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“Well, you’ll get to fuck that lover boy, of course.”
“You think that’s all I want?”
“You don’t fool me, Iz.”
“I’ll do it for you. I’ll get what you want. On two conditions.”
“Two now?” he sneers.
“You need me on this. You know no one else can get you what I can off Hartley. After you’ve got what you want, let Raffi and me go. And stop fucking me—starting tonight. Those are the carrots that I’m asking for.”
Don grabs my jaw, but I whip my face away from him. For the first time, I feel I have some kind of leverage.
He grunts but doesn’t attempt to grab me again. “Your carrot is Raffi. And this.” He slaps a stack of bills onto the coffee table. “Buy something nice. You’ll need it.”
Two thousand bucks. Perhaps I can buy a new sexy dress or lingerie to bring Clayton to his knees. But I’m going to save it for something else.
14
CLAYTON
Love is a game. And after trying every trick, I’ve learned that the most effective is to stay out of it. Never make yourself a contestant, let alone a contender.
But Isabella Martin has torn away my rule book.
Mrs. Makena said I was waiting for someone who needed me.Needs me—not needy.
I’m ready to extend my hand to whoever needs my help—for love or not. But there’s something about Isabelle that changes my outlook on relationships. When I think of her, I feel that I’m more than just a man, like she’s part of my life purpose.
So far, she doesn’t want my protection. She doesn’t want anything to do with me. So, Mrs. Mac was right again when she said I had to work for it.
“What did Adler say?” Rob checks on the outcome of my meeting with the general.
“We’re ready for round two,” I reply, looking around my office as if it was a foreign space. “Hey, what do you think of putting more fresh flowers around our HQ?”
“Fresh flowers? We’ve already got fresh flowers.”
“Maybe more roses? Lilies?”
“If anything, we need anemones around here.”
“Oh, come on, Rob!” I look around my office again. “At least in this room.”
“Well, it’ll come out of your budget.” Rob nudges his chair closer to me. “Come on, focus! What else did Adler say?”
“All right,” I claim. “The Air Force is still finalizing the date. The fully built Snow Leopard will be ready then, no more a prototype. One of their combat pilots is going to do the full testing. We have four candidates, and I’m going to train them first before the whole shebang begins.”
“We’ve doubled the image quality and resolution of the N.E.O., and the transmission speed is like nothing Adler has ever seen,” Rob affirms.
“That’s way cool.”
Rob examines me. “You sound like Matty.”
“Oh… he got that from Raffi.”
“Who?”
“Isabelle’s son.”
