed if he is by my side. I’ll share my work with him, let him see all that he wants but I will end him before he’s able to take it back to whoever he’s reporting to. Yes, that’s exactly why I gave him the job. Not because of his dark eyes or smug grin that has my insides twisting. Definitely not for the way his polo shirt stretched over his muscles or how his jeans clung to thick thighs.
What?No. This isn’t right.
I don’t do attraction. I don’t want a man. God, I wish I was attracted to women, it would make life so much easier. I’ve indulged myself far enough tonight. Moving on, Javier ‘Harvey’ Campos is just another employee, one I will have to keep an eye on.
3
HARVEY
Photographs do not do Annika Wolfe justice. She is fucking beautiful. I’ve spent the last half an hour straining to appear relaxed in her company. I was anything but. I don’t have a type—I like all women—but if I had to describe my ideal woman based purely on looks, Annika hit every mark. Slim, naturally white-blonde hair, crystal blue eyes with high, sharp cheekbones. She wore a hot pink pantsuit with a sheer white blouse that showed a black bra beneath, and it took all I had not to stare at her tits. Christ, this is going to be a problem. Her full and shapely lips were painted the exact shade of her suit and her nails matched. Her makeup was exquisite and her jewellery screamed class. Money. I bet the outfit she’d unthinkingly picked out this morning cost more than the rent on my studio several times over.
Stepping out of her office, I blow out a deep breath and roll my shoulders, feeling like a weight has been lifted just by being out of her line of view. The Scot next to me, who I nearly forgot is here, chuckles.
“Aye, she’s a wee bit intense. But you did good lad, most haven’t survived past five minutes in that room.”
I look at him in horror and he just laughs harder.
“I mean figuratively, calm yourself down.” He claps my shoulder and I relax slightly. “The club here is where Miss Wolfe’s public office is and where you’ll spend most of your time. Come along and I’ll introduce ye to some people so they know ye face.”
I follow behind him as we walk back into the club. I would put Stuart in his early to mid-fifties, although his dark hair has yet to show any grey. He keeps it cut short at the side but slightly longer on top like a hardened military man in a gritty movie. He’s tall but I still have a couple inches on him, and it’s clear from his build that he works out. Following behind him, I see the gun in the waistband of his jeans, no attempt made to conceal it.
“I don’t think she likes me,” I say, trying to make conversation.
His smile is amused. “Don’t take it personally, lad. She doesn’t like anyone.”
I snort. “Quit with the lad shit. I’m nearly forty years old, hardly a lad.”
“Everyone is lad or lass to me, saves me having to learn names. Get used to it, I willnae be changing.”
“Even the boss? She’s lass to you?”
He stops walking and eyes me curiously. “I’ve known Annika since she was wee, I’ve been with her since she took over from her father, and not everyone was too pleased about a woman sitting in his seat. She’s done amazing things and I’ve been at her side for all of it. We respect each other. That means I can call her lass, Anni, or anything else. And she fires me a couple of times a week, but we still respect each other and I’m still here. I’ve earnt the relationship I have with her and it dinnae come easy. If I can give you any advice, it’s this. She won’t trust ye, assume she never will. But Annika Wolfe is the finest woman on this earth, aside from my dear wife, of course, and you want to earn her trust. You want to do good by her because if you do, she’ll dogood by you. I put my neck out for you, lad. There’s no way I’d have put a fucking cop in for a job with her, but I saw something in ye and I think you’ll be a good fit here. If you fuck it up, you’ll be putting my position on the line, too, and then we’ll have real problems, ye ken?”
“Is that a threat?”
“Aye,” he says without malice or hesitation.
“I’ll bear that in mind.” I lift my chin even as I worry that I’m in over my head. He nods once and resumes walking down the hallway.
Wolfe’s office must be sound proofed as it had been perfectly silent inside but in the darkened hall, the thumping bass of the club pulses through the corridor. It grows louder and louder as we approach the main floor and through a heavy black curtain to emerge into the purplish-blue light of the club. The music isn’t too loud, but the bass is uncomfortably cranked up. On several raised platforms, girls dance around polished silver poles wearing nothing but sparkling panties and huge platform heels. Customers sit at small round tables watching the show, some have girls on their laps, some are receiving lap dances, and across the room I see a girl leading a suited man through an identical curtain to the one we’ve just come through.
Stuart takes me on a tour, introducing me to everyone we see, proving he is full of shit. The man knowseverybody’snames. He’s friendly with them all, asks about people’s families, hobbies, or health and they all greet him as a friend. We’re at the bar, grabbing a drink (sodas as Stuart is very clear in his instruction not to drink while on the job) when he turns to me.
“We’ll need to fill out some paperwork, I’ll need all your details and everything to get ye on the books.”
I can’t help the little huff of a laugh that escapes me.
“What?” he asks.
