Page 70 of Burn

“Found her,” Caleb says, choosing then to finally speak.

Nixon’s intense stare narrows and then moves to mine. “Have you been crying?”

“No. What do you need? I have a meeting.”

“We need into the Evergreen room, and it’s locked. Tom said you had the keys.”

Crap. Fuck. Balls.

I did have them and guess where they’re at now? On the floor in the closet. Behind the locked door.

I cringe, and Caleb laughs, knowing what just happened. “It’s a good thing I like breaking doors down.”

“No!” I panic grabbing him by the shirt. “You can’t break that door down.”

“And how else do you suppose you get in there for the keys?”

My brain scrambles for an answer and Nixon sighs heavily behind me. “I’ll just go ask your father, Mila. I’m sure being the owner of the hotel, he has a spare set.”

I really want to stab him in the fucking eyes.

Nixon smiles at me, knowing damn well he’s pissed me off, and then to Caleb. “No need to break the door down. We’ve got it handled.” And then he digs into his pocket for his cell phone.

Caleb doesn’t miss a beat and gives a cocky nod and throws his muscle-bound shoulder into the door sending it flying open. I scramble inside for the keys, retrieve them and then hand them to Nixon. “Problem solved.”

Nixon’s jaw flexes then he swallows. “Thank you, Mila.” And then he turns on his heel and walks down the hall in his black suit.

“Who’s he?” Caleb asks, a tightness to his words I’m not expecting from him.

“Nixon Shaw. He’s an investment banker.”

“He wants to fuck you.”

I snort and begin walking down the hall, frantically trying to wipe the mascara from my face.

“Or he already has . . .,” he notes when we’re in the lobby, thinking he’s hit on a touchy subject.

“No, I haven’t. I wouldn’t.”

“Okay.” And that’s all he says before he’s walking away. He passes by Scarlet in the process, and she does a double take as if she knows him but doesn’t know where from.

“Holy shit,” Scarlet gasps and saunters over to me. “Is that the firefighter?”

Shit. Play it cool. “Uh, yeah. Why?”

“Goddamn girl, he’s hot. I couldn’t see him very well at the club that night but fuck, look at those green eyes! I’m bummed I sat on his friend’s lap.”

Scarlet stares at me, her eyes zoned in on my neck that probably has bruises on it. I’m going to need to talk to Caleb about being a little more gentle, even though I love the shit out of his controlling side.

“Dude, what’s on your neck? Looks like dried glue.”

Oh. Shit.

And then she touches it, picks at it and my face heats up like a fucking sun lamp is on me. Scarlet slaps her hand over her mouth immediately. “Oh. My. God. I know what that it.” She grabs my shoulders and makes me face her. “You dirty fucking slut.” And then I’m brought to her chest, my face pressed against her tiny tits and she’s petting my head. “I’m so goddamn proud of you.”

I shouldn’t be proud of this, yet I kind of am.

After a minute, she draws back and lets me go. “But seriously, you should clean that off.”

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